Where do I begin?

[AndylizedAAY]

Hello everyone, I think I can't concentrate on any of these questions. What do I do if the questions seem unanswerable? I've been stagnating on assignments and have seen no progress. This is a long list and the file would probably be too big to share here. There is also this book called Define Your Why and even those questions I'm stuck on. I don't want to confuse you with that other list so I will just post this for now. HI acknowledge that all of this needs to be contemplated for myself. Here is what I need to work on (more organized on Google Docs):

 

Questions and Exercises to Work On
What are your top fears and insecurities?
How did it shape your early survival challenges?
How did it shape your values?
What strategies did you invent to get love?
In what ways are you overcompensating?
What are some outdated survival patterns, armor and defense mechanisms you still act out today?
How did they serve you in the past?
How are they limiting you today?
What would it look like if you let them go?
What are you afraid would happen if you let them go?

What area in life am I able to produce an amazing creative result in?
Your vision needs to cover the field itself.

Why is integrity important?
What integrity do you lack or have?

How many problems are there in the world because of unholistic thinking (contemplate)?
How many personal problems or the problems of people you know do you or the people you know have because of unholistic thinking?
Thinking holistically requires appreciating the value of holism and vice versa. 
Ask higher quality questions
developing intuition
Don't accept reductionistic answers
Study many perspectives
deconstruct the materialist and mechanical paradigm
Study systems thinking
Start to consider externalities and collateral damage
Read holistic thinkers
Step outside of your survival concerns
Study yourself-biases
Get rid of judging and criticizing
Everyone is right partially
1. How are x and y interconnected?
2. What is the big picture here?
3. What is the larger context of this?
4. What is the ultimate point of all this? (What you are currently doing)
5. Why am I doing this at all?
6. How is this a part of something larger?
    1. How does this part serve the larger whole?
    2. How is this part of a duality? Do you have the whole story / all points of the same story?
    3. How will this invert? How will this duality boomerang?
7. What is the highest good for the whole?
8. How should the parts be rebalanced for the good of the whole?
9. Which parts are out of balance, leeching selfishly from the whole?
10.  How is this fragmented?
11. How am I drawing the boundary of the system?
    1. How can I redraw the boundary to expand the boundary?
12. How am I involved in the situation? - the rainforest ex.
13. How would god see this situation?
    1. Unbiased, Selfless, unattached, fearless, benevolent, all loving, all understanding, non-judgmental, self accepting and seeking exquisite balance for the good of wall
14. How can I better serve the greatest whole?
There are 2 versions of holism:
There is holism with a lowercase h and Holism with a capital H (includes reductionism).
Holism is a function of consciousness (cannot think your way to the highest Holism)
The one who is most holistic wins the game of life

 Pay attention to dualities functioning in life and make your own list of them.
What is duality part 2 

 “Everything arises in this way: opposites from their opposites.” -plato

(scientific + existential)

Concepts and ideas are categories which is duality which is groundless 

duality is not just pairs of 2 you don't just find opposites for categories you could also find 3, 4 … there's infinite dualities we can have in nonduality. 

Categories lead to more categories, all categories break and lead into something else.  

Science deludes itself by going through the filters of their categories; those categorial filters are what distorts it.

Human created categories 

All science is direct experience. It's all first person. You cannot do proper science unless you understand the relativity of science.

yoga=science of consciousness

How you frame your problems determines the solutions you get, how you frame your question determines what kind of answers you get. It's not necessarily about the problem or the answer itself. The solution is found in the problem and the answer is the question. 

Examples of 3

straight  vs gay vs bisexual/ sexual spectrum

Red vs green vs ultraviolet/ Color spectrum 

Scientific dualities 

Solid vs liquid vs gas vs plasma  

Conductor vs insulator vs semiconductor vs superconductor

Land vs water- land shapes the way water flows, the flow shapes the land and the shape of the water is determined by the land.  

