Leo Gura

@Samra Nice!

Sam Harris certainly hasn't "completely transcended the ego".

You can know suffering without holding it as "evil" or "bad" or "wrong", or judging it. Yes, there is a lot of suffering in the world. But it is not evil. And it necessary. And it is largely self-inflicted due to lack of consciousness. So if you really want to reduce suffering, it would be wise to stop judging it.

You are very much affected by others. "Survival" here means a lot more than just foraging for food and building shelter. You are a deeply social creature. You could not survive without other human beings. You are almost totally dependant on other human beings to keep you alive. Human survival is largely social. Which is why you care about your self-image so much. Which is why you'd be embarrassed to walk outside naked in the middle of New York City. It very much affects your survival. And which is why you might be scared to approach a girl and ask her on a date. Your survival is on the line all the time. Every action you take all day long is basically you grappling with survival. Every thought you have is you manipulating yourself to increase your survive. Notice the truth of this. That's a survival question, which has nothing to do with Truth or enlightenment. The question of "How do we build a good society?" is really the question of "How do I increase my odds at survival?" There is nothing wrong with building a better society, but it is irrelevant to Truth. In fact, it's a big distraction from pursuing Truth. And if you try to build a better society from a position of survival, you will inadvertently cause a lot of suffering to people, because you're acting out of self-preservation, not genuine greater good. Notice, that it is also possible to jail a person without calling him bad or evil. You could jail him with compassion and genuinely help him to heal. I am not saying we shouldn't have laws and jails. Laws and jails are necessary in a large, complex society. But what isn't necessary is the judgment, demonization, and self-righteousness that goes along with it. That's fine. But that's an issue of survival. You can be enlightened and also be engaged in survival. But you're not likely to get enlightened so long as you're preoccupied with survival.

@The White Belt Yeah... I forgot about that. That would be a cool series on paradoxes.

That's because he hasn't actually become conscious of what God is. Whatever awakening he has had, it wasn't deep enough. There are many degrees of realization. And he still has a long way to go. His rationalist paradigm is keeping him from full surrendering to God. Realizing no-self is not the same thing as realizing God. God sits deeper.

@The White Belt Well, life goes on. There's not much choice. Either you choose to kill yourself or you choose to keep living. If you choose to keep living, then you might as well enjoy living. In which case, you might as well set some goals for yourself that you feel will please you and help the world. And then you discipline yourself to work on those goals and enjoy the process. That's life in a nutshell. Even though I know it's meaningless, I still have certain things I want to get out of life, and certain things I want to create. The creativity is for its own sake. Start doing the things you find most fascinating/beautiful. Or, if you can't do that immediately due to financial limitations, then make a strategic plan to work towards that goal. Ideally, every day should be you doing your art and enjoying the process and enjoying life. You'll need a strategic plan to actualize that. But first you need to find your life purpose (the thing you find most fascinating/beautiful). Yes, it's challenging. Some days are difficult.

In the next few days.

You should study enlightened masters more. The really enlightened ones say exactly that. This is actually one of the most essential features of enlightenment. You are not deeply enlightened unless you realize that all meaning and value is a construct of the mind. "Evil" is an evaluation, and it is always a fantasy. There can be no peace in you unless you realize that meaning and value are things your mind creates. There can be no true love unless you are able to love the selfishness of others. What do you think Jesus taught you? Unconditional love. Which means, you cannot see evil any more. Notice that as soon as you make a judgment or evaluation of any kind, you are automatically disconnected from Truth.

Notice, that this just your self-survival talking. "Immoral" is a judgment your ego-mind makes because these people threat your ability to survive. "Immoral" and "evil" and "bad" are all the same basic judgment. Doesn't matter what label you use. So yes, you in fact DO believe terrorists are evil. That requires consciousness work to overcome. Yes, low consciousness people -- especially people who have been through a lot of personal suffering -- are reacting against that suffering by inflicting it on others. But what Peterson is not telling you is that suffering is not bad or evil. And these people are not bad or evil. That irony is that there is nothing evil about ego or selfishness. It requires ego to judge that selfishness is wrong.

Have you seen my video: What Is The Devil? If not, you should really watch it. It's one of my best. Evil is simply a judgment the ego-mind makes because it wants to survive. See? Anything that threatens your survival you will call "evil". It's as simple as that. For example, the reason terrorists are thought of as evil by much of Western civilization is only because they threaten the survival of Western civilization. If you didn't care about survival, nothing would be evil to you. From God's perspective nothing is evil because God is infinite and cannot die. So it would be nice if you were able to switch your identification from being a human ego to being God. Then you'd stop seeing evil in the world. You'd see the world through God's eyes, which is ego-less. Since low consciousness correlates to denser ego, it also correlates to greater selfishness and greater potential for "evil" -- that is, doing selfish acts. As consciousness increases, the ego thins out, and this correlates with selflessness. Selfless people have much less need to do selfish acts. They are more loving and caring and gentle because they are not preoccupied with their own survival. An egoless person can sacrifice his life without much problem. Not because he is brave, but because he knows he's infinite and cannot really die.

@str4 Yes, his method strains the eyes. This is not a problem per se. Sadhguru, for example, teaches you to focus your eyes upwards about 6 inches in front of your 3rd eye. The strain goes away with practice. It's not painful, it's just some mild tension. Do it gently. Or you can focus on other spots in the head, like the crown, which is what I do these days. I like the crown cause that's the most important chakra we want to open.

@DnoReally Actually, just for my logo. Shows you just how paranoid and judgmental the human mind can be.

And for Sam Harris, the answer to that question would be acknowledging that God is a thing, and atheism is wrong.

@John Iverson I think it is style, not substance.

If you leave the fox to guard the hen house, don't be surprised if he eats a few chickens.

Sit in a yoga pose and visualize loving energy flowing up your spine into your heart, then visualize your heart radiating love. Really feel it. This activates your heart chakra and helps open it up. Keep doing that and you will become more loving. It also helps to bring up memories of intense beauty or love that you've experienced in the past. You are sort of shifting your state with this technique.

@DMM710 There are like a dozen ways of chanting Om. Shouldn't make a difference. It's mostly a matter of style. Make sure you distinguish between style vs substance with these techniques. A lot of yoga is about style.

I don't split anything up. I do them all in one block to save time.

@Outer When why do they ban collection of statistics? Yes, terminally ill people make the perfect guinea pigs. You have to understand that these drug companies are very sneaky. Trump is not the issue here.

They are free as it is. It helps sustain the business if people visit the site.

Indeed

The infinity part sounds familiar. There's no mistaking infinity when it hits you.

@Phrae Yes, you can basically do up to the First Kriya right off the bat. Pranayama is really the heart of the practice. Everything else is secondary. Focus on learning the spinal breathing. Really master it. That is the key to it all.

True, but think of the image from a PR perspective: CNN Breaking News: "Enlightened master beats follower with sharp stick and enjoys it. What a monster!" The whole point is, the enlightened master doesn't have a problem with his anger. It's the outside world that judges him. And unfortunately for him, the outside world ain't as enlightened as he is. Sadhguru has been accused of murder and holding followers hostage in his cult. I've been accused of being a pedophile. So yeah... if you're gonna be enlightened, you need to develop a stomach for being misunderstood.