Leo Gura

@How to be wise Not really. Life purpose is about finding the kind of impact you want to make and your domain of mastery. A big mistake is to think of life purpose as a single narrow project, like: building a wormhole. That's way too narrow. Nothing wrong with wanting to build a wormhole, but the fact is, you're putting the cart before the horse. You have no idea right now what is and isn't possible within your domain of mastery. Nor should you. What you're really interested in there is physics, or whatever. So isolate the essence of what about building a wormhole appeals to you so much. And then you'll see that not only can you pursue stuff like building wormholes, but also perhaps even better things which you can't even imagine yet. Why are you passionate about building a wormhole? Hint: the answer has nothing to do with wormholes.

@Darrick I would definitely NOT start a new business in California. California is WAY too overpriced, and state income taxes suck. Start-ups need to be lean and agile. There's a reason why Steve Jobs started his start-up in a garage and Bill Gates started Microsoft in New Mexico, not Seattle. You gotta be economical as a start-up. I started my first business in Fort Worth, one of the best-value real-estate markets in the country at the time. It would have been stupid of me to stay in Boston. So the very first thing I did was relocate. As an indie musician, you should be excited to get the hell out of Silicon Valley and live somewhere dirt cheap. Your main focus should be your WORK, not your place of residence. After you're successful, you can live wherever you want. And, BTW, there are much nicer places to live than California for 1/5th the cost. California is overcrowded and overrated. Be more flexible and creative as you pursue your life purpose, otherwise, you'll get stuck real quick. And, BTW, living in different cities is a huge catalyst for self-actualization. It pushes your comfort zone. Never stay in one city for more than 5 years at your age. Check out places like Vegas, Dallas/FW, Austin, Oregon, etc. Consider even moving to a 3rd world country for a while, like Bali or the Philippines or Costa Rica. A lot of business can be done online these days, and your main focus should be on honing your craft -- mastery even more so than business.

@Neo My philosophy is that shadow work is necessary to do beside meditation. Meditation alone is often not sufficient to unwire deep neuroses or traumas. Although meditation is extremely beneficial for people with neuroses and traumas. I feel that personal development work is still necessary alongside any spiritual practices you do.

It's so radical you still stop believing reality is real. I sometimes wake up in the morning and think, "I clearly know this entire reality is pure fantasy. Yet here I am stuck in this dream. Okay, let's get to work."