Ecosphere/geosphere vs biosphere vs atmosphere vs hydrosphere 

Planets vs asteroids vs planetoids 

Life vs non-life 

Inanimate vs animate 

Plant vs animal 

Animal vs human 

Hardware vs software vs operating system  

Digital vs analogue 

Matter vs energy e=mc2

Matter vs antimatter

Electricity vs magnetism

Space vs time 

Quantum vs relative  

Theory vs practice ‘important video

Theory vs reality  cannot separate the two theory is reality 

System vs environment 

Organism vs environment 

I vs environment

Inorganic vs organic 

Eukaryotic vs prokaryotic

Sentient vs non sentient can a rock become sentient can a computer become sentient is sentient absolute

Nature vs nurture 

Genetics vs environment epigenetics your genetics change from your environment 

First person vs third person 

Science vs philosophy science evolved from philosophy 

Science vs metaphysics 

Science vs math 

Science vs art 

Science vs pseudoscience (most pseudoscience is inaccurate) 

Science vs religion 

Science vs spirituality 

Science vs yoga

Science vs consciousness

Consciousness vs meditation

Science vs culture 

Hard science vs soft science 

Natural vs unnatural 

Natural vs artificial

Evolution vs design 

Evolution vs creation 

Inside vs outside 

Internal vs external   human beings are shaped like donut exactly like a paradox 

Micro vs macro

Western vs eastern medicine 

Rational vs irrational 

Rational vs intuitive 

Skepticism vs faith 

Fact vs interpretation

Empirical data vs interpretation facts don't care about your feelings being wrong. All logic is dictated by your feelings. You cannot separate a fact by your interpretation from the fact but you can believe you can if your emotions want too. You don't have a single fact only interpretations  

Reason vs feelings 

Dependent vs independent 

Contingent vs necessary 

Philosophical duality 

a priori vs a posteriori this one is confusing a priori ;independent and prior to experience and a posteriori; dependent upon experience you cannot separate the two 

Analytical truth vs synthetic 

Relevant vs irrelevant

Quantitative vs qualitative  

Quantity vs quality 

Natural vs supernatural

Witch vs shaman/unknown

Mind vs body has been resolved for at least 5000 years by humans merging with nonduality 

Mind vs brain

Subject vs object 

Physical vs mental Psychophysical or Mental (without a brain) 

Physical vs non physical

Material vs immaterial 

Same vs different 

Variable vs constant 

Input vs output 

Form vs function 

Syntax vs semantics 

Control vs controlled 

Determinism vs free will -divine will gods will 

Analysis vs synthesis 

Analytic vs holistic 

‘Technology vs magic’ -Arthur c. Clarke everything is magic reality is magic 

Cause vs effect every effect has a cause of something else 

Consistent vs inconsistent/contradiction

Discovery vs invention 

heterogeneous vs homogeneous

Linear vs nonlinear 

Problem vs solution 

Possible vs impossible

Chicken vs egg the chicken is the egg you can't have chicken without egg or egg without chicken 

Credential vs credentials 

Newby vs expert 

Map vs territory the map was always the territory all there is is or ever was is Territory which includes all maps 

Brain vs thought 

Objects vs thoughts 

Notice how these dualities function in your day to day life. Write down a list of these dualities that you are noticing and realize the width and depth of this rabbit whole. Work through all these dualities and discover them collapse don't believe the list does the work and discover the limitations of the dualistic mind you project on the whole world like you were given a math problem. 

How did you know which sources to trust and which sources not to trust back then? 

Write out your priorities and goals
What would I regret when I'm 40 or 50?

 Ask what the frame of reference is in response including your own beliefs.
Translate what people say relative to ______.
Ask why you get triggered by things.
Assume that something is true then try to look how it can be false.

