The YouTuber Who Started a Cult

[Ninja_pig]

This is a video that I believe brings up valid issues with Actualized.org:

This is my comment under the video:

[I'm going to sound like an actualized (get it) internet soy brainwashed wojack by saying this, but Leo has had a big positive influence on my life personally. I'm going to try to justify some of his actions in this comment.

 

First thing I should say is he is entirely unequipped to handle the problem of THREE PEOPLE committing suicide as a direct result of his videos. His whole attitude towards the topic is atrocious, and he absolutely needs to come up with a more effective means of preventing such events in the future, along with protocols to follow if suicide is a possibility for one of his followers. He changes what he says all the time about how life and spirituality works and whatnot but rarely acknowledges such contradictions in his videos. He also blames his followers for not accepting or understanding properly what he his saying which is absolutely the WRONG thing to do. He justifies this attitude by saying he is simply not tolerating people's ignorance but even if he is the all powerful enlightened master of the world, this is still an unwise approach. I also don't like his views on dating and the whole manosphere side of him. This is something that can be done away with I think.

 

That being said, I am here to propose that not only are his teachings correct (when understood properly), they also have a huge potential for positive impact on the world, and already have helped many people. For me personally, it was his videos that got me OUT of the "athiest vs. theist" mentality that Thunderfoot pedals in his videos, which I watched a lot of. He gave me a new perspective on spirituality, religion, and a new way to think about life in general. He also instilled in me a very serious sense of open-mindedness and cognitive discipline (as I would call it). An ability to question beliefs of all kinds to a level that is not normally even thought possible among most people. I have taken a few doses of magic mushrooms at the inspiration of Leo and have had have had huge benefits (I will not go into the specifics). I did outside research on the affects of psychedelics on the human mind, potential negative effects, and was very careful while taking the doses to ensure nothing tragic would happen (which is a very real possibility if the right precautions are not taken, and is something I believe Leo should emphasize more). 

 

On the apparent pedophilia justification and mother fixation: 

 

Pedophilia is used as an example in his work because it is pretty much the most appalling  topic he can think of. He uses this to try to back up the point that morality is human-centric and created by humans, and there is nothing universally objective about it. He does not make his assertion about the made-up nature of morals simply to justify pedophilia. He definitely was very rude and immature to Kevin, and I have no idea how he expects that behavior to convince more people of his own assertions. IDK what the pedophilia symbol thing is about though. I definitely hope he did not do that on purpose. If he is a pedophile that would make me very sad.

 

The mother thing is also him using the topic of mothers to make one of his points. Most people hold their mother very near and dear to them in their hearts. He is encouraging people to question even their most sacred of beliefs in order to stop being attached to the ones the hold that are false and holding them back from further spiritual understanding.

 

As far as the whole enlightenment, "I am god" thing is concerned, I would encourage anyone reading this to not instantly reject such statements merely because they are wacky and outrageous. Take the attitude of "It's probably false, but I'm going to try to at least understand what he is saying". It won't hurt to just consider new ideas, and you can always go back to the sane mainstream once you are done.

 

For those who's lives have been negatively affected by Leo's teachings, I want to say that while they can be positive, he definitely is irresponsible giving such black and white, life altering statements to such a wide audience that could include children and people with mental illness. Especially the topic of psychedelics. That stuff is way more dangerous than he says. He needs to be much more responsible with his platform. He always says to take his teachings with skepticism and not accept them blindly, but he should have realized by now that this is not enough to prevent people ruining their lives using his ideas.]

Let me know your guys' thoughts. 

[Leo Gura]

Anyone accusing me of running a suicide cult here will be banned. I am done entertaining your shameless crap. There is nothing black and white about my advice. So be very careful what you post here.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Something Funny]

@Leo Gura I don't get why people keep making those videos at all... It's not even like you are such a hype youtuber to get lots of views from you.

Also this channel is seems so cringe. Their whole business model is based on attacking others. And their thumbnails make me want to puke.

[Leo Gura]

@Something Funny I have no problem with people making smear videos about me. That's how the internet works. But I expect people here to be more intelligent than to spread them or take them seriously.

It is insulting to my intelligence to have to listen to such ignorant smears of my work. If you want to smear my work, go ahead, but at least don't do it to my face and still expect me to interact with you or take you seriously.

