Leo Gura

You are getting in your own way. Your own ideals of being a good learner is precisely the thing which is tripping you up here. You are not allowing yourself to fully immerse in the flow of learning because you're too busy trying to live up to the image in your mind of being a good learner. This imagine creates all sorts of artificial requirements like memorization and other formalities which you then resist. Try learning in a less structured or rigid way. If you really enjoy learning, just do it. Learn in a joyful way without worrying about how that has to look. Perhaps memorization is not necessary at all. Perhaps finishing every book from cover to cover is not necessary either. Perhaps there are totally new ways to learn which you are not even allowing yourself to explore because you've got some rigid image in your mind of what learning has to look like. For example, maybe real learning might look like taking a vacation to another country and going to a bar for drinks with some new people you met, rather than sitting at home memorizing a book. Perhaps real learning is taking psychedelics in the middle of the jungle. As you go deeper into self-actualization work you have to find ways of doing it which feel organic and natural to you. It can't be like following some check list of mechanical rules. Telling yourself that "I must watch more self-help videos" will create resistance since its such a forced way of doing things. You must learn to listen more to your feelings rather than to your shoulds & rules. Your feeling tell you what you need to do when. But this requires getting attuned to hearing their subtle cues. For example in your case now your feelings are telling you that your method of learn is too artificial and forced, which is why you're frustrated. Imagine if I forced you to have sex every day and if you didn't have sex at the times I wanted you to, in the exact ways I wanted you to, I would give you a strong electric shock. This would quickly take all the joy out of sex. After a few months of this you'd start to hate the idea of sex.

You mean the NASA who faked the moon landing and started the round Earth conspiracy?

In a monastary most of your day is spent cleaning toilets and dishes. So be careful what you wish for

@Gili Trawangan Awesome! You got it But there's more

The democrats HAVE found ground and they have made a ton of serious policy proposals. Trump has no serious policy proposals other than anti-immigrant ones. Don't be making false equivalencies. The democrats have some of the best and most progressive candidates running in the history of the US. What more do you want? George Washington to crawl out of his grave and join the democratic debates? As soon as he learns about Trump he would crawl back into his grave and stay there. If people are stupid enough to vote for Trump a second time, nothing can save us. That ain't the democrats fault.

How do you know? What if it is? What if your body is imaginary? How would you tell the difference if all you've ever experienced your whole life has been imagination? What if the very thing you think is real has always just been something you've been imagining to be real? If you imagine a thing to be real, does that mean it is real? Or is it still imaginary? How would you distinguish between you imagining something to be real vs it actually being real?

It's not a challenge. I have always recommended moderate dosing of psychedelics. Many psyches will struggle to handle breakthrough doses. Don't be so nitpicky.

It's certainly possible that Warren steals his votes. I see a big problem with Warren and Bernie splitting the progressive votes, giving Biden the nomination. But also keep in mind that it's too early right now. Polls don't mean much yet. Bernie will win the election against Trump. But will he even get to face Trump? That's a big IF. Biden and Warren are both stronger than I hoped in the polls. When I endorsed Bernie I didn't even know Biden would run. I was hoping he wouldn't. Biden really has no business running in this election. He's clearly just doing it because he's got nothing better to do.

Step 1) Get the books. Step 2) Just do it. Step 3) Profit.

There's your problem

What are you smoking?

The desire to manipulate reality to suit yourself is the very definition of ego. But also, you are able to bend many rules as you become more conscious. You just have to appreciate that your personal human desires are not what governs the universe. There is a deep intelligence to how everything is arranged, so think twice before imposing your human ideas on how the universe should be. Maybe one day you'll discover that everything is perfect exactly how it is and that nothing needs to be manipulated. Imagine that! What a concept!

You're highly unlikely to start a million dollar startup if it's not something you love. You will quit long before reaching your first million.

I wouldn't call that racist. Politics is tricky and many politicians aren't able to keep their promises for reasons other than racism. Wearing costumes when abroad is fairly typical for leaders. Racism is a pretty serious charge that requires solid evidence.

I don't know of his "racist actions" besides the face paint. By all means share if you have some evidence. I'm much more open to hearing about actual systemic racist policy vs face paint. I prefer to criticize politicians on their terrible policies than personal gaffs. Trump is a bit of an exception because he is so clearly a morally bankrupt devil. But even Trump I have compassion for. He's doing the best he can.

I agree that racism is still a problem. But I don't think it's right to ruin Trudeau's career for make up he wore to a party 15 years ago. I feel the voters of Canada can sort that out. It's been made public so now people can render their verdict at the ballot box. Don't forget there are worse candidates in Canada than Trudeau who might win if he is tarred and feathered out of town. Canadian nationalism seems to be on the rise and a Trump-like Canadian president is not out of the realm of possibility, who would make Trudeau look like an angel.