Although you have answered them in your notebook, you should keep your notes in one place. Here are the questions:
Try to answer these questions:
Metaphysical: About reality
1. How come existence exists at all?
2. What is existence?
3. How is existence related to non-existance?
4. Why is reality structured as it is?
5. Are there other possible ways reality can be ordered other than our own?
6. Why are the laws of physics the way they are?
7. Which comes first: consciousness or matter? Does consciousness come out of matter or does matter occur within consciousness?
8. What is matter, energy, space, time?
9. What is outside the universe? Is it infinite or finite? Why?
10. What existed before the big bang?
11. How does the material interact with the immaterial?
12. What governs what’s possible and impossible in the universe? What sets limits on the universe?
13. What governs emergent properties (eg atoms, molecules)?
14. How can emergent properties arise out of nowhere?
15. What makes a thing a thing? What is an object (a single thing, multiple things)?
16. Does reality have a bottom most scale? Eg lower than atoms, and lower than than. Does reality have a top most scale eg higher than planets, universes etc. Are there limits or do the levels go infinitely up and down
17. Does the evolution of the universe have a purpose? If so, where does it lead to?
18. Does external reality exist at all?
19. What is God? What would the concept of God entail?
20. What are thoughts?
21. How did life start? Aka Where did it all come from?

Epistemic: The study of knowledge
1. How do we know what we know?
2. How can I know anything for certain?
3. What makes justifications valid?
4. Why do billions of people believe in God?
5. Why do people disagree about good and bad, right and wrong, moral and immoral?
6. How come intelligent people delude themselves? Eg scientists who are creationists. How can I be sure that I’m not deluded?
7. How do I know that I’m not indoctrinated aka brainwashed into believing things without thinking about them myself.
8. What is science? Is it the best way of arriving at knowledge?
9. What are the limits of science? Are there things that science can’t understand/explain?
10. What is mathematics? What makes it valid?
11. What are the limits of mathematics? Is it displayed by reality or projected by the human mind?
12. What is rationality? How does it work and why is it valid? Limitless? Displayed by reality or projected by the human mind`
13. Which is more valid, the senses, rationality, or intuition?
14. What are the biases/blind spots of humanity as a whole?
15. How do animals understand reality?
16. Are there creatures with higher intelligence than humans? If so, how can we be certain of our knowledge?
17. Why is human knowledge taken as the ultimate truth?
18. What is the truth? Is is objective or subjective
19. Where does understanding come from? How can we rely upon it?
20. What is the ultimate truth?
21. What is the best way to acquire knowledge?
22. Is reality understandable? Can humans understand it all or not because we are limited

Self: You as an individual
1. How can I be sure that I exist at all?
2. If I exist, what am I? Biological? How do I know?
3. How did I, aka the identity of me, come into being?
4. What justifies identifying with the body or the mind? If the body is yours and the mind is too, who owns these things
5. If I am the body and the mind, what is everything else. Where do ‘I’ stop and the rest of the world begin?
6. What is in control of my thoughts?
7. What is my role in reality? My purpose?
8. How should I live my life to maximize happiness?

Consciousness: The mind and all mental fabrications
1. What is consciousness? 
2. How is perception possible?
3. What unifies our senses into a seamless experience?
4. What if there are higher levels of consciousness? What would that mean for our understanding of the world?
5. What about the different levels of consciousness eg on psychedelics, meditation. What do they mean? Are they better/worse/more or less real than ordinary consciousness?
6. Are consciousnesses separate or is consciousness one thing?
7. Can artificial consciousness be created
8. Can consciousness be split or joined?
9. Could inanimate matter be conscious?
10. Is consciousness only accessible to higher level beings or is it everywhere in the world?
11. What are the laws governing qualia (qualities of the senses)?

Where do we come from? 

What's right and wrong, and who determines it?

 What is the meaning and purpose of life? 

What happens to us after we die?

1. What is  the most important concept of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ4F_BpJi20 explain?
2. List the 5 things that you are most grateful for that you haven't seen the evidence of yet.
Grasping the Illusory Nature of Thought
-SYMBOLS ARE NOT REALITY ITSELF
AND THEY ARE TOTALLY ARBITRARY; This makes you unconscious since thoughts are arbitrary symbols that
acquire meaning over time.
-YOU NEED TO GAIN
MINDFULNESS OVER YOUR THOUGHTS.
A thought is real as a sensation in your mind, not as the actual thing. If you don’t apply mindfulness you will
be living in a reality constructed by thoughts and not reality as it really is.
How to practice this? Commit to flatten 50 illusions in the next week and write it down. Describe the content
and then what it really is.
Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness is experiencing reality literally, exactly as it is.

