Leo Gura

@aurum Enlightenment is only the beginning. Not the end. And there's a ton of stuff to get enlightened on. Not just yourself.

Depends on your goals of course. But everyone's ultimate goal is simply this: fulfillment. And you can't get that through any other way but enlightenment. Of course it's important not to interpret this as me saying, enlightenment is all that matters and everything else is useless. That's not what I mean at all. There is much to learn and master besides enlightenment. But it will not lead to fulfillment unless enlightenment is reached. So of course positive focus and life purpose are still important and worth pursuing. But they will not complete you like enlightenment will. It's not possible to EVER be fulfilled if deep down you believe you are that body/mind. The body/mind must be transcended and put into their proper place. Right now the equation of life is upside-down. And no amount of lipstick will turn that pig into a swan. Although of course ordinary personal development is still WAY better than nothing. I'm a fan of this recipe: ordinary personal development + enlightenment work. Psychological mastery + metaphysical inquiry = Awesome life

@Wouter Yes, I've caught my mind doing that in the past. It's pretty freaky. Not sure you can deliberately trigger it. The more you learn about the subconscious mind and its workings, the more open you will be to accidentally see it at work constructing your conscious experience behind-the-scenes.

I find that people who don't like clubs/bars and haven't spent much time there tend to have an automatic negative stereotype of the people who visit them. Something along the lines of: "They're just stupid jocks and sluts and drunks." I sorta leaned towards that attitude 5 years ago when I was inexperienced. But having spent a lot of time visiting clubs/bars and interacting with 1000s of people in them, I can say that the people there represent a fairly average cross-section of society. Most people you find in a club/bar are not regulars. They're just like you. They're there on a Friday night once a month or once a year to hang out with their friends, celebrate a birthday party, celebrate a wedding, or blow off some steam from doing business. And girls like to go cause they get to let loose, socialize, and dance. If you're introverted and don't have much clubbing experience, that will be difficult to understand. Humans since the dawn of time have had the habit of gathering together around a fire, doing some drugs, playing some music, and letting loose after a long day of work. It's not a problem as long as it doesn't become a daily lifestyle.

@Neill Leo should... Leo should... Leo should... Humans should... Humans should... Humans should...

@Neill Your logic is exactly the sort of logic that leads to slaughtering of animals and all sorts of other unecological activity. The problem doesn't stop at animals. That's YOUR agenda. You like animals so you draw the line there. The true problem is one of unconsciousness to self-agenda. That humans tend to feel sorry for polar bears and cuddly puppies is totally arbitrary. It's like a form of racism but with mammals. It's not really inclusive. But I agree that on a practical level, we gotta start wherever we can. And so it's good that people show compassion to mammals. We can start there.

@Neill Again, you assume a lot here. I'm not defending meat-eating. I think it's something to ultimately stop. I merely said the problem goes much deeper.

You're assuming a lot there. The truth is more like YOU don't care what the flower or microbe feels. But that it feels is pretty clear. And that it has a survival agenda is pretty clear too. Why is YOUR survival agenda more important than a microbe's? Because you are bigger? A lot of moralization going on here. Microbes and grass have an agenda to survive, just like everything else. To ignore that is delusional. Why is YOUR survival agenda more important than a microbe's? Because you are bigger? Your outrage is very your-centered. When you get into a car or airplane to go somewhere, why do you ignore the fact that it directly contributes to global warming and the death of a polar bear somewhere where the ice is melting? Not to mention things like: when you buy an iPhone or any Chinese made product you are contributing to the suffering of poor sweatshop workers in China who are consigned to terribly inhumane and unconscious working conditions. The answer is, you have to draw the line somewhere. You cannot exist and also not cause suffering to others. All you can do is ignore this fact and construct justifications for why certain modes of living are superior to others. And I'm not defending meat-eating. I think it's something to ultimately stop.

I never drank when I went out. Drinking is counter-productive to growth. Again, watch out for your projections.

@LaucherJunge You'll be back! Once you recognize that that positive focus stuff won't ever work. I suggest you be more gentle with yourself in how you pursue enlightenment. It doesn't have to be painful. You're making it that way.

@cetus56 Obviously it works through the brain. How exactly? No one knows. It just works like crazy! If you want to naturally produce more of it, it won't happen automatically. You'd have do some serious training for that, if it's possible at all. We just don't know much about the mechanics of biological consciousness at this point. Although I don't even think that's necessary. Just the fact that is opens you up is already enough. And that effect sticks. You can't just have a breakthrough dose of 5-meo and then go about your everyday life in the Matrix. Once you experience God for REAL, your life will forever take on a new trajectory.

What's really freaky is if you ever catch a glimpse of your subconscious mind actually using unconscious information from your visual field to then influence your conscious thoughts and original ideas. Was this merely a coincidence? Or did your subconscious mind "see" the quote from Mr Lenny (without you being conscious of it) and THEN that triggers your thoughts about Socrates? Food for thought

@Don_Avocado Good stuff! Now go deeper

The biggest load of bullshit ever told! Buddha should have slapped that guy across the face for such smart-assery Monk: "Buddha, what do I do if a bird drops a fine 18oz NY strip into my bowl?" Buddha: "Eat it, but only if it also drops a bottle of A1."

@Hardik jain Sorry about your situation. See this video: https://www.actualized.org/articles/how-to-deal-with-strong-negative-emotions Rather than wishing the emotions or situation away, muster the courage to feel into it and see it as part of reality. Reality is brutal sometimes. It's important to cultivate a respect for that. An understanding of that only really comes through nobly stomaching the hard times rather than escaping them. If you do this, it will drive you deeper into true growth. So that's the up-side.