When I first started this sub-forum, my biggest concern was that people would use it as a platform to engage in religious debate. Thankfully that's never happened. However, what I failed to foresee was the same dynamic manifesting in a more subtle form: people engaging in nondual debate. This is even more regrettable, because it goes directly against what nonduality is about and such folks should know better. There has been a recent trend of people stirring up nonduality debate or embarking on "discrediting" campaigns. It's this toxic tendency to criticize and nitpick nondual teachings because they happen to differ from how you think nonduality ought to be done or taught. As if there is one or two paths that everyone should take, and all others are delusional. This is a classic trap. Traditionally, most spiritual paths -- as part of their marketing strategy -- highlight their upsides while conveniently never mentioning their own downsides. Then they criticize all the other paths by only highlighting their downsides while never mentioning their upsides. This creates a false apples-and-oranges comparison. It's functional purpose is to recruit new adherents. It's basically a dishonest advertising campaign. The problem with this approach is that it breeds intolerance and sectarianism. It creates in-fighting and distraction rather than contributing positively to the discussion. It's intellectually uncharitable and ultimately makes the entire field of spirituality/nonduality look hypocritical to outsiders. If you are so nondual, or so self-realized, why are you wasting so much of your time fighting others? This is such a rookie mistake. The reality is that nonduality is a difficult thing to teach, no matter by what method. Traps are numerous NO MATTER WHICH PATH YOU TAKE. There is no such thing as the perfect path. There is no such thing as a path with no downsides or traps or potential for delusion. Any path you take can be misused. Any teaching you hear can be misused. Any teaching can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Any teaching can be nitpicked and criticized into ill-repute if one so desires. You can easily write a massive diatribe about every single spiritual teacher and spiritual path ever devised by man. And you would be half-right. But all of this is just an ideology game. It's a fundamental failure to understand the other person. It's also rather annoying to moderate and creates idle controversy where none really exists. Not only does it turn good people against each other, it's false and ignorant. Just because you've had a rude awakening -- just because you realized that reality is illusory -- doesn't mean you get to come on here and trash the value of conceptual work, or traditional self-help, or other nondual methods. Just because one method didn't resonant with you, doesn't mean you get to crap all over other people's methods. Again, this is such a rookie mistake we shouldn't even be having this discussion. The work that we're doing here is very nuanced. It's very easy to misunderstand. It's very easy to demonize. It's very easy to abuse by its nature. All advanced work is this way. And our work here goes WAY beyond enlightenment. I am counting on you to be a nuanced and understanding student. If you disagree with this philosophy and think that all there is worth doing in life is enlightenment, that's your opinion -- and you're entitled to have it -- but you have no business being here. Go spend your time doing something productive that you believe in, rather than debating, "debunking", and criticizing -- with flagrant disregard for intellectual charity -- the hard work of others. Anyone engaging in nondual debate like: "Method X is all bullshit. It's delusional. Teacher Y doesn't know what the hell enlightenment is. Just follow the method that worked for me." will be banned. There is nothing nondual about such behavior. It's juvenile and driven by a lack of understanding of the deeper aspects of this work. The very act of making such posts is already evidence of one's low level of development. Highly conscious people do NOT behave in this way. Here's a very simple rule of thumb: you will NEVER see highly-conscious and self-realized masters debating, criticizing, nitpicking, or engaging in "debunking" campaigns. Because all of that is egoic, dualistic, ideological nonsense. If they disagree with a teaching, they simply avoid it. They don't start a crusade to fight against it. They understand that different people resonant with different paths and teachings. They understand that everyone needs to find their own path. Remember that guiding people to nonduality is an inherently challenging thing. It's one of the most challenging teaching scenarios. If you ever get the opportunity to teach hundreds or thousands of people about enlightenment, you'll gain a new appreciation for how many of them will deeply misunderstand you and use your well-intentioned teaching for evil. Have respect and compassion for that. When assessing the value of a teaching, observe the principle of intellectual charity, and seek to understand the communication rather than how best to discredit it. Discrediting is easy, understanding is difficult. Division is easy, integration is difficult. Hostility is easy, compassion is difficult. To be a part of this community, you certainly don't need to agree with me on everything. I've always encouraged you to think for yourself and never follow blindly. But you do need to agree with some of my core values like: intellectual honesty, tolerance, compassion, holism, and openmindedness. You must show a basic level of tolerance for diversity and you also need to adhere to the principle of intellectual charity when discussing the pros and cons of various nondual paths. If you don't agree with such principles, that's fine, you just have no business posting on this forum. Please help me keep this community in line with this high standard of discourse, so it doesn't devolve into the kind of low-consciousness finger-pointing that we see all across the web. And none of this should be taken to mean: "So Leo is always right?" No! Leo is just a guy on the web who shares ideas with you. Be very intelligent in how you understand and apply these nuanced and tricky ideas. And none of this should be taken to mean: "Leo is saying that all teachings are identical and equally valid." No! That's obviously not the case. Some teachings are downright absurd. Use of good discernment is ALWAYS necessary. But even if a teaching is absurd, you're still not entitled to troll it or crusade against it. Your actions always speak louder than your words. If you choose to engage in debate or crusading, that shows us exactly what your level of development is, no matter how many enlightenments you may think you've had.

@Will Bigger That was a rough guideline, so you don't have the silly expectation of getting enlightened after 1 week of doing this process. It can take anywhere from 1 second to never. For most of you, it will probably take longer than 2 years simply because you're not doing it with single-minded focus. I'm focus on business and doing research, for example, so it's taking me longer. 5-meo can speed it up because it will change your priorities, if nothing else.