There are three important components:
1) Focus – ability to put awareness of selective sensations for a long period of time
(a very rare skill these days)
2) Sensory clarity – how clear are you about the raw data coming in. Clear the lens of
your mind
3) Equanimity – experience and emotion/phenomena and not react to it in an emotional
way
(to be stable and grounded, and not go into a reactive state)
The basics:
Every 10 second cycle: (Note, label, savor)
1. Locate an object and note that you are looking at it
2. Label (silently) it “see” – to register that you are seeing it
3. Take it in exactly as it is in the present moment for 5-7 seconds. (don’t judge it, just experience it)

Concentration vs Meditation
-Concentration is selecting an object and focusing on it intensively while meditation is surrendering to the moment.
-The best results come when you enter Access Concentration – your best meditation results will come from
entering this.
To develop concentration: sit down with an alarm, select a clear object or sensation. Sit there and focus on
that sensation/object for the next 5 minutes, forcing your mind to never waver. Do not let it waver.
You will know when you’ve hit Access Concentration when you go into a flow state – you will feel it; it will
become easier to focus and distractions will melt away.
Start with 2 minutes and build up to 3, 4, 5, 10 min. Become good at 2 minutes then bump it up. Be very
precise and do not waver.
Smoothen out the object you are focussing on, create a single sensation from complex sensations (such as
breathing).

Meditation on Steroids
Strong determination sitting (SDS) can supercharge your meditation practice. Simple but very powerful
technique.
SDS may be the quickest way to enlightenment.
Take a timer and sit for 1,2,3 hours with eyes open. Sit in lotus (or other position). Do not move for the full
time, no matter what happens. Sit completely motionless.
Your concentration and focus will supercharge. Combine this with the Do Nothing technique.
This will show you how rotten your mind has become.
This will show you how rotten your mind has become.
Deep and true happiness is complete presence in the moment, and being one with reality, being completely
unconditionally happy with whatever happens.
Purification = pain x mindfulness.
Suffering = pain x resistance
(drop your resistance to 0)
Anxiety is running away from pain and suffering.
Try to do 4 one-hour sits per day for a week as a retreat.

Contemplation
Contemplation – openly pondering a question that you are interested in, with focus, and without bias in order to inquire into the nature/essence/truth of that thing.
Sit down and relax, select one question you are curious about and ponder it from ground 0, avoiding anything you’ve been told about it, for 5-10 minutes
Select a question you generally care about
Ask yourself different questions to approach the thing in question from different angles
 Go deeper into the nature of the thing you’re questioning. 
What is it? 

What is its true nature? 

How did it come into being? 

What are the components that allow it to exist?

 What is its purpose?

What is its substance?

 What is its significance/importance?

 Why do I care about it?
Some nuances:
Contemplation, meditation, concentration, and self-inquiry are different things that overlap.
Contemplation is more of an intellectual activity, but it can become meditative. Self-inquiry is specifically contemplating your nature, who you are. Concentration is a non-intellectual activity.
Contemplation can be done on a personal level as well an existential level. There is a spectrum.
Contemplation becomes mystical when you penetrate past the level of thought into the level of insight when you get to the being-level of things.
Your number-one problem in life is ignorance. From that stem all your other problems. Life is a giant illusory magic show. 
To penetrate illusion, you have to contemplate. Don’t just rearrange your prejudices.
Your assignment:
Wear a wristband for a week and contemplate “What is relationship?”. Every time you see the band, remember
to contemplate the question.