This issue goes very deep. It's really the problem of life itself. The fundamental dynamics of life are very unfair. For some lifeforms to survive others must die. Whether that be animals, plants, bacteria, human beings, children in Africa, the dinosaurs, planet Earth itself, etc. If we take a look a what humanity is doing to itself, it's killing itself at the same time as its growing and evolving. And this is sorta required by the laws of entropy. Even if we all became perfect vegans, we would still be killing other animals, plants, and smaller organisms in a very unfair way by the billions. We would still be destroying the environment. None of this of course is an excuse not to improve, but it just goes to show the intractability of being alive. To be alive requires a sort of turning one's eye away from fairness. Cause life isn't fair at all to individual beings. The great Jain sage Mahavira realized this. First he stopped eating animals. But that wasn't enough. So he stopped eating plants. And then he starved himself to death. That would be the only truly honest solution. Which brings us to the crux of the problem: YOU! Do you want to live? Most people do (although that's a choice). But if you do, then you must also accept all the collateral damage that comes with that. And there's A LOT of it! Now, the only question is, where do you want to draw the line. At pigs? At worms? At trees? At bacteria? At saving the whales? At recycling Coke cans? At not throwing your garbage into the street? At starving yourself to death? Everyone will have different opinions about that depending on their beliefs and level of consciousness. Generally speaking, the more one becomes spiritually purified and experiences personal suffering, the more one will desire to minimize suffering for other beings. But that's not as easy as it sounds, for you couldn't even walk on the grass to the nearest cliff to jump off of without stepping on some worms, snails, ticks, microbes, or flowers. Is factory farming unfair to animals? Surely so. The issue is one of convenience though. How much inconvenience should be tolerated? Is it wrong for me to buy a new t-shirt when there are kids around the world dying of cold or mosquito bites without a single shirt to wear? And is it wrong for the mosquito to bite the naked kid and infect him with malaria? And is it wrong for us to wage war against malaria micro-organisms by the billions? You be the judge.

@harisankartj For one thing, notice that you resist the suffering. Try flipping that on it's head and try enjoying the suffering instead. Open yourself up to it with your body. Allow yourself to feel the full brunt of the hurt, sadness, anger, apathy, or whatever emotions you're feeling. It's true that life is a dream, an illusion, and meaningless. But now ask yourself, so what? What's the problem? If everything is meaningless, what's all that suffering about? It must be meaningless too, right? The you you think you are already doesn't exist. And the True You is ever-present, so it cannot be killed even if you wanted to. Adopting a daily mindfulness-using-noting practice would be very helpful for you. See my video called Mindfulness Meditation.

@alifesurreal Firstly, re-read your original post and count all the places in it where you refer to yourself as "me", "my", and "I". As you've started to realize, none of that is true. "You" are not fighting with the illusion of "ego". You = ego! And it doesn't exist! Right now, there is not a you reading this sentence, there is only a sentence floating in emptiness awareness. The process forward is very simple: sit down and inquiry further into this. What are you? Why are you still attached to that body? Where are your boundaries really? Who is aware? See my How To Become Enlightened video for the exact process. You basically just sit and inquire without making any assumptions and dropping all prior beliefs about how you think reality is structured. You've barely scratched the surface. Keep digging. This goes so deep you cannot even imagine yet. And yet it's all right there, right in front of your nose, hidden in plain sight.

@strwbrycough It's a funny thing. You see that you are God, but then you drop back down into human form. Life continues like normal. But you still have the frightening memory that you are actually God. For me, personally, it's totally revolutionized my understanding of reality. Opened me up and made me extra-serious about doing God's work and mastering all the levels of consciousness possible before I die. Whenever that memory comes back, it jolts me back onto the spiritual path like a cattle prod. But of course it's not enlightenment. Although perhaps if it happens another dozen times, maybe it will be. Who knows? That's what I'm experimenting with. It's so powerful no words do it justice and unless you've tried it, there's no way you can understand. And the scaffolding has not fallen over because you have a lifetime of spiritual purification to do, even if you happen to become enlightened quickly. Enlightenment doesn't make you a good person, it doesn't teach you how to interact with other human beings, nor how to master all the various aspects of your human form.

@Richard Alpert Same thing

@Nexeternity In an existing relationship, lying will certainly tank it. The only option for long-term success is honest and open communication. It's a bit trickier when first attracting the girl. Before you sleep with her, manipulation tactics can be highly effective. Although they produce subtle karma which retards one's development. For a guy who lacks social skills or a solid core and is trying to attract girls, honesty can backfire and lead to worse results, at least in the short-term.

@strwbrycough I'm not clear what you're asking. 5-meo effects wear off after about 45 minutes.

@Chris40 Being authentic and open about your emotions is a higher consciousness quality. Seems like you're interpreting "wearing your heart on your sleeve" as some kind of dysfunctional thing, when it's really just authenticity and emotional openness. It's a win-win, for the guy and the girl. But it has to be done in a truly authentic way. It has to be grounded, not just emotions flying all over the place. You have to build up your core.

It's not a matter of impure substances. It's just normal spiritual purification happening. The ego doesn't go down without a fight. Yup, pretty much what I experienced. But it's still not ultimately true. The real truth is much deeper and more beautiful.

@Frogfucius Actually I've been interested in existential matters from the very beginning. I just couldn't speak about it well and I didn't have anyone who wanted to listen. The more simple PD videos I shot were to build an audience for the advanced stuff I wanted to share. But of course I never knew how deep the rabbit hole went until recently. That took years of work to finally comprehend. Most personal development teachers don't get into existential matters because one generally has to be existentially-minded from the get-to. The chances of a successful dating or business coach suddenly discovering enlightenment and changing his entire mind, life, business model, and audience base to accommodate it are very slim. There's way too much for the ego to lose, and seemingly too little to gain. (But that's of course a gross miscalculation.)