Of course that can affect your life a lot. I wouldn't call it a vow. It's something else. But still might be highly significant. They're a lot more to neurotic psychology than just vows. Remember that an episode of mine is just an episode. It's not meant to be -- nor can it be -- a comprehensive, exhaustive look at anything. I could shoot 10 episodes on each topic and still not say everything that needs to be said about it. This stuff can get very deep and nuanced. And the nuances can be significant. The episodes are merely meant to be launching points for your own investigations and research. This topic is generally called shadow work. It's the bulk of psychotherapy. There are dozens of techniques and theories for how to deal with it.

@Tibor Fear of suffering. And you making an identity out of it. It becomes part of your life story. Sorta like Westworld characters are defined by their past horrors. Without memories, who would you be?

You're gonna want to strategically shift focus between things depending on your exact situation. If you're undertaking a BIG endeavor like starting a business, or learning pickup, or developing your life purpose, or starting a family, or enlightenment -- you're gonna want to focus on it rather obsessively and exclusively for some significant length of time: anywhere from 6 months to several years. This means ONE thing. Of course you can still have minor projects and habits that you're building alongside your ONE big thing. Learning how to find the exact right balance is one of the KEYS to all success. A rigid, black-and-white thinking mind is not capable of this. Which is why its rare to see a highly successful, well-rounded human being. Don't think of balance as a static state. Think of it as a dynamic thing. Your focus will shift throughout your life, as you finish one chapter and start another.

Don't be so sure about that. Maybe he did see an angel Time to research what angels are.

Firstly, you don't exist. Secondly, cultivate patience and mastery mindset. This is the last thing on Earth to be rushed. Be serious and steady. Be the wise tortoise, not the foolish hare. Thirdly, ego cannot die because it is an illusion. Fighting with ego is just more ego. Notice this. Be careful of building up an new anti-ego ego. That's still ego. See through that whole game. Just work diligently at self-observation, trust the process, and don't stop doing research into spirituality.

@Bronsoval That's one way Reality is much stranger than that. It's absolutely infinite. Every distinction is arbitrary. How else can existence be? It all makes perfect sense once you see it. After all, you did create it all out of nothing Wakey, wakey.

1) It's hard to get activated when you've got no compelling vision for your future, and no clear life purpose. That's why the life purpose course is so important. You're not likely to overcome that laziness otherwise. 2) It takes at least 1-2 years of steady personal development work to build yourself a little foundation and momentum. So keep a 3-5 year time horizon as you do this work. Your results the first year won't be spectacular. But in 3-5 years you'll be shocked at how much you've changed. You gotta keep that in mind so you don't get discouraged 6 months in. 3) Start building 1 good habit at a time. Try to build 1 new healthy habit every 2 months for 1 year straight. That will be 6 new habits in one year. Doesn't sound like a lot, but that alone will be revolutionary. And that's only year one! 4) Get clear about what you want out of life. If you got no big goals or deep desires, you're stuck forever. 5) Backsliding is normal. In fact, I've got a video call How To Stop Backsliding.

Notice, that is a point of identification for you. And what is that? What is "Just a special program in my brain"? It's a THOUGHT! Notice, "my brain" is a THOUGHT! There is no brain in your direct experience. There is also no "special program" in your direct experience. Become mindful of what is THOUGHT, and what is direct experience. Notice that there is a Voice in direct experience that keeps talking and won't shut up. That Voice supplies you with all kinds of intellectual answers. All of those answers are wrong because all those answers are just sounds. And you are not a sound. How can you know if you're a sound or not? Well... just take a good close look. Are you a sound? Maybe you are. Don't believe me. Look!

