How To Improve Actualized.org - Mega-Thread

[Carl-Richard]

1 hour ago, Raptorsin7 said:

It's just a distorted perception. 

You don't actually know what would happen if you joined a cult or this place became cult like.

When you find a way to process the fear make sure to make a tldr

The cult I was in was not a joke. It could've ended very badly (and in a way it did), and it all happened inside a Discord. You can ask other people on the forum who was also in it.

Edited November 29, 2022 by Carl-Richard

[Jake Chambers]

Weed trip report.

[Space]

@Leo Gura So i'm not sure if you're referring to Actualized.org as a whole, or whether you mean just the website? I don't really have anything to say about the website or future courses so I'll focus on the videos.

I think you've really hit a limit with the quality of your videos. As in, they're usually extremely high quality, deep, and arguably some of, if not the most profound, wise videos on Youtube. There's not much else you can do with your current content to improve I don't think. That's not to say you shouldn't continue making them and discussing new topics/insights - you absolutely should, of course. I've always felt they could be a little shorter but I fully understand why they are as long as they are, and there is absolutely an audience for long-form content these days. So its besides the point. To improve Actualized.org I think you could develop the brand in other ways. 

One of the things I think you could do to, not necessarily improve, but certainly expand the brand is to make more content for people who are just starting out with spiritual stuff, spiritual newbies or even rationalists, materialists, science people. Normies basically. I just think there is a massively untapped audience of people who need a more rational, kinda logical perspective on spirituality, and I know ultimately this work is completely illogical and irrational, but you gotta meet people where they're at. Like how would you start to explain God to a normie on the street? I'm constantly thinking about I would explain this spiritual stuff to someone who has no experience whatsoever. I think there is a huge amount on potential in this area. Because literally no one fucking gets it. There is so much ignorance around spirituality and psychedelics. As soon as someone starts to hear about spirituality they switch off - how do we change that? Even people who engage with spirituality, go on meditations retreats etc, they're clueless. I've spoken to so many people on retreats that honestly have no idea what spirituality is about. So what I'm saying it, and you're not gonna like this, but I think you need to dumb down your content and make it more accessible for normies. If someone has never watched an actualized.org video, how would you explain the true power of psychedelics in a way that doesn't make you sound like a crazy guy?

I'm also still adamant that engaging with other channels and online communities will be extremely fruitful and advantageous for Actualized.org and arguably your wallet. There's so much wisdom here, but not enough reach IMO. But again, you'd have to dumb down your stuff, cut out all the advanced spirituality, make spirituality more grounded, more relatable for normies. God Mouse is a no-go, for obvious reasons i'd hope. I think your discussions on those podcasts with Charlie Houpert and Curt were an exception and whilst they were extremely enjoyable for regular Actualize viewers, I personally don't think many people converted over from those channels. Dumbing the teachings down will also reduce the amount of criticism and flack you get from new people. Increasing your engagement with other channels more often would also require a bit of cleanup of your own image.

Anyway, just my thoughts! I'd be happy with any changes, always a fan  

Edited November 29, 2022 by Space

[Virtually]

More (even premature) anticipations on the new alien/abstract modes of thinking

[Loveeee]

Delve into lucid dreaming / astral projection / shifting (synonyms) , as I feel it is the next step once you've reached infinity 

[AndylizedAAY]

You know, for some reason, I set up notifications for actualized.org and yet i don't get any. The password that I also use sometimes doesn't work. These are just technical details, it's pretty difficult to try to improve such a high quality resource.

[Revolutionary Think]

None of this bullshit where you're in front of the camera telling us how inferior we are to you and your enlightenment @Leo Gura it's just demoralizing and annoying. I've reached this that this that this that and you're not even 1/999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 of where I am. This is just ridiculous and unproductive because if we are there what hope do we have of getting to 2/999999999999999999999999999 of where you are? Or whatever the hell. You're just making these assumptions. I think we need more moralizing content that gets our spirits up intead of just being told "you think you know something... you don't know anything" attitude that pervades your videos. (Some of your videos) anyway that'll be all. 

 

Peace. 

[Igor82]

Hello @Leo Gura! I regard the information you share as being highly valuable for society. I am very grateful for what I have so far reviewed (most of it); of what I know is your work.

