Contradiction in Leo's teachings ?

[mo90]

Hello,

I follow Leo's videos and advises and I try to implement his teachings/advises/techniques.... all the time.

I can't describe how much I am impressed with his teachings and techniques.. BUT: trying to implement some of his advises in my life I came across a potential contradiction which made me confused what to do:

Let's say that I have a doubt or a problem in my mind about something and it makes me feel uncomfortable, trying to deal with it according to Leo:

1. Leo said: (do the things that are emotionally difficult).. which means I should leave the doubt/problem unsolved/uncertain and stay with the difficult emotion (uncertainty, discomfort, unpleasant feeling)

2. Leo also said: (awareness alone is curative) i.e keep doing the wrong behavior but be aware all the time... which means I can continue doing the wrong behavior (in this case: seeking certainty by solving the problem in my mind) but being aware all the time... which means I should solve the problem/doubt/worry in my mind and become certain, alongside being aware all the time.

so the question is: should one do the wrong behavior and be aware? or should he/she not do the wrong behavior and stay in a difficult emotion?

 

note: I am new to the forum so excuse me if I am doing something wrong here.

Thanks in advance

Edited May 4, 2020 by mo90

[Elton]

@mo90 hi mate, welcome to this forum..

Be careful in this work as your mind tends to rationalize the things it does to keep it thinking that it's right.

Being aware is in itself the emotionally difficult thing to do.

Leaving the doubt unsolved is a emotionally easy thing to do in some cases for eg when you see a word and don't understand it's meaning, you assume it's meaning and don't look it up in the dictionary. 

Similarly dealing with a difficult emotion by lashing out at somebody else or by taking a passifier is the easy thing to do but staying with that emotion in equnimity is the difficult thing to do. 

Doing the things that is counter intuitive is the difficult thing to do many times, you got to be careful about how your mind deceives you.

I'm sure you will figure it out, don't take Leo's words like a word of the Bible or Kuran, think for yourself from situation to situation and you will find the answers. 

The map is not the territory.

[mo90]

@Elton thanks for your quick answer.

yeah I understand your point.

the thing is that I find both quotes of Leo good and effective, and I see good results out of them both actually. but sometimes they contradict

so let me give you a more clear example: let's say I have an urge for binging a quick delicious meal:

- doing the thing that is emotionally difficult ----> the emotionally difficult thing is to not cook/buy that meal.

- awareness alone is curative (doing the wrong behaviour and being aware) ---------> buying and eating that meal and being aware.

which option do you think is the right thing here ?

[wordsforliving]

Intuition is key. Develop intuition which generates wisdom which would then enable you to sense the right course of action rather than defaulting to common tendencies to create dogma that dictates it should be followed exactly. 

[Chakra Lion]

Follow you Heart. Flow and surrender to wherever life takes you. 

Focusing on whats right or wrong, and putting structure and limitations of choice into life can be very exhausting.

Don't look back and be authentic in every moment going forward. 

[Elton]

@mo90 practice each technique for a week and see which one is more effective. 

In the past when I was a smoker I tried to use the awareness alone us curetive technique, but I found my self loosing awareness a lot of times in the process of smoking just one cigarette. 

This thought I had realised in the past before actualised.org that I would even just go to a shop and buy the cigarette unconsciously. So sometimes the awareness alone is curetive technique could be difficult to practice. All depends on you.

A good magician has many tricks in his bag. - Leo in one of his vedios. 

Use one trick for a whole week sometimes combine two tricks or more tricks.

Be like water my friend. - Bruce lee.

[mo90]

@wordsforliving @Chakra Lion @Elton

thank you very much guys for interacting.. this is my first experience in sharing information on forums and it seems very beneficial to see what other people deal with thing... really helpful.

20 hours ago, wordsforliving said:

Intuition is key. Develop intuition which generates wisdom which would then enable you to sense the right course of action rather than defaulting to common tendencies to create dogma that dictates it should be followed exactly. 

 

20 hours ago, Chakra Lion said:

Follow you Heart. Flow and surrender to wherever life takes you. 

Focusing on whats right or wrong, and putting structure and limitations of choice into life can be very exhausting.

Don't look back and be authentic in every moment going forward. 

I like this... nothing is always right or wrong. in the moment this could be "decided" with awareness and intuition.

the only problem is that I sometimes find it difficult to find the distinction between whether something is coming from your heart to follow (intuition) or whether it is coming from a place of compulsion/addiction/obsessiveness (dopamine releasing).

12 hours ago, Elton said:

@mo90 practice each technique for a week and see which one is more effective. 

this is a good idea

12 hours ago, Elton said:

Be like water my friend. - Bruce lee.

love his quotes !

