Questions to Leo about the awakened perspective

[bilouge]

Hey Leo, I hope you are having a great day. I have to say that I’ve being devouring your content this past
year. It helps me a lot in developing different perspectives as well as having multiple epiphanies in my
life. However, there’s one perspective that particularly piques my interest: the perspective of a self-
actualized individual. The reason it is so appealing to me is because so little people have actually
reached self-actualization. There’s a limited range of resources available to us so we can only stipulate
when we are asking ourselves—people who haven’t reached self-actualization—what is like being one.
While watching your episode “How Fear Works,” I’ve asked myself: “If Leo was to be kidnapped one day,
would he feel anxiety and fear while waiting for his next torture session?” Unsurprisingly, I am very
much afraid of being kidnapped and tortured which explains why I would have such a question in mind.
One thing led to another, and I started asking myself how different the public’s view of self-actualized
people is from yours. Which leads me to have a set of questions:
1) Would you actually feel fear while waiting for your next torture session? Or in other words, is
fear and anxiety things that self-actualized people permanently transcended, no matter the
hardships?
2) Are awakenings permanent states? More precisely, what aspects of life are permanently
changed? What aspects aren’t permanently changed?
3) Is there a disconnection between the biological creature that is Leo and the self-actualized
being? If so, why bother even live an external life? Why bother make money? Why bother have
sex?
4) Is it a detachment or a destruction of the biological creature? Is the biological creature still there
as it can feel aversive emotions but the actualized being can “cage” that biological creature
(detachment)? Or is the creature not there anymore, leaving the actualized being at the
unshared seat of experience?
5) How can we be sure that self-actualization is not just another stage of delusion? If the only
premise that I can hold as true is that I experience something (cogito ergo sum), what to say that
my awakening is not one of the many illusions of life just accompanied by Conviction Bias? I
don’t believe you are Leo as I love to trust my intuition, but, knowing that you are aware of the
many biases that plague us, how can you trust your experience of self-actualization?

I hope you'll find time to read this and thank you in advance.

P.S. I had already posted these questions but received no answers. I'm still as confused as I was 10 days ago so I would love to read your take on this Leo.

[TheAvatarState]

13 hours ago, bilouge said:

1) Would you actually feel fear while waiting for your next torture session? Or in other words, is
fear and anxiety things that self-actualized people permanently transcended, no matter the
hardships?

*You may have awakened, but you're not going to master your emotions for 40 years. Merely understanding your fear as imaginary doesn't make it stop. 

2) Are awakenings permanent states? More precisely, what aspects of life are permanently
changed? What aspects aren’t permanently changed?

*They can be permanent. They can not be. In either case, no aspect of reality changed. 

3) Is there a disconnection between the biological creature that is Leo and the self-actualized
being? If so, why bother even live an external life? Why bother make money? Why bother have
sex?

*"Who is that which is self-actualized?" Your understanding of human beings is very shallow and binary. You think that "self-actualization" is a mythical state that once achieved, is like a flipping a light switch. That's not it at all. "Self-actualized" is not a character trait someone has. It is not separate from the human being known as Leo. It's like asking if Leo still needs to eat (and if you look at the cases of many other species, reproduction is in fact more primal and necessary than eating). There are many layers and stages to this self-actualization thing. 

4) Is it a detachment or a destruction of the biological creature? Is the biological creature still there
as it can feel aversive emotions but the actualized being can “cage” that biological creature
(detachment)? Or is the creature not there anymore, leaving the actualized being at the
unshared seat of experience?

*It's obviously all still there. You just realize you've been imagining it all. And that you created yourself. It's way too radical to just read and "get it." It can't actually be communicated.  

5) How can we be sure that self-actualization is not just another stage of delusion? If the only
premise that I can hold as true is that I experience something (cogito ergo sum), what to say that
my awakening is not one of the many illusions of life just accompanied by Conviction Bias? I
don’t believe you are Leo as I love to trust my intuition, but, knowing that you are aware of the
many biases that plague us, how can you trust your experience of self-actualization?

*Well, at first you don't. That's a valid point you made, and you don't know whether it's true or not. It's up to you to question and investigate for yourself.*

 

[bilouge]

Hey TheAvatarState. Thanks for the answer. I understand the "actualized perspective" a little better now.

With regards with what you said about my understanding of human beings as binary: the sole purpose of this thread was to get an answer from a person who considers him or herself "actualized". It just so happens that this perspective is something that I am completely unfamiliar with as it is not part of the scope of my human experience. For that reason, I believe that no question is off topic and that I could hopefully ask them without having my understanding of humans criticized or judged. I do not believe that any transition can be compared to hitting a switch but I had to formulate my question a certain way and I decided to formulate it the way I did which doesn't reflect the kind of answer I was expecting.

I understand that a lot of things in life are EXTREMELY nuanced and that extremes rarely exist and I would like to know more about what you think:

given that you answered my question, you probably consider yourself an actualized being so here are my questions:

- What are the major things that changed in your life as a result?

- Do you think that certain abilities are invisible to humans unless actualized? If so, can you give me an exhaustive list? (if possible)

- What do you mean by "no aspects of reality are changed"? I thought that perspective shifting transformations would change your reality.

- Can you expend a little bit more on why you believe that self-actualization is not a desilusion? I understand that we need to experience things by ourselves but what does make you, TheAvatarState, believe that it is not a desilusion?

Thanks again for your time.

[TheAvatarState]

@bilouge Sorry, it was not meant as a judgment. 

14 hours ago, bilouge said:

given that you answered my question, you probably consider yourself an actualized being

HA! No, just a student in my early journey  but I'll be happy to answer your questions as clearly as I can.

14 hours ago, bilouge said:

What are the major things that changed in your life as a result?

*As a result of some of the work I've done (I'm not fully awakened or actualized). Understanding. Everywhere I look, I can understand why it's there and how it fits into the bigger picture. Deeper and deeper understanding of myself and the ego games. Compassion for others. The ability to inhabit another perspective and seriously consider it. Radical open-mindedness. Near-constant consciousness of the dream-like nothingness and mystical nature of reality. Ability to relate and connect with most other people went down though. Almost everything seems silly and funny, but almost to its detriment because you can't share that perspective.*

 

- Do you think that certain abilities are invisible to humans unless actualized? If so, can you give me an exhaustive list? (if possible)

*Not sure what you mean here. Do you mean psychic or healing abilities that come with training? Oh absolutely those exist. Check out astral projection and remote viewing.*

 

- What do you mean by "no aspects of reality are changed"? I thought that perspective shifting transformations would change your reality.

*You take two pictures of the cat down the road. One up close, and one from a drone 20 feet in the air. Did taking a picture from the drone change the cat? You might be inclined to say, only from looking at the pictures, that the cat shifted or grew smaller. A perspective transformation will make reality feel different, but aspects of reality itself won't change. You realize that you've been looking at it wrong your entire life.*

 

- Can you expend a little bit more on why you believe that self-actualization is not a desilusion? I understand that we need to experience things by ourselves but what does make you, TheAvatarState, believe that it is not a desilusion?

*Self-actualization can be co-opted by the ego and turned into an ideology where you do spiritual practices unconsciously. This is not self-actualization but you'll believe it is, and this is always a danger. There are a myriad of ways to delude yourself on this path. But self-actualization entails the study of delusion and ego, and the working through it within yourself. It's the path of cutting through delusion, so if you're doing it right you become conscious of your self biases and how you can know something for certain. I hope that helped!

 

[bilouge]

It did help a lot! Thanks again for your time.

[Aeris]