Here are some of the problems or optimal transformations to make; that I see for Actualized.org and the forum it concerns:

• In the forum, there are; thousands of posts and only 14 categories to fit them all. This results in making it hard for me to find certain posts in the “ocean” of posts that are in one general category.
• It is hard for me to determine the quality of the posts due to the quality of the thumbnail for the posts being quite uninformative; where the thumbnail can be more than just this:
  • A title,
  • the name of the thread creator and the date on which the thread was created,
  • when the last post was made and by whom,
  • how many replies and views a thread has,
  • and the optional tags of; “Hot, Featured, Locked, Pinned”.
• Instead, there can in my opinion be:
  • A custom descriptive picture that the creator of the thread chooses for the thread.
  • Certain types of tags (from 1-10) rating the quality of the thread in different ways such as;
    • the general “quality requirement”, and the “general quality” of the thread itself; where this can give people an expectation of what is allowed to post in a thread (according to the “quality requirement”), and also if it is worth reading (according to the “general quality”).
    • Here are some more ideas for tags that can be visible (even only as symbols) as inclusions for thumbnails for threads;

1. Comprehensiveness (being the rating of the quality or efficacy of the words being written).
2. Information density (being the rating of the “richness” or “density” of the information that is in the thread).
3. Poeticness (how artful or beautiful the sum of the content of the thread is).
4. Thread length (being the amount of content that a thread has within it).

• There can perhaps be more tags that can also display (or stand for) the sub-topics that the main 14 categories themselves can be split into; such as having the thousands of threads that are currently existing; be more optimally divided into at least 100 categories (or tags).
• There can also be differences in the colors and even the size of the letters forming the titles of the threads in order to categorize them,
  • where one idea that came to my mind when writing this is to in this way perhaps clarify the different stages of the spiral (from spiral dynamics) to which the thread relates to.
• In these ways of categorizing the information, it will certainly be easier for users to find the posts or threads that they prefer to read, and also identify the posts or threads which they don’t prefer to read. This will over time filter away “shitposts” due to people becoming more proficient at ignoring them due to the clarity of categorization (such as the tags above) being put in place for certain threads or posts to be found.

 

There is more:

• I have noticed that the search function for the forum is roughly in my rating; 2/10 compared to the 10/10 that would be what Google offers with their search functionality (where the search function for the forum does seem to require the spelling to be exact, rather than approximate, and that the results are not sorted by certain kinds of relevance, with more to be said about that).
• I have noticed that the logo for the forum (as seen below) can be improved to be more representative of the meaning of the forum. Especially the font for “Self-Improvement” can be more stylish where the letters themselves can be more aligned and colorful.

• Also, instead of having a black background as implied on the top 1/6th of the frontpage for the forum as seen through my monitor, there can in my opinion be a more colorful background of even a symbolic image such as one from your “The Gallery Of Absolute Infinity” video (https://youtu.be/m7t75E2gCg8):

• And also, your “free email updates” has not arrived to me for about three years as far as I know.

• Also; there are radical differences between the meaning of all of these categories (buttons), yet they look very similar to each other in terms of the colors, shapes and fonts (as seen in the images below). My suggestion here is to make each individual “gateway” (or button) to be customized in its design to what kind of “world” (or webpage) it leads to.

• The same goes for this:

• Another request I have is for this text (as seen below) to instead contain the logo for the forum (now describing “Self-Improvement FORUM”) to be that, instead of “Actualized.org Forum” in order to make it more recognizable.

• Also, this part of the main page takes up so much space (which is seen below), where the space under the search box can for example be reserved for suggestions for browsing; such as a list of the categories your videos belong to, perhaps even with something similar to that which is the organized structure of the “playlists” page that is found on your Youtube channel page.

• And, the “log in” button can look to be more exciting or colorful (so to speak):

• And I also see it as appropriate that the same suggestion as above goes for the “create” button for the forum:

• Also, the design of this heading is “relatively primitive” in my opinion; because it uses the same fonts that describe the title of the discussion area to create a categorization for it; where some other kind of design can be what creates the categorization instead:

• And also, these logos can be replaced with representative images.

• Another suggestion I have is that you can in my opinion describe this text more professionally or appropriately using one of the words; “Subjects, topics, resources, etc” rather than the word “Stuff”.

• Also, there are many words describing one kind of “categorization”, where I see 11 words that are synonyms to describe one “field” or “area” (as seen in the picture below). Yet, there can instead perhaps be there one word describing the area itself, and 10 words describing the sub-categories within that area, which can somehow be accessible; perhaps through a bullet list below the general description of the area itself, or by having a “toggle heading” function just like in the app Notion, as shown here; " https://www.notion.vip/unwrapping-notions-newest-features/ ".

 

Now. I have a grand idea for actualized.org and even the forum, which is to use the app or software called Notion to embrace (but perhaps not replace); all of the information that concerns actualized.org.