[Chakra Lion]

 

the only problem is that I sometimes find it difficult to find the distinction between whether something is coming from your heart to follow (intuition) or whether it is coming from a place of compulsion/addiction/obsessiveness (dopamine releasing).

Yea I get that. And sometimes it can even be both. But really you won’t know until you do it. So to your original post,

On 5/4/2020 at 9:21 AM, mo90 said:

so the question is: should one do the wrong behavior and be aware? or should he/she not do the wrong behavior and stay in a difficult emotion?

I would never torture myself to do the wrong behavior and to be aware of it. My Mind is smart enough to trick itself into thinking that the behavior isn’t wrong and to ignore my worries by indulge into the pleasures of it.

It’s only later when I react to my actions or to my behaviors, that if I reflect and don’t like what I see, I can make myself feel wrong about it, and then my heart will try and avoid it. But my Mind fights for the things it wants, and if my body wants it too, my spirit is all I have left to uphold. So then If I act on that now wrongly perceived behavior again, my spirit will be torn down, and that is the cycle of a bad behavior for me. 

You need to follow the cycle of emotions and thoughts that the behavior creates. And so if it outweighed the positives, it’s better to drop it. But also there is fear, and that on the other hand can actually keep us from acting on behaviors that we perceive to be very healing and positive. 
 

I think you’d benefit from learning about the Chakras. You are the only one in control of this reality. Always continue to grow, and you will outgrow anything that doesn’t serve you. Be ahead of the darkness, in the right light of your body mind and spirit. 

[Nahm]

On 5/4/2020 at 11:21 AM, mo90 said:

Let's say that I have a doubt or a problem in my mind about something and it makes me feel uncomfortable, trying to deal with it according to Leo:

1. Leo said: (do the things that are emotionally difficult).. which means I should leave the doubt/problem unsolved/uncertain and stay with the difficult emotion (uncertainty, discomfort, unpleasant feeling)

Let the thought go. Feeling is certain. Otherwise, you’ll continue creating the undesired emotion / discord. You can do whatever you want either way. You can ‘face the fear’, and you can also see that you’re creating it for no reason. 

Quote

2. Leo also said: (awareness alone is curative) i.e keep doing the wrong behavior but be aware all the time... which means I can continue doing the wrong behavior (in this case: seeking certainty by solving the problem in my mind) but being aware all the time... which means I should solve the problem/doubt/worry in my mind and become certain, alongside being aware all the time.

so the question is: should one do the wrong behavior and be aware? or should he/she not do the wrong behavior and stay in a difficult emotion?

note: I am new to the forum so excuse me if I am doing something wrong here.

Thanks in advance

Awareness is already curing. It’s ‘saying’ let the judgement / thinking go. The thinking isn’t ‘wrong’, it just doesn’t feel good. Feeling = awareness. Do what you want to do. If you don’t like how it feels, you don’t actually want to do it. Be sure to write on your dreamboard what it is you do actually want to do. Get it out of your head and in front of you. Now your vantage point is transcendent of it (vs it swirling around aimlessly in the mind). 

Ultimately, the only certainty in life, is love. So love uncertainty, and you’ll love living. Uncertainty = fun. Uncertainty = humor. We love that stuff. 

[Chakra Lion]

Idk where you are at with your life, spiritually or whatever. But hey, my name is Lion (Hippy Mom / Austrian Dad.. it’s a long story like yours)  I just felt like sharing something with you, with me.
The most profound and important things cannot be translated in this reality, and words will only do as much as you will let them. The best teaching that I live by is ever-growing realization. Realizing the moment, like this moment. Now, you are the body pushing out breath after breath, but what are you also doing? You are the voice that won’t stop talking, like this voice saying this word. Hello, I am your voice because I am you and you are me and this is so much more than the emotions, then the you that is and has been you experiencing this reality through, inside this environment that you are in, at this exact moment, with all these millions of realizations all at once slowly creating reality into existence. So carefully you can realize more and more. Growing at once, in this moment, with the realization of what is, you, but also not you. You are playing your self into this moment, and answers or pleasures are truly just enjoyments for the ride, and it doesn’t matter why or what, all that is happening is reality. And you are present to realize that, this. Realization of this experience, nothing more needs to be done. The realization of all this at once, when your awareness is not limited to the past or future, you can dissolve or exist, or be overcome by the realization of the beauty of this moment, then again, by the beauty in appreciating the beauty of the miracle that is you sitting here experiencing you appreciating the beauty in this moment. Peace & Love 

[mo90]

@Chakra Lion  Lion, nice to meet you and thank you for the support and interaction. Also, I appreciate that you shared things about yourself.

