By Juan Cruz Giusto
in Personal Development -- [Main],
“Great wisdom looks like stupidity”
Personal development work is not the same; there is a spectrum with 3 main levels. Therefore, there are different techniques for the different levels. The 3 levels are:
1. Newbies: Is coming from a deep deficiency in his life. He has holes in himself that need to be filled with money, relationships, business, fitness, his mood, etc. And he really needs tangible results since he doesn’t like his life. He usually blames the external environment for his situation (he feels like a victim). He is looking for solutions in the external world (money, relationships, etc.); he doesn’t care about internal solutions.
He is negatively motivated; he is not here for the great stuff (life purpose, contributing to society, expanding consciousness); he is coming from a place of pain and he only wants to remove this pain. He is not interested in changing his sense of self and identity. He is focused on Outer Growth, not Inner.
He is not interested in Truth for its sake and doesn’t care about what reality is. If he is interested in Truth is because it serves his sense of identity. He takes his mind seriously and thinks that his thoughts matter (he didn’t make the distinction between thought and awareness).
He is lost in theory and doesn’t try to experience the stuff Leo talks about. They need to understand that everything is grounded in direct experience.
He resists taking action. (if you don’t take action after listening to an advanced piece of wisdom it will be counterproductive).
The newbie is unaware of the ego and how deceptive it is. He is also unaware of his closed mindedness. He is not aware of his own social distortion. He doesn’t care and neglects spirituality. He is really impatient. They want free stuff and doesn’t want to buy courses, books or seminars. He has narrow focus (he only thinks about money and sex) and doesn’t care about philosophy, psychology, science, history, etc. He cannot go from the abstract to the concrete (he cannot create actual action steps to take the advice). He thinks in terms of black and white and tend to make the teaching about the teacher. He falls into the trap of simplicity: He thinks that advanced truths are really complicated when in reality they are quite simple. The newbie hasn’t experience the shock of how little he knows about reality. 2. Intermediate: A combination of the Newbie and the Advanced stages. 3. Advanced: It is radical open-mindedness and being grounded in reality. He rejects all social norms. He does a lot of practice and implementation (he takes massive action) and this action is inwardly directed (meditating, contemplating, doing shadow work, introspecting, doing self-inquiry); and this is literally working for thousands of hours sitting alone in your couch. He accepts and realize that all problems are internal and are created by them. There is a focus on Truth vs goals, he wants to know what reality is by direct experience. They focus on awareness since they recognize that thoughts will not create the growth they are looking for. They need to have a couple of years of meditation/self-inquiry under his belt. After 2 years of daily meditation practice you finally start to have some insights and epiphanies about the power of awareness vs thoughts. Advanced work includes self-inquiry and questioning of the ego. You need to question what you are, why you are motivated to do the things you do, why you create the emotions you have, etc. Also, the advanced student rejects success and the need to meet his needs. He is not here for success anymore; he realized that success is hollow. He recognized that success will never get him to where he wants to be in life. This doesn’t mean that he stopped going to work and became a monk. He still pursues relative degrees of success but he no longer clings to the newbie ideal that success is the ultimate goal. Perhaps he wants a girlfriend but he doesn’t care that much since he has bigger things in his life; he has different priorities. He made personal development a lifelong commitment; it is done for its own sake so he becomes quite patient; he looks 10 years down the road. The advance student makes serious study about personal development material (he studies philosophy, history, religion, science, spirituality, epistemology). He is aware that the deepest work is the most emotionally challenging work and he embraces the pain since he knows that the worst moments are the moments in which he grows the most. He recognizes that his web of beliefs is holding him back so he is able to question it. He is able to handle confusion and paradox. Advice for Newbies - It is okay to be a newbie. - If you are a newbie, focus on satisfying your deepest needs first. Pursue some success in your life and go have some sex. Burn through your desires. - Focus on installing habits o Meditation o Exercise o Healthy food o Contemplation o Visualization o Affirmation - Cut distractions off your life - Be careful with advanced topic, don’t focus on them too much. - Be much more open-minded - Realize that personal development is a very deep path and will take you all your life. - Get excited about the advanced work, YOU NEED BOTH. - Even though there are people who are really enlightened, they don’t know about business. YOU NEED EVERY TYPE OF ADVICE, from regular advice to advanced advice. - There is nothing wrong with pursuing enlightenment and learning to have great sex or handle a business. - Don’t confuse pursuing enlightenment with a complete abandonment of life. You have to be detached from sex, money, relationships but that doesn’t mean that you no longer enjoy them, it means that you enjoy them fully because you don’t need them! - You can become a millionaire, or a sex god but don’t get attached to it and don’t use it as an excuse to discover your true nature. GO AND ENJOY LIFE, BUT DO IT IN A CONSCIOUS WAY SO YOU CAN REALLY REALLY ENJOY IT. In a few years, if you don’t keep growing you will not understand nothing about what Leo is taking. DO THE HOMEWORK! You should be inspired by the possibilities!!! The deepest wisdom is incredibly joyful!!!