As soon as I see that you are not serious about my work, my interaction with you is over. That's my new policy.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Leo Gura

[something_else]

2 hours ago, Something Funny said:

I don't get why people keep making those videos at all... It's not even like you are such a hype youtuber to get lots of views from you.

It's really not that surprising at all that people keep making videos like this. There are two reasons:

• Channels like this (which are really only one step above reaction channels in terms of the value they provide) need to keep making content or their channel will die very quickly.
• From first impression actualized.org does actually look like a cult.  Especially to the major demographics on the internet who have all largely been brought up atheist + anti-religion and have an aneurysm whenever they hear the word God, or anything remotely immaterial.

I actually think Leo has created a cult somewhat unintentionally to be honest. It seems a lot of people do take his statements as gospel rather than actually understanding the core message, which is to investigate the nature of truth and reality for yourself.

Maybe it would be a good idea to create a video at the top of the actualized.org YT channel that explains what's said in 'The Metamorphosis Of My Work' blog post and title it something along the lines of 'watch this first'. Because a lot of what's explained in that blog post adds valuable context to the other actualized.org spiritual content that, when heard in isolation, can sound very culty.

Edited April 18, 2023 by something_else

[LSD-Rumi]

@Leo Gura What are they even talking about? Lol. If you were making a death cult, why are you posting hundreds of videos on various topics from personal development to philosophy to spirituality instead of just explicitly telling people to kill themselves?. The claim in itself is silly.

 

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by LSD-Rumi

[Ninja_pig]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Anyone accusing me of running a suicide cult here will be banned. I am done entertaining your shameless crap. There is nothing black and white about my advice. So be very careful what you post here.

ooo Im vewy scawed (´・ω・`)

Pwease don't ban me mistwer , I onwy wnated to make the fowum better, safer, and mowe accecable for evwyone

[Thought Art]

We already have a thread with this video

[Vido]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

@Something Funny I have no problem with people making smear videos about me. That's how the internet works. But I expect people here to be more intelligent than to spread them or take them seriously.

It is insulting to my intelligence to have to listen to such ignorant smears of my work. If you want to smear my work, go ahead, but at least don't do it to my face and still expect me to interact with you or take you seriously.

As soon as I see that you are not serious about my work, my interaction with you is over. That's my new policy.

I watched the video, it was like watching google images or ratings of the movie and then judging the movie as if you saw it.

 

in that video, he mentioned how you claim yourself as God. However, in reality, you said YOU ARE GOD and so am I

 

huge diff

[MarkKol]

This is a great reminder to read the cult books on the booklist if your schedule is free 

Read the books, come back here and rethink your accusations. 

What does that guy know about cults that we don’t?

These YouTubers never criticize things that are positively held by the culture, there you go.

16 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotARobot said:

Having people make videos like this is significantly better than being burned on the stake, which is precisely what has happened to countless mystics throughout the ages. This only really matters if you care about your image above everything else.

Humans were so fucked back then you would probably get stoned or hanged for talking about today’s basic science

Edited April 18, 2023 by MarkKol

[Danioover9000]

@Ninja_pig

11 hours ago, Ninja_pig said:

This is a video that I believe brings up valid issues with Actualized.org:

This is my comment under the video:

[I'm going to sound like an actualized (get it) internet soy brainwashed wojack by saying this, but Leo has had a big positive influence on my life personally. I'm going to try to justify some of his actions in this comment.

 

First thing I should say is he is entirely unequipped to handle the problem of THREE PEOPLE committing suicide as a direct result of his videos. His whole attitude towards the topic is atrocious, and he absolutely needs to come up with a more effective means of preventing such events in the future, along with protocols to follow if suicide is a possibility for one of his followers. He changes what he says all the time about how life and spirituality works and whatnot but rarely acknowledges such contradictions in his videos. He also blames his followers for not accepting or understanding properly what he his saying which is absolutely the WRONG thing to do. He justifies this attitude by saying he is simply not tolerating people's ignorance but even if he is the all powerful enlightened master of the world, this is still an unwise approach. I also don't like his views on dating and the whole manosphere side of him. This is something that can be done away with I think.