How You Lie
-You are running your whole life based on self-agenda – what you want and what promotes your survival.
-It’s about preserving your self-concept/self-image.
-Truth alone is curative and healing.
Level 1: Tell the truth to yourself, acknowledge how you feel and when you lie.
Level 2: Communicate the facts of the situation more accurately and honestly.
Level 3: Communicate how you feel about the facts (“Honey, I cheated on you with Sally, and loved it, we had multiple orgasms, so much fun, and then we went shopping later, I love her. You’ve become a harsh,
naggy bitch, and I’m sick of it”).
Your ego will feel like it’s getting destroyed when you are telling the truth. You will quiver with fear and
dread. It will feel like pouring acid on your self-image but it is extremely healthy and healing.
Don’t let lies fester and eat away at your soul.
This is not a moral problem but an integrity problem.
A warning: if you do start doing level 2 and 3 truth-telling you will have to accept the consequences. There may be serious consequences. BUT in most situations, the mind over-exaggerates the negative outcomes.
Often the truth is refreshing for most people.
Assignments:
- Notice your self-agenda in action
- Notice whether you are honoring your self-agenda or truth.
- Notice how much you lie, be mindful as you lie.
- Notice how you subtly manipulate people, especially those closest to you.
Get a loose rubber band that you can wear on your wrist and wear it for a whole week to remind yourself to be on the lookout for lying and serving your self-agenda.

Bringing It All Together Worksheet

My top 3 values are…

My 3 signature strengths are…

The high-consciousness virtue I want to build my career around is…

The 1 domain I want to commit to mastering is…
•Spirituality
My greatest personal struggle in life has been…

The top 5 questions that fascinate me the most about life are…
1. Who am I?
2. What is life?

The top 3 moments that inspired me most in the past were…

My Zone of Genius is…

The most meaningful impact that I can have in the world is…

The Sheet From the Life Purpose Course:

Life purpose:

Domain of mastery:

Zone of genius: 

Medium:

Top 10 Values:

Strengths: 

Top 5 goals: 
64 Most Fascinating Questions A Human Can Ask

Metaphysical: About reality

1. How come existence exists at all?
Because existence has to exist even if it exists as Absolute Nothing.

2. What is existence?
Existence is Being.

3. How is existence related to non-existence?
Because non-existence is non-existent, non-existence would exist and therefore there is only existence.

4. Why is reality structured as it is?

5. Are there other possible ways reality can be ordered other than our own?

6.Why are the laws of physics the way they are?

7. Which comes first: consciousness or matter? Does consciousness come out of matter or does matter occur within consciousness?

8. What is matter, energy, space, time?

9. What is outside the universe? Is it infinite or finite? Why?
What is outside of the universe is the multiverse. The universe is a sub infinity within it since there cannot be anything outside of space except more space and anything outside of space is still within space.

10. What existed before the big bang?
Pure potential.

11. How does the material interact with the immaterial?
Through forces like the laws of physics.

12. What governs what's possible and impossible in the universe? What sets limits on the universe?
Scientific laws.

13. What governs emergent properties (e.g. atoms, molecules)?
Pure consciousness since nothingness is the only solution for an infinite regress problem with substance.

14. How can emergent properties arise out of nowhere?

15. What makes a thing a thing? What is an object (a single thing, multiple things)?

16. Does reality have a bottom most scale? E.g. lower than atoms, and lower than. Does reality have a topmost scale e.g. higher than planets, universes etc. Are there limits or do the levels go infinitely up and down?
Already answered (re-answer this question to easily find it).

17. Does the evolution of the universe have a purpose? If so, where does it lead to?

18. Does external reality exist at all?

19. What is God? What would the concept of God entail?

20. What are thoughts?
The voice of the mind (and maybe of the soul).

21. How did life start? Aka where did it all come from?

Epistemic: The study of knowledge

1. How do we know what we know?
Through direct experience.

2. How can I know anything for certain?
Already answered.

3. What makes justifications valid?

4. Why do billions of people believe in God?
Because life is mystical.

5. Why do people disagree about good and bad, right and wrong, moral and immoral?

6. How come intelligent people delude themselves? E.g. scientists who are creationists. How can I be sure that I'm not deluded?

7. How do I know that I’m not indoctrinated aka brainwashed into believing things without thinking about them myself?

8. What is science? Is it the best way of arriving at knowledge?

9. What are the limits of science? Are there things that science can’t understand/explain?

10. What is mathematics? What makes it valid?

11. What are the limits of mathematics? Is it displayed by reality or projected by the human mind?

12. What is rationality? How does it work and why is it valid? Limitless? Displayed by reality or projected by the human mind?

