Leo Gura

You know... ya'll could fill in the Birthday field in your profiles and then it would be really easy to tell how old everyone was.

@Hellsgunz100 The egoic mind has a very important purpose: self-survival and reproduction. In a twisted way, you have been locked in the Matrix for your own benefit. Like a child is locked in a play-pen.

It's like ice cream. Try a bunch of different flavors and then buy the one you like most.

@Naviy Hence why we tell you that enlightenment is not an experience. There may be something beyond experience which you've yet to discover. Keep your mind open. Never underestimate the mind's vast potential for self-deception. Any conclusion you reach could easily be wrong because there is ultimately no arbiter of truth but yourself.

@Emerald Wilkins Ask yourself: Who is telling me that they are separate? The monkey mind? And the monkey mind can be trusted because...?

@dice It's only a problem if you take any of your beliefs or theories about ethics as actually true.

@tryingforfreedom I don't deny that anything really exists. I am merely pointing out that what you are is not the body/mind -- which is a verifiable fact. In the same way that when you see a rope lying on the ground at night and think it's a snake but then you realize it's just a rope after you turn the lights on. You laugh and say to yourself, "How silly I was to be afraid of a rope." The fear was definitely real. But you were afraid of a rope! And your entire life was based around the belief that ropes are dangerous snakes. Suffering is real. It's just also unnecessary because it's based on a misinterpretation of facts. With enlightenment work our goal is to straighten out the facts so that we stop acting based on faulty intel. We know the shitstorm that can happen when you believe Iraq has weapons of mass destruction when it actually doesn't. The chaos in Iraq is certainly real. But it also could have been easily avoided with better intel and more self-honesty.

What there are are degrees of the mind's recognition and alignment with Truth. Truth itself doesn't fluctuate, but "your" awareness of it does. And yes, that awareness can increase sometimes like a light switch and sometimes like a dimmer switch. Awakening experiences themselves are lightening quick and tend to be mindblowing. But there is also a gradual raising of awareness that happens throughout all the consciousness work that you do over the years.

@TruthSeeker You're conflating the human body with the self. The human body exists. And you can of course kill it. And I'm sure @jjer94 would be sad to see his Mom's body go. But this is all moot because what his Mom really is is not the human body, but the eternal empty awareness within which her body is occurring. That eternal empty awareness you cannot kill. Moreover, his Mom and you are the exactly same awareness! Both of you are Nothing. What you're doing is akin to an insane person threatening to destroy jjer94's Mom's car, believing that in doing so he would actually kill the Mom. In reality you're not threatening Mom in any way at all when you threaten her car. Yes, the car could be destroyed, but so what? You're just confused about who she really is because you're confused about who you really are. And, btw, it's not in good taste to threaten people's mother's bodies.

@Emerald Wilkins That's on the right track. But also wonder, Are they really separate fields of awareness? Who says that sight is fundamentally different or separate from sound? You do? And you trust yourself why? Notice that the distinction between sight and sound is conceptual. One could eliminate this distinction. Only the mind says they are separate. Not only that, but you could even eliminate the concept of "sight" and the concept of "sound" and the concept of "sensation". Leaving you with.... You tell me. What happens when all concepts, labels, and distinctions are jettisoned?

"Never tell me the odds." -- Han Solo Be more like him. If you turn self-inquiry into an odds thing, your odds drop to zero.

Odds are high that if you keep asking such silly questions you will not be in that 10%

@Flare Making a study of success is a definite must in this life. Like with everything, don't go overboard and only chase success. But for some people and where they're at in life, they just want some basic advice about success in career and biz. Not every video is meant to lead to Buddha-hood.

@Sarah_Flagg The biggest trick is creating a genuine state of not-knowing. This is hard to do in practice. You have to actually not know that you are human body. I find it helpful to start questioning why I believe I am human body until something in the mind clicks and it says, "Oh yeah... it is kinda arbitrary, isn't it? Maybe we're not a human." << And that's when the window opens. Not-knowing occurs.

Once you know enough about this stuff, you're sorta past the point of no return. Watching TV or hanging out with friends or chasing money causes more suffering than sitting on the cushion. So you're choosing the lesser of two evils.

@Markus That's actually a very common phenomena at enlightenment intensives. It's just another game the ego is playing. At an intensive you would be told to communicate exactly what arises. If nothing arises, communicate that. But if the mind was truly silent, there would be no problem and you'd probably be enlightened. Look more carefully at what the mind is doing when you say "it's silent". Don't believe that shit for a second. And if you ever do experience true silence, just sit there and enjoy it. It won't last long.

It takes lots of practice. Try doing a 30 day challenge of 1 hour of sitting per day. After those 30 days you'll be at a whole new level!

Hard to say. It feels quite different from regular meditation. I think it's more powerful in some ways, and weaker in others.

Enlightenment is not a simple thing. After an enlightenment experience, the ego-mind usually still comes back, often times in full-force. It can takes years or decades for the enlightenment experience to percolate through the mind and rewire it. Most spiritual and personal development work only begins after the first few enlightenment experiences.

I don't understand why your back is bending itself if you're sitting still. That's only should happen if you're falling asleep. If it bends, straighten it back up and hold as still as you can. You don't have to be perfect at this.

There are many binuaral beat programs on the market. I've only tried Holosync myself. It's more expensive than most. But I think it's worth it. If all it does is get you to meditate for 1 hour every day consistently for a year, it will be well worth it.

There is an organization for professional coaches. It's called the ICF. It accredits schools. So at the very least make sure the program is ICF accredited and gives you one of their degrees/certificates upon completion. The two programs I know of that are good are: IPEC << I did this one CTI But I'm sure there are many others. Do some googling.

I was mostly speaking to the ordinary notion of success that folks have. If you want spiritual success, or family success, or hobby success, or relationship success, you'll still need many of those qualities.

@Hellsgunz100 What is his philosophy exactly? In general I like Elliot. He gives some good advice overall.

Is mathematics meaningful to you? Yes or no? Replace mathematics with whatever other thing you want until you find something that gets a clear HELL YES! response.