Is Leo Manipulating Us?

[askdfjnak]

Guys, guys, guys, huddle up. I had an idea.

 

It's pretty clear that mass marketing, media consumption, forums, social media etc. are some of our biggest obsticals to mindfulness/awareness and self-actualization, right? No matter how positive or negative the intentions of the business owners are.

It's also pretty obvious that there's no way to escape it, not unless you go live in a monastery.

 

I watched a great video by Shinzen Young where he says:

“the average person is used 24 hours of the day but a person of zen uses 24 hours of the day”

 

So I asked myself:

How could we stop being used by the massive in-flood of triggers, ads, carefully engineered social platforms etc. and start using them to develop our mindfulness.

 

You could just say “oh yeah, every time I go onto site xyz, I will be mindful" or "every time someone does something to piss me off, I'll practice mindfulness” but that's being a bit naïve. Realistically, you might only practice 30 seconds of mindfulness in a week, unless you're already a zen jedi, in which case you probably wouldn't even bother reading petty threads like this one.

 

We need to use tools to help us.

 

http://webtimer.net/

This app allows you to keep a running track of the amount of time you spend on various websites. Use it for a few days and then identify the ones that are taking up most of your time.

 

Enter the sites into this app.

http://mindfulbrowsing.org/

Now every time you go onto one of them your screen will light up with a personal message every 10 minutes and you have to manually click out to continue browsing. You can use this to practice becoming fully present every 10 minutes before continuing your media consumption. But it's critical that you actually practice becoming present when your reminder pops up. Otherwise you will just click out unconsciously without gaining anything.

 

http://www.nguyensan.me/bell-of-mindfulness

This app sounds a bell in your browser at customised intervals, if you prefer. You can do the same thing.

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.googlecode.mindbell&hl=en

This app sounds random bells on your phone for when you're just going about daily life.

 

Theoretically, this would actually make you more mindful than if you turned your computer and phone off because you are constantly being prompted to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Do you guys know any other apps or tools or techniques that might be useful in this context?

Edited July 11, 2016 by Marc Schinkel

[Mal]

@Linas

Hi Linas,

More nonsense.

The way I see Leo is he is doing work for himself first and foremost.  

Now, if I had a YouTube channel, and I was willing to sift through that many sources of information on self development (which I am not!) I would publish my findings on YouTube and monetise it, for sure!

That is all he is doing. He's working on himself first, feeding his own (possibly neurotic) habit for self-help material while making money out of it at the same time.  That is very sound business practice, it's not enlightened, he's not an enlightened master, he's a guy just like the rest of us who is interested in ideas like this, just like some guys are into cars and football.  This is obvious because his perspective is evolving and changing all the time, just like ours.  He mentioned somewhere that he spend $10k on attending retreats and workshops.  If I had a habit like that, and I had a gigantic youtube channel, would it not make sense to record the results of my journey on the Youtube channel if it gave me the funds to continue with my "consciousness work" habit?  It's not rocket science to see that this is what is going on, is it?

Look past the surface level and look at what people are first and foremost: we are self serving first, altruistic last: (when we have built our lives up to the point of satisfying our own needs and curiosity about life). 

This is what is happening here. Stop being so naive about Leo being either a manipulative wannabe or polarising this with the equally unenlightened perspective that he's doing this for mankind.  None of this is true, he's doing it for himself and making a living out of it.

Were just lucky to have someone who is willing to spend that much time and money on thinking about self development and then pass those field tested ideas onto others.  This forum is just another part of that, in 100 years it will be forgotten along with you and I. 

At least use his techniques to begin to see the reality of what is going on around you.

Thanks

Edited July 11, 2016 by Mal

[Joyboy]

What the fuck are you guys doing here? Is Leo manipulating you matter? Yes and no, then what? What matter is you are aware or not, period.

[abrakamowse]

I am being manipulated to buy a hamburger, I'll be back!

[Mal]

3 minutes ago, abrakamowse said:

I am being manipulated to buy a hamburger, I'll be back!

I just spat coffee all over my laptop 

[abrakamowse]

3 minutes ago, Mal said:

I just spat coffee all over my laptop 

Lmao!!!

[abrakamowse]

Really all this thread is about the confusion that the body-mind has thinking it is separated and can "manipulate" others that are in fact itself.

There's manipulation and there's no manipulation.

[Steelheart]

On 6/22/2016 at 8:47 AM, Marc Schinkel said:

So, I believe in Actualized.org and the ethos here, but ...

After scrolling through the forum for hours on end, reading basically the same shit, I wanted to stop wasting my time and delete my account.

I could just stop coming back to the site, sure, but platforms like this are addictive and the easiest way to quit is to delete your account and be done with it, that's how I got off Facebook. Cold turkey is by far the easiest and most efficient way to get over something.

I started to think of this place purely as a business, outside of higher consciousness values.
I've got to say, having a binding (non-es capable) forum on your website is genius mass psychology manipulation.

Think about what we're doing here:

Talking about self actualisation

Breathing self actualisation 

Discussing self actualisation products

Following a bevevolent, omnipotent self actualising leader, who facilitates very specific discussions about self actualisation

and when we're all excited about self actualisation, guess what? There are great self actualisation products only one tab away!

Also think about what the forum gives Leo:

1. Massive traffic to his website, how many times do we come here each day?

2. New ideas to farm

3. Insight into problems we're having so he can specifically target them, either with free videos that drive traffic here to repeat steps 1-3, or with a new paid product that will probably be released soon.

 

Here's my question, I think it will make for a good discussion:

Do you think it's necessary to use business to spread higher consciousness values?

