All Personal Questions For Leo

[Loreena]

What are the release dates for the new course on subconscious mind. ?

[Himanshu]

Leo, do you think it was important for you to chase women and completely annihilate all that came up to you as 'your limitations'(That is, now you know that given the time and space, you can do anything you'd want to; be it picking up women or writing a movie script) - to find your life purpose and allow yourself to be completely absorbed within it?

[Leo Gura]

On 7/13/2017 at 4:16 AM, Henrik_Sahlen said:

@Leo Gura 

1) Do you still think coaching is important, now that you have surpassed most of the basic personal development work?

2)  Do you still get coached?

3) If no, at what stage did you decide that it was no longer more conducive than what you could do on your own? Did that feeling come naturally?

1) Important for me to get coached? Or for me to coach others?

I could def benefit from being coached. You're never gonna run out of stuff to get coached on.

2) No. It's something I've done on and off. I have enough stuff to integrate from my weekly studies and practices.

3) Coaching is helpful in a way that's different from just reading or meditating. It gets you a new perspective on your problems. Coaching is pricey, so you generally won't do it for long periods of time. You usually do it to overcome a specific roadblock in your life. Plus it takes up time. So your schedule needs to accommodate it.

I will probably get more coaching in the future. It's a good thing no matter what level you're at. You don't really outgrow it. In the same way that Tiger Woods still gets golf coaching. And Floyd Mayweather still gets boxing coaching.

On 7/13/2017 at 5:10 AM, Anirban657 said:

@Leo Gura In this self actualization journey I often hear people say stuff like-

"Is it safe to do this meditation and books alone? You need a group of people or special guidance or only a one-to-one spiritual teacher to help you do this weird spiritual stuff."

Or something like

"reading too many books or meditating too much is bad. Excess of anything is bad".

I mean my motivations are not neurotic. I am a happy dude who is intrinsically motivated to meditate and read self help. And I am not addicted to meditation. I am intrinsically inspired by these things. 

What do I say to those folks?

Just look at those folks' lives. They probably suck. Which tells you everything you need to know.

It's very hard to read too much or meditate too much. Unless you're caught in mental masturbation, in which case, dial back on the reading and do more practicing. Meditation you can do for 12 hours a day, and it would still not be too much.

A group of people is not necessary. Special guidance is not necessary either. Books ARE special guidance. Of course it's helpful to do workshop and retreats, and interact with advanced teachers. Try to do at least 1 or 2 different workshops per year.

On 7/13/2017 at 10:12 AM, Dan Arnautu said:

@Leo Gura You said that you previously had a marketing business, although I see that your overall marketing for actualized.org is pretty light weight.

• the internal linking on the articles seems to be light
• no social media marketing that I can see
• few to no collaborations
• not that much marketing for your courses aside from recommending them in a few of your videos
• barely any graphic design
• no sponsorships and cross promoting products with other content creators etc.

I could find a dozen more things that are pretty standard in the current digital marketing landscape that you don't seem to waste time on or don't seem to delegate.

Why are you not marketing yourself more, when you have such high quality content?

I know that high consciousness stuff is very hard to market, but still, there are a lot of things you could easily add in your marketing plan with a pretty high ROI.

You could easily hire someone to do all of these things for you, based on the level you are at with your business right now.

I won't lie, I am also asking this question for myself as I am kind of turning into a jack of all trades when I see that I have very little money to start a business and need to learn to do all the things myself at least at a decent level (sales, marketing, seo, programming, creating content, learning more about my craft etc).

Success is not my priority. I've already got plenty of success. More becomes a trap.

See video: Successful People Are Not Happy.

Marketing is like a neverending sand pit. You can keep doing it until you're dead. But it never fulfills. So it's ultimately a waste of time unless you specifically need to do it to get by, or you care about influencing tons of people.

On 7/13/2017 at 11:24 AM, BjarkeT said:

if you know what deep work is what is your opinion on it? and is it something you plan to do if you haven't already?

kind regards

Focusing on your work single-mindedly and getting in the flow of work is of course the best way to do it. But hard these days, with so many distractions available. It takes a lot of discipline and building good habits.

On 7/13/2017 at 8:53 PM, K VIL said:

What knocked you over the cliff, to actually publish on youtube?

Lots of people struggle with making the first move.

I basically exited my old business and was moving into professional coaching. So there wasn't really much of an option. Sharing deep ideas was something I've always wanted to do.

On 7/15/2017 at 1:55 AM, General 2 said:

are you Lev or Leonid?

I am that!  

On 7/15/2017 at 5:07 AM, WaterfallMachine said:

@Leo Gura

I remember you said not to try to convince people. To leave that to you.

And that makes me wonder.

How the hell do you manage to convince people to radically change their beliefs? To not give a damn about any of the disbelief and still manage to continue? Be able to be this well known with it and also manage to keep growing with this? Any books or links to recommend? 