I have tempered with building a commonplace book or such a database for all of my information ever since Leo released his video about it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wNk25KEBpw).

I have diligently used Microsoft One Note (2011) for a couple of years, but then one day when I saw what Notion is, I realized quickly that the future of my commonplace book is to be used through Notion as it seemed to be a very promising app with features that One Note generally was lacking in.

This made me start a construction project to have a ready-made system for all of my notes to reside in, where this database within Notion would embrace any kind of information that I can use in my life which is also digital.

After having worked on the project for over 250 hours of focused deep work in total spanning over 18 months, I finally completed what I call the “Cortex” which is the structure of my notion systems today.

I have not yet found anybody on the internet who has evolved database systems for Notion in similar ways where the information is much more interconnected; available (to be found), visible (in many ways); within categories that can embrace endless amounts of information (deepening to sub-categories of; sub-categories of main areas, and possibly beyond that).

I know that Notion can function as a forum for many people to discover and unfold information in many new or innovative ways.

A book has some sort of information categorization to it; being the title of the book, then the chapters, then the headings within them, and more. A commonplace book can in similar ways have its information be categorized and then read like a book, similar to how Wikipedia works, although it can also have a structure to resemble or be conducive to; how the mind most easily categorizes information, so that the structure can be mastered or “gotten used to”. In this way, a commonplace book can become a very powerful tool or extension of the mind.

I intuitively know the power of the independently developed database systems I have created within Notion, where I see that It’s more efficient for the time being for me to develop myself spiritually before starting to use this tool because it can otherwise limit me if I use it improperly or without the information required to use it as efficiently as possible.

As said, I see that my systems can be used in a way that efficiently “extends the mind”; and I see it as amazing that this can be done collectively within Notion, so as to say that the same systems that can extend the mind of the individual, can extend the minds of many or several individuals together in order to form a kind of collective commonplace book which can be structured as optimally as possible to fulfill the purpose of most efficiently making available to the collective the information that individuals need to find; perhaps through making the information very easy to find or browse with the use of tags in systemic ways, topic-categorizations, efficient visibility, sophisticated search functions, interconnectedness or interlinkages in various ways, and more!

Leo, I am inviting you to share a zoom call or communications with me in similar ways so that we can together review these systems that I am talking about, and this will perhaps inspire you to use these systems for personal use, or perhaps for the forum in general if you wish.

I will send you a private message with a link to this post, and also my private contact information so that we can communicate more easily going forward.

I also wish to point out that I see myself as a highly developed human being. In this way, I see it as efficient for me to deliver information appropriately so that it efficiently facilitates or inspires change or aid for as many people as possible (towards joy)!

For example, I think that Leo works more efficiently when a topic he talks about is heard by thousands of people in total, rather than just one individual off the streets (so to speak).

And so for example when I take my time to write something of quality (of course) on perhaps a forum like this, then it is quite fulfilling for me to know that many people will review the information rather than “maybe the one individual that has created the thread”; and for my text later to be “hard to find” in the “ocean of topics”.

Or (as a joke): it’s like instead of Leo filming a video like he usually does, he then translates the words spoken in the video into text format and then only posts the text to the forum, to then let the 2/10 search function do its part in fulfilling the task of presenting the information efficiently to as many members of the human race as possible.

The reason why I’m taking my time to write this specific post is because I know it is highly efficient for the greatest good of all of life for me to do so.

PS: You may know that you can add vision-logic to your use of words, such as how a painting can be described with a thousand words; you can use the aid of pictures or videos (that perhaps are AI-generated) to more accurately or efficiently represent the insights that you deliver within your videos.

Thank you for everything, I am grateful for what is God.

Edited November 29, 2022 by Igor82

[herghly]

@Leo Gura More videos on integrating insights. Many people who watch you are using psychedelics and probably struggling with integration. 

[Carl-Richard]

My main wish is that you don't forget this one:

I think you've been doing better though.

[thisintegrated]

See, @Leo Gura? It's not just me wanting things my way.

People are repeating my ideas cause good UX is largely universal.