"Spiritually" speaking, I am trying to grow and I am only learning. The reason I started to get into the spiritual journey is that I had severe OCD and Social Anxiety almost 2 years ago. It was unbearable so I started researching and I have came across these principles of consciousness, meditation, self-realisation. and I started then with practices which I didn't take seriously at the beginning, but at some point I felt like there is no way to end this suffering. Currently I am doing more spiritual practices than an average spiritual seeker (I guess) and I have succeeded to put an end to all the anxiety problems that I have (OCD, Social Anxiety..etc). But there is still a lot for me to learn (even basics) and there is still a lot of, different kind of, suffering to get over.. I still can't consider myself a happy person unfortunately. I think I'm in the stage of the negative that precedes the radical positive, at lease hopefully

On 5/6/2020 at 0:14 AM, Chakra Lion said:

I think you’d benefit from learning about the Chakras.

Really, I have watched a lot videos and never understood enough. I have some questions for you:

- what are the states of a chakra and which one is the best? (blocked - active - overactive) is this right ? some people mention (balanced/imbalanced).

- if I'm to work on the chakras, is there a specific order? for example if my third-eye chakra is open or active, do I have to take care of the other five that are below it?

- what is meant by: for example: "the base chakra is associated with stability and security and basic needs (sleep, eat...etc)"? what would be the case if this chakra is blocked or active or overactive ?

 

Greetings, Mo

[mo90]

On 5/6/2020 at 2:55 AM, Nahm said:

Awareness is already curing. It’s ‘saying’ let the judgement / thinking go. The thinking isn’t ‘wrong’, it just doesn’t feel good. Feeling = awareness. Do what you want to do. If you don’t like how it feels, you don’t actually want to do it. Be sure to write on your dreamboard what it is you do actually want to do. Get it out of your head and in front of you. Now your vantage point is transcendent of it (vs it swirling around aimlessly in the mind). 

Ultimately, the only certainty in life, is love. So love uncertainty, and you’ll love living. Uncertainty = fun. Uncertainty = humor. We love that stuff. 

Thanks for sharing.

I follow different principles of Leo and some others, I dont have constant list of principles to apply, I just rotate between them every now and then. As a result, for some periods of time I feel good and I feel like things go on well (I just really feel right, clear and good), and for some other periods I feel the opposite.

Regarding this specific matter (choosing between doing the emotionally-difficult thing or the easy unwanted behaviour), I have realised that doing both is good.. So most of the times I go for the "doing it" as opposed to "not doing it" and this applies to both of them. I have figured out that this method sheds the light of awareness on it and which will eventually give you a clear answers about it in the future. it's like an internal reflection on every behaviour, and which exceeds words and thinking.

[Nahm]

@mo90

I think I hear ya. I’m pointing to prior to the emotion and behavior, and also perhaps we’re saying the same thing here ultimately. What matters is clarity & feeling, and it sounds like you’re all good. ??

[Chakra Lion]

On 5/11/2020 at 9:27 AM, mo90 said:

- what are the states of a chakra and which one is the best? (blocked - active - overactive) is this right ? some people mention (balanced/imbalanced).

- if I'm to work on the chakras, is there a specific order? for example if my third-eye chakra is open or active, do I have to take care of the other five that are below it?

- what is meant by: for example: "the base chakra is associated with stability and security and basic needs (sleep, eat...etc)"? what would be the case if this chakra is blocked or active or overactive ?

 

Greetings, Mo

Balanced would be the ideal.

And the Fight is different within each Chakra. For the Root Chakra, the main battle is Fear vs Trust. And that conflict is what will either keep you there or awaken you to the next stage. This Fear vs Trust conflict evolves around each of the themes in the Root Chakra. The Root deals with the basic Physical Reality of Existance. You will not be able to focus on much more if you have Fear dominating that aspect. If you have to Fear for your Safety, fear for tomorrow, you cannot trust this physical reality, and you cannot grow out of the basic root needs. The issues only get more complex and trickier as one moves up and down the Chakras.

Even someone who is deeply connected to their Spirit and seems to see beyond what others see. For a balanced Body Mind and Spirit, you need to continuously expand your conciousness to all aspects of the self. Thats why Gurus or Holy Men have others to take care of them, so they dont have to exhaust energy on basic needs, and can keep their head in the sky, connected to source. 

There is a lot of inconsistent information about the Chakras, like most ideas. But to truly understand them, you have to feel them. 

Also check out - Maslow's hierarchy of needs / 7 dimensions of wellness / Spiral Dynamics