I'm not particularly set out for certain for it but when pondering my life purpose, I feel a certain magnetic pull to speaking or pursuing about controversial issues like this. And tend to notice that when seeing in my life and social issues that have to do with truth, the ability to look for it well and speak for it well, tend to produce stronger emotions in me — positive and negative. I keep daydreaming and thinking about doing something like you as I go through the day. But in another field yet with similar values.

Where can I start?

I don't really convince people. People gravitate towards what they're ready to hear.

But I do spend a lot of time thinking about how best to explain and articulate my ideas in a persuasive way. Most human minds are persuaded with good, clear explanations. That was the original purpose of reason and rhetoric. That's how the ancient Greeks and Romans used philosophy and rhetoric. When the truth is laid out very simply and clearly, people tend to grasp it. Socrates is a good example to study.

On 7/15/2017 at 6:49 AM, The White Belt said:

How often do you call or message your immediate family and have often do you go to see them in person? 

Does the thought of meditating in a cave shut off from the outside world make you afraid that your family will be worried sick about you, not knowing if you're dead or alive? 

I call and message pretty much every week. I visit them for Xmas once a year usually.

No, I don't really worry about my family worrying about me.

On 7/15/2017 at 7:31 AM, Loreena said:

How and when do/did  you connect to your Russian roots ? Any example ?

I basically don't. I'm not really a fan of Russian culture. Nor any culture for that matter. Even though I can appreciate cultures around the world, Russian culture -- to me -- is one of the lamest cultures around. Their cuisine, media, philosophy, religion, and literature sucks for the most part. At least it's not my cup of tea.

On 7/15/2017 at 2:21 PM, Afonso said:

1) Are you going to release the course on powering the subconscious mind?

2) When are you going to write a book called...

Mastering Life - A Western Guide to Self-Actualization

1) Not certain

2) The videos ARE that book

20 hours ago, Loreena said:

What are the release dates for the new course on subconscious mind. ?

Unknown

10 hours ago, Himanshu said:

Leo, do you think it was important for you to chase women and completely annihilate all that came up to you as 'your limitations'(That is, now you know that given the time and space, you can do anything you'd want to; be it picking up women or writing a movie script) - to find your life purpose and allow yourself to be completely absorbed within it?

I've never completely squashed my limitations. Many limitations still exist. I deal with them every day.

You don't wait to remove your limitation to find your LP. You find your LP in the midst of all your crippling limitations.

Doing pickup was an important part of my growth curve, but I never did it just to "chase women". It was a way to build socialization skills, understand how the opposite sex works, and I was interested in the self-actualization aspects of it most of all. No one path is ever all-important. It's like water running down a mountain, if one avenue is blocked, it will always find another way. So if I'd never done pickup, I think I still would have stumbled into self-actualization and enlightenment, but just in a different way. There were much deeper forces at play than pickup.

[Loreena]

Do you speak Russian ?  Like do you know the language.

Which all languages do you speak ?

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by Loreena

[Dan Arnautu]

@Loreena He talked in Russian in one of his videos (can't remember which one though) in order to prove that language is entirely arbitrary and that without knowing a language, it's words will sound just like a bunch of gibberish to you, with no logical or any other kind of sense at all.

[Dan Arnautu]

@Leo Gura Thank you for your answers, Leo! I really do appreciate you answering my questions. 

[Raphael]

@Leo Gura Do you still sometimes eat junk food?

[Himanshu]

Leo, not a question, a request. Even after the full-blown Enlightenment experience, as much you'd gravitate towards silence; please stay active within the world. Your work is irreplaceable. 

[Loreena]

You have a tremendously high intellectual maturity as per your age when you started with PD. I would rate you 10 out of 10 on the scale of intellectual maturity, whereas most people cannot even make it to 5. Either you have to be a genius or it must be a lot of work you put in early on. So I was wondering maybe you started out with PD pretty early on, just speculating. Did you start reading PD books as early as 16 or 17. When did you actually start. 

And do you think it was reading PD books that boosted your intellectual  growth/maturity to a very high level. If not that, then it must be an in-born skill which obviously others cannot acquire very easily.

[Leo Gura]

On 7/16/2017 at 5:36 PM, Loreena said:

Do you speak Russian ?  Like do you know the language.

Which all languages do you speak ?

Yes I speak it. I don't know any other languages.

On 7/17/2017 at 5:23 AM, Raphael said:

@Leo Gura Do you still sometimes eat junk food?

Depends on how you define "junk food". Stuff like candy bars? Pizza? Burgers? Bread? Cakes? Soda? Fast food?

No.

6 hours ago, Loreena said:

You have a tremendously high intellectual maturity as per your age when you started with PD. I would rate you 10 out of 10 on the scale of intellectual maturity, whereas most people cannot even make it to 5. Either you have to be a genius or it must be a lot of work you put in early on. So I was wondering maybe you started out with PD pretty early on, just speculating. Did you start reading PD books as early as 16 or 17. When did you actually start. 