[integral]

1. Option to create private journals or option to set who can read the journal or who cannot. Will make moderating easier.
2. improve the block system so people can no longer see that the person left a message but it’s hidden, make it completely hidden with no indication that they left a message.
3. add a productivity section where people can share the work they are doing and motivate each other to do the work. I would go as far as give people a weekly quota, at the bare minimum people need to actually watch your videos. I want this place to integrate productivity incentives into its design but maybe it already has. ?
4. Display a quote of wisdom or holistic thinking tips or forum guide tips just next to or inside the comment box so that people who are commenting are incentivized to speak from their highest self. Many spiritual forums have this and it works, it creates a different atmosphere.
5. Create a discovery page similar to the feed page except with modern design and consumption ux, the good stuff goes to the top. I want to be able to see the top 10 topics in each sub forum on one page.
6. Make a option in reports to have a dialogue or direct communication with the person being reported. I find that opening a direct message with a person and giving them positive feedback to correct behaviour is 100 times more effective than giving points. Right now I need to open a direct message manually it would be nice if it was integrated into the report interface. Basically if you become someone’s friend they change their entire experience of the forum.
7. Enhance the profile page to make it display the top 10 topics the person has created, this will give a incentive to create good topics. Add a whole reward and badge system if you want.
8. Give mods the ability to prevent two people from communicating for a duration. Exactly like a timeout system for children. Sometimes people need to be blocked forcefully blocked from each other.

Edited November 30, 2022 by integral

[ValiantSalvatore]

Health cults are a classic I've heared a couple of stories from "muslim" type health cults in Germany where there is a lot of abuse and young people fall for it, it's almost comical. Take the first 4 stages of development and you practically create a cult. Beige, Purple, Red, Blue at orange it get's decent and at Green there might be some scandelous stuff, that in the big picture is not that harmful. At least not directly, more indirectly like Culadasa although trauma is a different thing. 

Also all of these communities don't practice shadow work mostly, stuff will and can happen. Prevention is basically an angels work lol. 

Edited November 30, 2022 by ValiantSalvatore

[manifestinggal456]

Maybe let me change my username because when I made it, it makes perfect sense. However, looking at it again I'm like uh, that words not suppose to be in there *shrug. Edit, or it looks like another word that I don't want in my username lol

Edited November 30, 2022 by manifestinggal456

[ValiantSalvatore]

Me also I prefer changing my username I would even pay for it lol.

[traveller]

Maybe it would be nice to see your artistic side more. I don't know how but integrating your art side to web site and even videos. 

Your drawings are very nice.. I remember that cat trying to get it's tail. That sort of graphics, drawings etc. would be so nice to explain absract subjects. 

Also some live streams in a more natural, friendly manner.  a little bit personal life.. at least just to put on blog.

[Juan]

LOTS of great ideas here, specifically for how the site can improve. Instead of “Make America Great Again”, “Make Actualized.org Great Again”.??

Edited November 30, 2022 by Juan

[Dorje Chang]

All things considered, Actualized.org is one of the best resources on the internet, and probably the most profound. Thanks, Leo!

1.

Actualized.org is a lot about your own journey of psychedelic awakening, which is understandable, but you have a more lot to offer that is valuable to people on various dimensions of personal and spiritual development.  For example, you got me into real yoga, shamanic breathing, developmental psychology and other things that took me to the next level, even though I was already doing other things. 

Don't leave this behind.

You can continue to follow your path and integrate your awakenings while continuing to create content that is not as advanced but much more useful for most of your audience. You have a business, relationships, and presumably human problems yourself, so the basic stuff continues to be relevant even for someone like you. 

2. 

There's a huge amount of useful knowledge across the videos, the blog, and the forum.  Consolidating this knowledge in the form of a book, courses, or even a wiki would be a massive contribution to the world. 

 

 

[something_else]

6 minutes ago, Akashic said:

Thank you for all the work you've done on self improvement and spirituality Leo. And also, for this forum in general. They're all high quality and there's nothing else like them on YouTube really. Anyway, I'm wondering if you can add an option for the journal section to lock it from being commented or followed. It would be really helpful to prevent vandalizers and trolls from harassing the members.

I hope you get to read this, and keep being amazing! @Leo Gura

Why not just write in private journals at that point? I've never really understood why someone would make their journals so public in the first place unless they were willing to face other's opinions, feedback and criticisms on them.

Journals on here are indexed by Google, which means anything you write there is scraped, stored and indexed in databases and easily accessible by anyone on the planet with the right search terms. If you can't handle some criticism on them, use a private note taking system. It'll be a million times better than the features the forum offers for writing anyway.

I don't see vandalizes and trolls on journals, I see people basically doing what they do elsewhere on the forum which is disagree and argue with stuff people say. If you can't handle that on your journals then why not just write private journals instead? This isn't criticism, I genuinely want to understand the mindset of someone who wants to publicise so many private details of their life

[integral]

Read only journals are necessary.