Going beyond materialism and survival - HOW?

[Intraplanetary]

In one of his video, Leo gave a list of things on how to live a profound life. One of the things was: 'going beyond materialism and survival'.

What do you think he means by going beyond survival? maybe he can answer himself @Leo Gura.

What are the practices to go beyond survival? I can think of prolonged fasting and ego death through psychedelics. 

What else? What are your experiences?

 

Edited January 5, 2021 by Intraplanetary

[JosephKnecht]

Humans are driven by 3 primary motives in life.

1) Survival motive - This means that the primary concern of your life is the material survival of the physical body. People in third world countries live their lives with daily worries about putting food on their table, rent, paying bills for living expenses, etc. Living life means just trying to survive. 

2) Surrogate motive - This happens in first world countries where survival is guaranteed. The social system has provided so much abundance already, that you will be able to survive regardless of your skills. In first world countries, people create a surrogate motive for themselves, such as climbing the corporate ladder, becoming the best basketball player, etc. The surrogate motive is subjective and its importance is self-prescribed. 

3) Impossible motive - You can create a goal for yourself to attain the unattainable. You can only do this once you have exhausted motive 1) and 2). For example, you can become motivated to transcend yourself through psychodelics, but this motive is never satiated because once you get there, there is nobody that is transcended. This motive is so hard to achieve that is almost impossible, and if by some luck you attain it, it won't be your motive since there won't be a you anymore. That makes it impossible. 

Going beyond survival means trying to satiate motive 2) and 3). 

[Intraplanetary]

27 minutes ago, JosephKnecht said:

Humans are driven by 3 primary motives in life.

1) Survival motive - This means that the primary concern of your life is the material survival of the physical body. People in third world countries live their lives with daily worries about putting food on their table, rent, paying bills for living expenses, etc. Living life means just trying to survive. 

2) Surrogate motive - This happens in first world countries where survival is guaranteed. The social system has provided so much abundance already, that you will be able to survive regardless of your skills. In first world countries, people create a surrogate motive for themselves, such as climbing the corporate ladder, becoming the best basketball player, etc. The surrogate motive is subjective and its importance is self-prescribed. 

3) Impossible motive - You can create a goal for yourself to attain the unattainable. You can only do this once you have exhausted motive 1) and 2). For example, you can become motivated to transcend yourself through psychodelics, but this motive is never satiated because once you get there, there is nobody that is transcended. This motive is so hard to achieve that is almost impossible, and if by some luck you attain it, it won't be your motive since there won't be a you anymore. That makes it impossible. 

Going beyond survival means trying to satiate motive 2) and 3). 

That's very informative. Thank you. 

So to grow and self-actualised, as regards to surrogate motive, I should achieve my survival needs and goals and then drop that identity to move to impossible motive in order to self transcend? 

 

[Nahm]

Loving a whole bunch. There’s just no need for that. Direct inspection of reality, awareness of things like the body mind is only made of the food, etc.  Also, just not taking yourself seriously, such that you are laughing out loud alone a lot. That is also useless & uncalled for. 

[Intraplanetary]

9 hours ago, Nahm said:

Loving a whole bunch. There’s just no need for that. Direct inspection of reality, awareness of things like the body mind is only made of the food, etc.  Also, just not taking yourself seriously, such that you are laughing out loud alone a lot. That is also useless & uncalled for. 

I haven't understood anything you wrote. Can you just be lil bi more clear about what are you trying to say?

For the example, you wrote: 'Loving a whole bunch'. What do you mean?

Then at the end, you said 'That is also useless & uncalled for'. What are you referring to??

thanks 

Edited January 6, 2021 by Intraplanetary

[Nahm]

@Intraplanetary

Appreciating the opportunity to elaborate, noble of you, thank you. To recognize what’s being said would require the recognition of the truth of the “I” and the “understanding” referred to. The “lack of understanding” is only apparent, and is the very veil. Is this thread, the intention, waking up & ‘seeing reality as it is’, or more along the lines of a philosophical (thinking rather than inspection) discussion? 

 

[Intraplanetary]

4 hours ago, Nahm said:

Is this thread, the intention, waking up & ‘seeing reality as it is’, or more along the lines of a philosophical (thinking rather than inspection) discussion? 

@Nahm Thank you for elaborating.

I made this thread with the intention to understand the exact practices I could do to put my ego on the line and practice to go beyond survival. 

I thought there are some concrete practices to apply but as I understand from other people who replyed is more about living conditions and goals I set for myself than anything else. 

Am I right? Or there are some things I could do now? Something more practical that could be used regularly. Otherwise, how do I detach from my ego?

Meditation, yes. But I want to explore.

 

Edited January 6, 2021 by Intraplanetary

[Bodhitree]

Its an interesting topic, going beyond survival. I don’t know how Leo sees it, but I can think of examples of how these things were done in the past. Monks and nuns for instance, have all need to think of survival eliminated, they are cared for by the monastic order that they belong to. This allows them to focus exclusively on their spiritual path. Rich people also have this opportunity, although they tend to be trapped by materialism and the concerns of managing money. At the other end of the spectrum, in India there is a tradition of wandering ascetic beggars, who have chosen to focus on spiritual development instead of earning a living. The Buddha was an early example.

 

So why are money worries so disturbing for a spiritual path? Generally they cause a lot of turmoil in the mind, and they tend to drag you away from a pure dedication towards a mind where you have to think about minimising losses and maximising gains. My experience is that that kind of thinking does not mix well with the kind of peace and relaxation that are part of making progress.