 

That being said, I am here to propose that not only are his teachings correct (when understood properly), they also have a huge potential for positive impact on the world, and already have helped many people. For me personally, it was his videos that got me OUT of the "athiest vs. theist" mentality that Thunderfoot pedals in his videos, which I watched a lot of. He gave me a new perspective on spirituality, religion, and a new way to think about life in general. He also instilled in me a very serious sense of open-mindedness and cognitive discipline (as I would call it). An ability to question beliefs of all kinds to a level that is not normally even thought possible among most people. I have taken a few doses of magic mushrooms at the inspiration of Leo and have had have had huge benefits (I will not go into the specifics). I did outside research on the affects of psychedelics on the human mind, potential negative effects, and was very careful while taking the doses to ensure nothing tragic would happen (which is a very real possibility if the right precautions are not taken, and is something I believe Leo should emphasize more). 

 

On the apparent pedophilia justification and mother fixation: 

 

Pedophilia is used as an example in his work because it is pretty much the most appalling  topic he can think of. He uses this to try to back up the point that morality is human-centric and created by humans, and there is nothing universally objective about it. He does not make his assertion about the made-up nature of morals simply to justify pedophilia. He definitely was very rude and immature to Kevin, and I have no idea how he expects that behavior to convince more people of his own assertions. IDK what the pedophilia symbol thing is about though. I definitely hope he did not do that on purpose. If he is a pedophile that would make me very sad.

 

The mother thing is also him using the topic of mothers to make one of his points. Most people hold their mother very near and dear to them in their hearts. He is encouraging people to question even their most sacred of beliefs in order to stop being attached to the ones the hold that are false and holding them back from further spiritual understanding.

 

As far as the whole enlightenment, "I am god" thing is concerned, I would encourage anyone reading this to not instantly reject such statements merely because they are wacky and outrageous. Take the attitude of "It's probably false, but I'm going to try to at least understand what he is saying". It won't hurt to just consider new ideas, and you can always go back to the sane mainstream once you are done.

 

For those who's lives have been negatively affected by Leo's teachings, I want to say that while they can be positive, he definitely is irresponsible giving such black and white, life altering statements to such a wide audience that could include children and people with mental illness. Especially the topic of psychedelics. That stuff is way more dangerous than he says. He needs to be much more responsible with his platform. He always says to take his teachings with skepticism and not accept them blindly, but he should have realized by now that this is not enough to prevent people ruining their lives using his ideas.]

Let me know your guys' thoughts. 

   IMO it's not worth commenting on. Realistically you're not going to be like Destiny, and persuade the YouTuber to change their minds. Do you even know how much time, energy and effort goes into making a video? At this point it's not debatable whether you should be attacking or defending a video, it's just a waste of time in most cases because they double down and obfuscate and gaslight how they're right and you're wrong and deluded. I sometimes do this mistake as well, but it's one time comments and I reference psychological modals I've learnt, and most still stay with their positions. I even commented on a react YouTube channel of rap songs, and I commented and showcased my tier 2 cognitive commentary, and I intuitively felt from reading his reply is that he's scared of my cognition, and even tries to write my comment off as too vague and too extrapolatory everywhere, even cites his so called 17 years of behavioral psychology to justify his low grade opinionated reaction video, no matter how I tried to clarify to him it's commenting on the bigger aspects and it's nothing personal to him but it got so irritating that I just ended it with a gotcha comment and left. It's just not worth it to babble to these who are committed to staying to a sinking ship sinking to the oceans depths.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Danioover9000

[Princess Arabia]

I am so over this cult thing. Religion is a cult. Cult is short for culture. Same etymology. So I guess me eating rice and peas and jerk chicken because I'm Jamaican and adopted it from my culture is being cultish. 

[M A J I]

Everyone is their own unique expression of the divine, there are ultimately no right or wrongs for ultimately almost all of us are still discovering ourselves. Its upto you to decipher what is truth and what is not, what works for you and what doesn't. Use your intelligence or be consumed.

[Basman]

The Youtuber in question was just looking for content for his drama channel. It is not hard to dismiss all of Actialized as a cult.

Mostly only people within the Actualized niche genuinely care. Most who watched that video are just there for the entertainment

[Danioover9000]

@Ninja_pig  Did you know in the original video, he titled the video with words like suicide and death, but changed it later due to anticipating a backlash?

[itsadistraction]

Christians and Muslims have committed suicide. So that means their ideologies are dangerous! Lol

[Danioover9000]

   We need to cull down the dramatization, the bickering toxicity creating hatred.