13. Which is more valid, the senses, rationality, or intuition?

14. What are the biases/blind spots of humanity as a whole?

15. How do animals understand reality?

16. Are there creatures with higher intelligence than humans? If so, how can we be certain of our knowledge?

17. Why is human knowledge taken as the ultimate truth?
Because it is all humans know.

18. What is the truth? Is it objective or subjective?
Truth is a state of Being. There are relative truths and the Absolute Truth which cannot be explained.

19. Where does understanding come from? How can we rely upon it?

20. What is the ultimate truth?

21. What is the best way to acquire knowledge?

22. Is reality understandable? Can humans understand it all or not because we are limited?

Self: You as an individual

1. How can I be sure that I exist at all?

2. If I exist, what am I? Biological? How do I know?

3. How did I, aka the identity of me, come into being?

4. What justifies identifying with the body or the mind? If the body is yours and the mind is too, who owns these things?

5. If I am the body and the mind, what is everything else. Where do ‘I’ stop, and the rest of the world begin?

6. What is in control of my thoughts?

7. What is my role in reality? My purpose?

8. How should I live my life to maximize happiness?

Consciousness: The mind and all mental fabrications

1. What is consciousness?

2. How is perception possible?

3. What unifies our senses into a seamless experience?
The brain.

4. What if there are higher levels of consciousness? What would that mean for our understanding of the world?

5. What about the different levels of consciousness e.g. on psychedelics, meditation. What do they mean?
Are they better/worse/more or less real than ordinary consciousness?

6. Are consciousnesses separate or is consciousness one thing?

7. Can artificial consciousness be created?

8. Can consciousness be split or joined?

9. Could inanimate matter be conscious?

10. Is consciousness only accessible to higher level beings or is it everywhere in the world?

11. What are the laws governing qualia (qualities of the senses)?
You might want to rethink these questions:
Contemplation of Your Own Death

1. What would I miss the most about life?
Socializing and finding my life purpose.
2. What do I want to get out of this life?
Enlightenment.
3. What is really worth doing?
Finding my life purpose and spirituality.
4. What isn't worth doing?
Procrastinating.
How am I being small minded?

How do I need to reorganize my life?

7 Day Exercise
Make a reminder of your death
If I was more conscious of my death I would _____. 

10 quick responses.
Be more decisive of my time
Do more housework
Check things a less amount of times 
Be more social
Make a reminder of my death
Rewrite this later/have this in a notebook or on a sheet of paper
Find more spiritual exercises
Read more books
Do the life purpose course
Find a way to pay for it or learn about how for the future

How To Harness Your Intuition – Exercises:

 How has my intuition served me in the past?

 How does my intuition feel when it’s working? 

What has my intuition been trying to tell me lately?

 What is my intuition saying about my career? 

What is my intuition saying about my relationships?

 Where is my intuition ultimately trying to guide me?

 In what ways do I ignore my intuition? 

Why don’t I follow my intuition more? 

What changes could I make to reconnect with my intuition more consistently?

 What would my life look like if I had the courage to follow my deepest intuitions?

 What are some noble or aspirational yearnings that I am suppressing or stalling on?

What Is Insight? Worksheet v1
Copyright 2023, Leo Gura, Actualized.org
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What is insight?

What generates insight?

Why is insight so slippery / ineffable?

How is insight different from belief or knowledge?

What are the biggest insights I’ve had in my life?

How have insights I’ve had shaped my life?

How have insights mankind has shaped civilization?

What are the greatest insights mankind has had?

Can the capacity for insight be developed? If so, how?

What would happen if I seriously developed my capacity for insight?

How much is the capacity for insight worth to me?

How is insight related to understanding?

What kinds of insight exist?

Where do insights come from?

What tools exist to help me generate insights?

Is there such a thing as false insight? If so, how is it distinguished from true insight?

Can I fool myself with insight?