He is negatively motivated; he is not here for the great stuff (life purpose, contributing to society, expanding consciousness); he is coming from a place of pain and he only wants to remove this pain. He is not interested in changing his sense of self and identity. He is focused on Outer Growth, not Inner.
He is not interested in Truth for its sake and doesn’t care about what reality is. If he is interested in Truth is because it serves his sense of identity. He takes his mind seriously and thinks that his thoughts matter (he didn’t make the distinction between thought and awareness).
He is lost in theory and doesn’t try to experience the stuff Leo talks about. They need to understand that everything is grounded in direct experience.
He resists taking action. (if you don’t take action after listening to an advanced piece of wisdom it will be counterproductive).
The newbie is unaware of the ego and how deceptive it is. He is also unaware of his closed mindedness. He is not aware of his own social distortion. He doesn’t care and neglects spirituality. He is really impatient. They want free stuff and doesn’t want to buy courses, books or seminars. He has narrow focus (he only thinks about money and sex) and doesn’t care about philosophy, psychology, science, history, etc. He cannot go from the abstract to the concrete (he cannot create actual action steps to take the advice). He thinks in terms of black and white and tend to make the teaching about the teacher. He falls into the trap of simplicity: He thinks that advanced truths are really complicated when in reality they are quite simple. The newbie hasn’t experience the shock of how little he knows about reality. 2. Intermediate: A combination of the Newbie and the Advanced stages. 3. Advanced: It is radical open-mindedness and being grounded in reality. He rejects all social norms. He does a lot of practice and implementation (he takes massive action) and this action is inwardly directed (meditating, contemplating, doing shadow work, introspecting, doing self-inquiry); and this is literally working for thousands of hours sitting alone in your couch. He accepts and realize that all problems are internal and are created by them. There is a focus on Truth vs goals, he wants to know what reality is by direct experience. They focus on awareness since they recognize that thoughts will not create the growth they are looking for. They need to have a couple of years of meditation/self-inquiry under his belt. After 2 years of daily meditation practice you finally start to have some insights and epiphanies about the power of awareness vs thoughts. Advanced work includes self-inquiry and questioning of the ego. You need to question what you are, why you are motivated to do the things you do, why you create the emotions you have, etc. Also, the advanced student rejects success and the need to meet his needs. He is not here for success anymore; he realized that success is hollow. He recognized that success will never get him to where he wants to be in life. This doesn’t mean that he stopped going to work and became a monk. He still pursues relative degrees of success but he no longer clings to the newbie ideal that success is the ultimate goal. Perhaps he wants a girlfriend but he doesn’t care that much since he has bigger things in his life; he has different priorities. He made personal development a lifelong commitment; it is done for its own sake so he becomes quite patient; he looks 10 years down the road. The advance student makes serious study about personal development material (he studies philosophy, history, religion, science, spirituality, epistemology). He is aware that the deepest work is the most emotionally challenging work and he embraces the pain since he knows that the worst moments are the moments in which he grows the most. He recognizes that his web of beliefs is holding him back so he is able to question it. He is able to handle confusion and paradox. Advice for Newbies - It is okay to be a newbie. - If you are a newbie, focus on satisfying your deepest needs first. Pursue some success in your life and go have some sex. Burn through your desires. - Focus on installing habits o Meditation o Exercise o Healthy food o Contemplation o Visualization o Affirmation - Cut distractions off your life - Be careful with advanced topic, don’t focus on them too much. - Be much more open-minded - Realize that personal development is a very deep path and will take you all your life. - Get excited about the advanced work, YOU NEED BOTH. - Even though there are people who are really enlightened, they don’t know about business. YOU NEED EVERY TYPE OF ADVICE, from regular advice to advanced advice. - There is nothing wrong with pursuing enlightenment and learning to have great sex or handle a business. - Don’t confuse pursuing enlightenment with a complete abandonment of life. You have to be detached from sex, money, relationships but that doesn’t mean that you no longer enjoy them, it means that you enjoy them fully because you don’t need them! - You can become a millionaire, or a sex god but don’t get attached to it and don’t use it as an excuse to discover your true nature. GO AND ENJOY LIFE, BUT DO IT IN A CONSCIOUS WAY SO YOU CAN REALLY REALLY ENJOY IT. In a few years, if you don’t keep growing you will not understand nothing about what Leo is taking. DO THE HOMEWORK! You should be inspired by the possibilities!!! The deepest wisdom is incredibly joyful!!!
- 2 replies