And do you think it was reading PD books that boosted your intellectual  growth/maturity to a very high level. If not that, then it must be an in-born skill which obviously others cannot acquire very easily.

I always had high maturity. It was there when I was 7 years old, etc. I always thought about adult topics, even at that age.

I started existential questioning very early on, since my early teens. It wasn't about reading books. I was about contemplating how life works and why it works the way it works. That's actually a lot more effective than reading a bunch of books. I would call it a deep curiosity about the structure of reality.

Genius? No. I don't think so. Some in-born intelligence and consciousness? Sure, probably. But it's still not easy for me to grow. Growth is always relative to your old self, so it's always a struggle no matter where you're at.

[Anirban657]

@Leo Gura Is it possible for some folks to be enlightened by birth like the son of god kind of such like Jesus?

[Leo Gura]

@Anirban657 No, I don't think so. The self hasn't been yet created at birth, so enlightenment is just not applicable. It takes a baby about 2.5 years to start recognizing itself in the mirror. Until then, it is effectively enlightened, but doesn't know it.

[TJ Reeves]

@Leo GuraThe "understanding absolute infinity" video was a masterpiece. The order of the presentation's deconstruction of logic was beautiful in the same way a fine-art painting's construction is beautiful. 

So here's are my questions:

• How do you write down and/or construct your presentations?
• Do you read off a teleprompter? Is it all in your head? 
• How often do you practice each specific presentation before-hand?
• Do you talk with others for feedback beforehand? Does someone literally go "But leo?" 

I'm sure the people at Toastmasters didn't have you practicing 2 hour speeches. 

So far, I have this as my guess for your general format:

• Heeeeeey this is Leo and today we're talking about X
• [logo]
• One sentence main idea
• Define Main idea further
• One analogy 
• Everyday Examples (or, if it's a list video, begin the list)
• But Leo! Nuance question #1 
• But Leo! Nuance question #2
• ...
• But Leo! Nuance question #ABSOLUTEINFINITY
• Practical Application exercise/meditation/homework
• Wrap up 

Edited July 20, 2017 by TJ Reeves

[Edvard]

@Leo Gura If there was a mandatory military service in your country and you were ordered to serve, and if you disobeyed you would go to jail, what would you do?

And if you did the service, and later your country was attacked, meaning you would be ordered to fight. What would you then do?

Edited July 20, 2017 by Edvard

[Samuel Garcia]

@Leo Gura How do you act in public?  Do you often make a conversation with the cashier? Do you smile to people a lot? Are you exactly like  other people or could one tell that you are involved personal development and enlightenment? What do you do when your waiting, like in a line for something?

How was personal development and consciousness work affected the way you interact with strangers and with close ones like family and friends? Do have different feelings towards certain people then to strangers?

[art]

On 17.7.2017 at 2:14 AM, Leo Gura said:

I basically don't. I'm not really a fan of Russian culture. Nor any culture for that matter. Even though I can appreciate cultures around the world, Russian culture -- to me -- is one of the lamest cultures around. Their cuisine, media, philosophy, religion, and literature sucks for the most part. At least it's not my cup of tea.

BUT LEOOO Seriosly? Their literature is viewed as the finest. "Greatest writers" of all time such as Tolstoy, Dostojevskij are Russian, also you have the finest people in every chain of the theatre world from writers such as Chekhov, and the best theatre instructors in the world! Sergej Bondartsjuk made the best master piece of film ever that will get LOTR and Star Wars to look like ants next to giants with his War And Peace version.. And music! Oh god, you have the best classical musicians, and loads of giants of composers, I could talk for hours about this, but I would recommend you check out this for yourself  ... And Russian male choir is a divine beauty itself

Also you have the world finest ballerinas, and beautiful architecture! Either you have a shitty esthetic taste, or you´re just unaware of all the epochal art Russian people has created. COMMON MAN!  (A rant against Leo's comment on Russian culture) 

You talk a lot about "doing your Art" in The Life Purpose course, and as you mentioned in the last video, that "this is poetry" (similar to Oshos explanation of his teachings. 

My question is: What are your thoughts about the purpose of art?

[Wouter]

How did you come in contact with your "enlightened buddy"  that you once talked about in a forum post?

[Chrissy j]

@Leo Gura Are all your insights of your own mind or are they found by you learning from other teachers? Or do you learn things and make your own insights about everything you learn? And how often do you cross reference on the insights? What is the process for your insights that you share?

[The White Belt]

How do you plan what activities/research you will do for your days/months/years?

What is your system for this?

Do you have a tight to-do list to avoid procrastination/weak intentions, or a loose sort of list in order to go with the 'flow' of things?

[Edvard]

@Leo Gura Is there any chance that you, given the opportunity, would show up on a world famous talk show and talk about absolute infinity, or any other concept within self-actualization, for that matter?