I've learnt alot from Leo. Some stuff i really question. I thought 30 ways society f us in the ass was awesome. Here he really lauds out how society manipulates us. Also false prophets he acknowledges that he is just like everyone else. Has deficiency too

[Natasha]

On 7/11/2016 at 1:55 PM, abrakamowse said:

I am being manipulated to buy a hamburger, I'll be back!

You were manipulated by a chicken who said, "Eat more cow" 

[abrakamowse]

On 7/14/2016 at 10:19 PM, Natasha said:

You were manipulated by a chicken who said, "Eat more cow" 

Damn chicken!!!

[Lynnel]

@Leo Gura Thank you a lot for making the forum !

You totally deserve a dedicated community, and I really hope you get some more public exposure by having this forum and are helped by the feedback all the users provide in their discussions here.

I wouldn't call this manipulation, it does look like a WIN WIN situation for me, one where everyone gets interesting data for himself.

[Guest Kingkong123]

So what if he is. Business needs to be 'manipulative' to succeed. Does that make him a selfish asshole? Not in the least. Think of it this way, you are getting to watch his videos on YouTube for free, this forum is free and loaded with helpful info. Most of his free content is better than 80% of paid content out there. I don't see a problem.

[Steelheart]

to find out the truth, just apply direct experience. 

[Guest Annetta]

 

[Life Coach]

On 22.6.2016 at 2:47 PM, Marc Schinkel said:

After scrolling through the forum for hours on end, reading basically the same shit, I wanted to stop wasting my time and delete my account.

You should have been here when the forum first launched. I actually deleted my account back then after I saw the massive bullshit playing out here. Yeah I am back today and it isn't that bad anymore. Also less active...which is better imo for reasons. Other than that, great post. I have been thinking the same. However I like the business aspect of actualized.org. Leo's done this one right. Great way to make money. Now you can think what you want, but this forum is helpful to some people and also it provides a community for self actualizing people, which is a good thing hands down. You just gotta stay sharp, like always, and use your own critical thinking. You don't have to be here 24/7, you don't have to believe everything here and do what everyone else does. You don't have to worship Leo like some do. If you take responsibility you can actually enjoy this forum and use it for your own growth.

Edited February 9, 2017 by Life Coach

[alyra]

this was bumped after 6 months.

 

quitting internet addictive sites cold turkey is the easiest way. but it isn't growth. growth is to quit it the hard way. it takes a long time and a lot of effort. quit it cold turkey and you just get addicted to the next site. and usually it isn't just the internet sites you get addicted to. binge watching? drinking? gaming? food? relationships? family? drama? workaholic? 

 

of course leo is manipulating us. whenever one human talks to another it is manipulation. whenever you breath out, I breathe in. or maybe it isn't manipulation at all, it is just monkeys being monkeys. but let's be honest, it's humans being humans. this is our nature, and this is the nature we work to become aware of. blaming others is one of those things. addiction is another. intent to manipulate is one too.

 

they aren't bad. letting go of them doesn't mean ceasing to do them. letting go of them, being mindful, means doing what is more authentic in that moment. if we know that we are manipulating someone, we are more likely to realize it isn't really what we want to do. sometimes it will be. it's whatever. 

Edited February 9, 2017 by aryberry

[Steph1988]

I see it simple Leo talks about stuff i find interesting i like that. 

The forum is there to discuss interesting stuf,f also nice.

Thats all i guess, not interested in making assumptions about his character and not being manipulated is your responsibility.

[Live Life Liam]

 

18 minutes ago, aryberry said:

this was bumped after 6 months.

 

quitting internet addictive sites cold turkey is the easiest way. but it isn't growth. growth is to quit it the hard way. it takes a long time and a lot of effort. quit it cold turkey and you just get addicted to the next site. and usually it isn't just the internet sites you get addicted to. binge watching? drinking? gaming? food? relationships? family? drama? workaholic? 

 

of course leo is manipulating us. whenever one human talks to another it is manipulation. whenever you breath out, I breathe in. or maybe it isn't manipulation at all, it is just monkeys being monkeys. but let's be honest, it's humans being humans. this is our nature, and this is the nature we work to become aware of. blaming others is one of those things. addiction is another. intent to manipulate is one too.

 

they aren't bad. letting go of them doesn't mean ceasing to do them. letting go of them, being mindful, means doing what is more authentic in that moment. if we know that we are manipulating someone, we are more likely to realize it isn't really what we want to do. sometimes it will be. it's whatever. 

I was just going to write something similar to this  Totally agree.

Edited February 9, 2017 by Live Life Liam

[Nahm]

@Marc Schinkel Sidhartha had enormous wealth at the ready, anytime he wanted it. I know he did not want it, but you have to admit, very different scenario. Shift your thinking away from what Leo may or may not be thinking, and get back to thinking what you think. Seems like you may just want to marry your life's purpose with sufficient income.  I dig and relate to what Leo is doing. I own a business with 6 employees and I have always delegated all the functions and done none myself. This free's me to contribute the way I want to and plays to my strengths. I enjoy contributing to their life path. Some days they would say I'm a pompous ass and some days they would say they had a revolation from a convo we had. The point is, I'm not thinking from their perspective, I'm thinking from mine. What Leo has made here, I think it would serve the world well to follow his example. What if everyone said "No. No. No, I'm not going to get a 'job' and 'work' and look forward to being happy when I retire. I'm going to support myself doing something that means something to me." That's a world we could all trip happily on. 

[Angelique]

Why can’t u just be great full that there is high quality information about personal growth and etc for free!!