What is the relationship between insight and states of consciousness?

What is the relationship between insight & thinking? Can there be insight without thinking?

How is insight related to mental construction?

What is the relationship between insight & wisdom?

What is the relationship between insight and truth?

When do I have the most insights? Where am I and what am I doing?

Your Meditation: What is the next best thing that I can do?

3 Steps to Break YouTube Addiction
1. Pick something that you are going to do with your time to replace the time that you currently spend watching YouTube.
2. Widen the gap (through meditation) that you're going to have before the addiction before the addiction for YouTube kicks in.
3a. Create the emotion needed by thinking about death or think about the dark you (your dark shadow) living up to its potential and not you.
3b. Bypass the emotion of resistance by using the 5-second rule.  

How To Let Go of a Coping Mechanism - Teal Swan -

Background:

-To cope is to make a specific alteration either mentally emotionally or physically, that allows you to manage a situation that is causing you stress.
-A coping mechanism is a process, or a technique for enabling you to do that. 
-Take a look at what got you into spirituality.
-Chances are, it was you feeling some form of distress or discomfort.
-This means that your entire spiritual practice is ripe for coping mechanisms.
-People who are prone to denial will gravitate towards the law of attraction practice communities.
-People who are prone to self-harm will be drawn towards asceticism.
-Why is it so hard to let go of coping mechanisms?
Because they don't cause us pain on the front end and are instant gratification and you are wired to avoid pain.

1. Stop avoiding pain and actually befriend it.
-Any kind of pain is a signal to gain valuable feedback.
2. Look at the things that make you feel better.
-Make an entire list of these things.
-What do you do when you are in a state of distress?
-It is your job to argue to yourself how those ways are detrimental to you.
-How could each one be a coping mechanism?
-What potential downsides could there be to that coping mechanism?
-How does each one not work?
3. Take a look at online lists of coping mechanisms and the ones that you engage in.
-How are those coping mechanisms beneficial to you and how are they detrimental to you?
What does it give to me and what does it take away from me?
-Think about someone who does have that coping mechanism.
4. You have to undo the coping mechanism the same way that it began or first occurred which is in your past (obviously).
-It's resolved through trauma integration.
-When you have a coping mechanism that you are feeling inclined to engage in or are currently engaging in, close your eyes and imagine not engaging in it instead.
-Try to find someone in your life that will point out your coping mechanisms.
-What would happen if you engaged in the opposite of that coping mechanism?
What would be so bad about not doing X?
-The Completion Process (the book) is good for this.
-If you notice yourself about to engage in something that you "shouldn't" be doing, choose to engage in it consciously.
-After doing this a few times, choose to do something else.
-Do this several times with several techniques.
5. Practice the art of softening instead of tensing in response to discomfort.
-Close your eyes and imagine literally becoming completely soft and allowing that sensation in your body.
-Imagine relaxing your muscles.
-Send your cells the message to open up
-Start breathing into it completely so you feel yourself completely limp against the discomfort.
-When going soft, not only can you learn from the discomfort, but you can also choose not to engage your coping mechanism.
-What you resist, persist, and your coping mechanism is a way of resisting pain and thus getting more pain in the long run.

[Caoimhin]

I didn't read your full post, because it is too much(that's a clue). I can understand why you don't know where to start... this is overwhelming. My advice is delete this Google doc or never open it again. Then, when you finish that, start from scratch and think of one question that comes to mind and contemplate that. Build your concentration and discipline to stick to one thing at a time. You can't focus on all this at once, and you end up not working on any of it. You are finite and this list could take many lifetimes to answer lol. I have the same tendency to make big lists like this and overwhelm myself; trust that you will find the answers you need when you are ready. When you realize that there is no right answer, you will find it. Good luck!

[AndylizedAAY]

@Caoimhin That's a great idea but if I get stuck on a question, I easily need to find the next one. I'm currently wearing a wristband to remind me to contemplate the question "what is a relationship"? It has something to do with no-self that I discovered through the neti-neti method. The soul however is the hardest barrier to get past if I want to follow the method. It can reveal what my true nature is as nothing which applies to everyone meaning that we are all One and that Absolute Solipcism is true.