Dude, don't be so hard on yourself. If you feel lonely there's nothing wrong with finding some people to socialize with. In a sense that lonely feeling is telling you: "Hey dummy! You should socialize more!" What's inauthentic is desiring to socialize with someone but then not doing it out of fear that they will reject you. The authentic thing would be to walk over and say, "Hey, I was looking for a new friend and I saw you. So here I am. Please don't reject me or I will have to hang myself in my mother's basement with her vacuum cleaner cord." BE MORE VULNERABLE WITH STRANGERS!

There's not really much to discuss here. Try various techniques and discover what works best for you. And just keep an open mind that what works best for you will not necessarily work best for others. People's minds work in very different ways.

If you want it, then it's not a should. In the end, do WTF you want. I don't care. I'm just giving suggestions.

That's technically true. But it's highly misleading. When I applied to CalTech by in my high school days I called them to ask what GPA I need to get in. They told me, "We have no GPA requirement." That's technically true. You can apply with a 3.5 GPA. But if your GPA is below 4.0, you ain't getting in. So be careful about kidding yourself. There are definitely things you can do to increase your odds of enlightenment. If this wasn't true, your teachers would be out of a job. Ralston holds enlightenment workshops. Obviously because he believes this increases your odds of enlightenment. So what? A little story ain't gonna kill ya. Language has it's value too. Such things are not mere entertainment. They are part of this work. Be careful about holding language as contradictory to Truth or awakening. Awakening can infuse itself into language. Some great spiritual texts have been written and channeled. And they ain't just stories and BS. There is serious truth and wisdom in them. For example, it is possible to communicate directly with God. Of course this will involve language. Language can be problematic when misused. But language should also not be dismissed entirely. Language is an amazing tool. You just have to be aware of its limits. Everything is Truth. There's noting but Truth.

Well of course that can happen. As Ralston said, you can get enlightened while falling in a bathtub. A lot of random shit can happen. If you facilitate 1000 students some of them will accidentally get enlightened by picking their nose. But that's a red herring. That doesn't mean you should bank on "picking your nose" to enlighten you. Not all spiritual techniques are of equal efficacy. Some are really really ineffective. So my point is, find what is most effective for you. Psychedelics are unique is that they are exceptionally effective. Same for meditation & yoga. Watching cartoons is not effective. Although even that could work once in a billion people. Ralston is also wrong. It is possible to invent a method for enlightenment (at least a temporary one). And 5-MeO-DMT is it. To call 5-MeO-DMT a mere change in state is very very misleading. Make sure you do it before you say such things. And it's not good enough to toy around with it. You gotta seriously do it. You gotta hit a breakthrough. I'm tried of people talking about 5-MeO who have not had a breakthrough. Trying a psychedelic don't mean shit. You gotta have that breakthrough. Lots of people have tried meditation but that doesn't mean anything. Trying it is not good enough. You must actualize its full potential. And that requires some serious effort, not a casual experiment. Keep in mind there are some people on whom 5-MeO-DMT seems to have no to little effect due to their genetics or whatever. So their dud experiments don't count. Ralston's teachings are very advanced and most of you will simply not be able to actualize what he is talking about. So watch out. There is good reason why spiritual techniques were invented. Most people need them.

You're not quite understanding how psychedelics work. There is nothing but states of consciousness. So you cannot escape states of consciousness since consciousness is the only thing that exists. There are just many different states and then there is understanding of how consciousness works. The point of a psychedelic is not to put you into a crazy state of consciousness per se. It's to reveal how consciousness works. The practical reality is that your state very much affects what you're able to become conscious of. If you're stuck in a bad state, you're basically fucked. You will not be capable of doing what Ralston says. In fact, basically no one is capable of doing the stuff Ralston says because their state is inadequate. The point of meditation and yoga is to permanently up your state so you have a reasonable chance of doing what Ralston takes for granted you can do. Although enlightenment is not directly limited to a state, one's state is really important for success in this work. Good luck getting enlightened while you're in some PTSD state, depressed state, or opioid addicted state. States run your whole life. So dismiss states at your own peril.

Yes But that still doesn't mean he gets all there is to get about it. These are notoriously complex and tricky issues. So don't be looking for simplistic answers here.

This stuff is so predictable it's like clockwork. I feel bad saying "I told you so". These cults can be smelled from a thousand miles away to anyone who's seriously doing this work. Unfortunately virtually no one is seriously doing this work.

It's very different because on the one hand you have a serious climate catastrophe which is being made worse through denial and indifference. On the other hand you have Trudeau wearing some brown face paint at a dress up party. Sending a mob after Trudeau is overkill. Giving a stark and impassioned speech to the UN about climate change is appropriate. Let's get our priorities in order.