@Alex K Right, so you're stuck because you think you know something which in fact you don't know. This is the problem of your cup being already full. This is the problem of failing to enter a state of not-knowing. This is the problem of conceptualizing and believing. This is why Zen masters usually never tell you what you are. Because they are afraid that whatever they tell you, you'll believe it. But all beliefs are symbols, and thus not the real deal. You cannot symbolize what you are. So drop this idea that you are awareness. You don't actually know that. And you don't actually know what awareness is. It should be standard operating procedure whenever you sit down to self-observe, to THROW ALL IDEAS OUT THE WINDOW! Pretend like EVERYTHING you ever heard from ANYONE, including Leo, is total bullshit. Observe completely from scratch. Imagine you were just born 5 minutes ago and know nothing about reality. ZERO! Don't use any words, models, or symbols to represent yourself. They are all not you. In this self-observation process, what's you're looking for is a direct experience, not an idea or a word. It can be helpful to apply skepticism and doubt. Why do you believe you're awareness? Maybe Leo lied to you? Maybe this whole enlightenment thing is just a scam? Maybe you're something else? How do you know what you are? This kind of doubt should empty your cup and open your mind. Also, get real! You're not really identified with awareness, are you? You're identified with your body or The Voice, if you're honest. Take a look at what you're ACTUALLY currently identifying with. Get clear about that. "Awareness" is probably just some bullshit word you picked up in a New Age book. Here's another good line of questioning for someone like you: "Why do I believe I'm my body? What is it that owns this body?" ALWAYS look for the answer in direct experience. No theories, no speculation, no guess-work, no philosophizing. The answer is an experience. Imagine you are mute or dumb like a retarded child without any language. Now observe reality and find what you are.

It's not something that's possible to "accept". It can only be experienced.

Same thing. The end of you is YOU! There is nothing but YOU. Don't get lost in the semantics. No self = Self = Emptiness = Infinity = Zero = EVERYTHING = God = Nothing = YOU = Brahman = Atman = Shiva = Shakti But for the purposes of this self-observation exercise, you're looking for Shiva (empty awareness) because you're already full of yourself

Of course "you" don't want it. It's the end of "you". Why would something want to die? This is a highly counter-intuitive move, only for those with deep faith. Once you die, however, it's all good. If it wasn't like this, everyone would already be enlightened, and we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Of course psychedelics bring all your inner demons up to the surface. This was clearly stated and should be obvious to anyone who's done even a bit of research into the field. Anyone not wanting to face their personal demons should stay far away from psychedelics (and enlightenment for that matter). You have to keep in mind that this is very advanced, hardcore personal development we're doing. If you can't handle it, start with less hardcore stuff. For some people hardcore is exactly what they need. For others, they need gentle hand-holding. Nothing wrong with either approach. Just know your limits and treat powerful tools like psychedelics with respect, or they will slap you upside the head. Now that your inner demon has reared it's ugly head, face it. Journal it out. What exactly are you afraid of? What is this fear? Why is it there? Investigate it with precision and it should start to dissolve. Or, if you can't handle investigation, you can always distract yourself back into comfort with entertainment, relationships, food, work, etc.

Yes, good stuff! I'll be covering this in a video in the future. It's an important map for folks on this path. It clearly shows you how much more there is to enlightenment than Neo-Advaita will have you believe. Many folks in the West stop at picture #4: catching the bull. And even all these 10 pictures are is STILL not all there is to spiritual mastery. So buckle in and make yourself comfortable. As simple as enlightenment is, there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. Of course, don't create a new identity around being "on the path". Just do the work with silent diligence and don't stop growing.

Mostly just me.

@Sharpadox That's sorta the wrong question. Don't make it about other people. Make it about your passion. When you select your greatest passion, that IS going to result in you helping society the most. You can't help society by becoming a mediocre psychologist, or whatever else. You gotta LOVE it! If you love concept art, go with concept art. And find a way to OWN that domain. I don't mean own it as in: "be successful at it". I mean own it as in: "make it express your deepest values." Don't just think inside the box. Invent your career, so it fits you, and only you. Then you have no competition. To do this, you gotta get extremely clear about what's important to you in life, and what exactly you want out of life.

7 values is fine to start with. Remember, you'll be tweaking and evolving all this over time as you go out into the real world and take action. Don't worry, you'll find another 3 values with time. Most people have too many values. The less, actually, the better, as you can tighten your focus even more.

@DizIzMikey There's a new Practical Guide To Enlightenment: https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/7360-leos-practical-guide-to-enlightenment/ So you got no more excuses

Dude, just sit your ass down and do the self-observation work. You're wasting your time with all this thinking about post-enlightenment. Welcome back