A relationship would then be the quality of one's self-acceptance shown onto someone else.

If you want me to no longer use the Google Doc, how should an ultimate commonplace book be created? I believe that it's possible to gain the software for it but I don't really know enough categories and don't have the creativity to create an ultimate commonplace book. Do you think that Leo offers too many questions or am I answering them too slowly?

Edited May 2, 2023 by AndylizedAAY
I wanted to ask about Leo.

[r0ckyreed]

You can’t do 60 years of contemplation in 60 minutes. 

Follow your curiosity. Ask your own questions.

Relationships have to do with connection, oneness and Self.

Why do you think? Because you want to know? And why do you want to know? Because the Self values connection? Why connection? Because that is your true nature? Why true nature? Because there is nothing more worthwhile than Truth. The Truth is enough and is that which there is nothing further.

Chill out and just marvel at life.

Edited May 2, 2023 by r0ckyreed

[Caoimhin]

@AndylizedAAY I see, I miss understood. Yes, the common place book is good to have and refer back to. Please continue(i was mostly kidding when i said to delete it lol). I just think in your case you are crippling yourself with all this work. You seem like a very smart and dedicated person. I truely admire your enthusiasm. An idea off the top of my head is to use numbered bullet points and then use a random number generator to help decide, then stick with it for a week or month. Or like Rocky said, follow your own curiosity. 

5 hours ago, AndylizedAAY said:

Do you think that Leo offers too many questions or am I answering them too slowly?

  No. In an individual video Leo doesn't offer too many questions. But if you are collecting questions from all his videos and then sitting down to answer each one, that's overwhelming. Good practice would be to do the questions and exercises during and/or immediately after the video, before moving on to the next topic. Leo has clearly stated that he wants us to think for ourselves. This is my two cents, use your best judgement. Good luck!

[AndylizedAAY]

@Caoimhin What about the video of questions where the the questions are divided into metaphysical, epistemological, and self? There were a lot of questions in that video. I answered those questions but in a disorganized way. They are not easy to find. I posted that list of questions and assignments to see if you could also help me divide the questions to make it easier by focusing on a category instead of an individual question or assignment. You didn't have to read everything though. 

Edited May 3, 2023 by AndylizedAAY
I wanted to explain why I gave a long list.

[Schizophonia]

Easy 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Schizophonia

[AndylizedAAY]

What do you mean? 

[Schizophonia]

2 minutes ago, AndylizedAAY said:

What do you mean? 

easy to respond to each question 

[AndylizedAAY]

How?

[mohdanas]

This is all too much information at once, it is like you have enroll yourself to various majors at once. I wonder if you will focus so much on learning, when will you have the time to live? 

You need to develop a strategy for learning that keeps you growing and doesn't compromise your life as well. 

Pick topics that are most needful for your life right now, pick topics whose knowledge you require to use right now! and grow around that. 

Then Contemplate on the Questions, that arises with the flow of life. 

Example = Couple years back, there was riot in my city which made me contemplate a-lot on pain and death. 

Additionally, alot of questions overlaps each other, you don't even need to find answers for them, simply developing good habits and fitness, and mediating and contemplating time to time, keeping life flowing, will resolve the need to answers to them as well as alot of answers will just come on its own and be common knowledge. 

P.S. = I feel you are taking things too seriously, relax and chill, life isnt to be taken so seriously and heck even enlightenment.  Just learn to flow from your depth
 

 

 

 

[Willie]

TLDR

There’s a lot of reality.

[effortlesslumen]

Fokus on the the questions and topics that  are connected to the most friction in your life first or what you feel might stop your growth the most at this time. All the other necessary topics will emerge when making progress, because everything is innterconnected. Thats the approach that im currently taking.  But look into the list from time to time and see if any new input arises and add it.

Edited May 3, 2023 by effortlesslumen

[effortlesslumen]

8 hours ago, Schizophonia said:

easy to respond to each question 

Easy to respond but hard to answer.