Leo Gura

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

@Visionary You've been misunderstanding whatever you've been reading. No serious teaching tells you to drop the desire for enlightenment before you've completed it. You drop it only AT AN ADVANCED STAGE, once you've attained many breakthroughs. You're not capable of being in a state of being! That's why enlightenment is necessary. You guys are way too worried about spiritual seeking. You should be much more worried about your lack of seeking. 99% of you aren't seeking nearly hard enough. Not even close! Your efforts are so weak you got more odds of getting hit by lightening than getting deeply enlightened. The reason I say things like, "Enlightenment takes 10,000 hours" is so you understand the depth of the work and effort involved. Most people undershoot rather than overshoot. If you're using very direct methods like self-observation or mindfulness meditation, seeking is a non-issue. You can seek that way for your whole life and it will yield fruit. The problem of seeking only arises when you're seeking in totally wrong areas. Like if you think that joining your local church study group will get you enlightened. That would be a problem. Or if you think merely reading self-help books will make you enlightened. That would lead to the seeking trap. You can seek that way for 100 years and not get anywhere. But self-observation will not lead to a seeking trap, because it is the heart of the work. It is a fact that you don't know what you are yet, so you must invest time looking. The looking will not magically happen for you. If you build a deep conceptual understanding of enlightenment, you will be able to navigate all the traps. And to do that, I recommend studying a lot of diverse teachings. If you only study one teaching, I can pretty much bet that you'll fall into one trap or another. If you study 50 different nonduality teachings, you'll see all the traps and potential Zen devilries. Of course studying alone will not make you enlightened. It's only the prelude to the core work. And if you're tired of studying and what to dig deep into the core work, discipline yourself to sit down and execute the process outlined in this guide. It's extremely direct. No bullshit. In fact, the problem is, it's so direct you will come up with every excuse imaginable to avoid doing it. The first 6 months are a bitch.

Your strategy is rather shallow and short-sighted. Why not find your life purpose and study that?

Don't forget that the Truth is ALWAYS the Truth. It's ALWAYS present! It has nowhere to hide. It's there right now, as you brush your teeth, eat your breakfast, sit on the toilet, look at your smart phone, or browse this forum.

Working on a video about the nature of infinity. Found this while doing research: This is existence in a nutshell. Now go contemplate until you experience it!

@Reality Yes, so many people misunderstand that point and then rail against "spiritual seeking". I call this the trap of burning your ship before using it to cross the ocean.

A well-rounded enlightenment -- one coupled with personal development -- should lead to high motivation levels and above-average relationships. It can be tricky to gauge because many of our motivations and relationships are inauthentic and will naturally fall away post-enlightenment. But they should be replaced with higher-quality ones if one does this work properly.

Good stuff. There's nothing more amazing than discovering that reality is unreal.

@WorthyBird Enlightenment is way beyond issues of fitness. Once you realize you never existed in the first, you'll stop worrying about surviving. That said, enlightenment doesn't have to reduce fitness. In fact, you'll be even more capable of effective survival. The only difference is, you won't be attached to it. Detachment from outcome tends to increase performance. Ego creates a lot of self-interference. Often backfiring and reducing fitness. The whole problem with selfishness is that is ends up backfiring in the long run.

"What good fortune, for those in power, that people do not think." -- Adolf Hitler

@Neo Careful with assuming that a gazelle uses labels for danger, run, mother, milk. And don't forget how big of a pain in the ass it was learning all these labels as a kid. Back then, none of it made any sense. Most of your reality had to be contructed out of thin air.

@Samuel Garcia How can your heart beat even though you clearly aren't controlling it? This is a non-issue. Maybe you aren't constant. People are just telling you things they've discovered about reality. Maybe you could be variable. Maybe you're a hairy rainbow walrus. But if you look deeper, you'll discover that is not the case. Why? You'll only know when you get there. The present moment is literally you. But what exactly is presence? If you knew what it was, you'd already be enlightened. Nonduality means you are everything and nothing. The ultimate paradox. You are the sensations, but they are not all that you are. The essence of you is Shiva: void. Sensations are Shakti. Reality is the union and dance of Shiva Shakti. Shakti needs Shiva like paint needs a blank canvas. Your mission in self-observation work is to locate Shiva. This is hard to do because you've become addicted to seeing Shakti. Shakti is easy to see because its colorful. Shiva is colorless, so much harder to find. Keep looking. The mind cannot ever grasp this! The only way for mind to access Shiva is if mind surrenders. If you are strong-minded, this may take a while. It would be much easier if you were weak-minded.

@Extreme Z7 That's basically how the process unfolds. Yes, it can be infuriating. Like trying to nail Jello to a wall. It just refuses to cooperate. The secret is to not get discouraged or distracted. Stay with it and you'll experience a lot of growth fairly quickly, even without enlightenment. Many illusions will fall away as you keep at it. It can be helpful to keep a journal to write all the illusions out of your system. Although self-observation isn't a theoretical process, it can be very helpful to purge as much theory as possible to thinking it through and dumping it on paper or even to a listening partner. After much of the theory has been purged, true self-observation can begin.

It takes time to build up the momentum. It really helps to have at least one glimpse of the divine nature of reality. Psychedelics can be a gateway to that glimpse. People who break through on a psychedelic (assuming a non-party atmosphere) will then tend to become interested in spiritual development. After my 5-meo experience, my desire is unshakable. The truth is more amazing than a 1000 orgasms. Deep suffering can also create desire for liberation, fueling self-inquiry. Doing a week-long meditation or consciousness retreat can also create deep desire. Visiting an ashram and basking in it's incredible high-consciousness energy can also create deep desire. Contemplating your own death and how much of your life you've wasted can also create deep desire. "I don't know" is a great answer. Make sure you really mean it though. Do you REALLY not know? Or are you just saying that when in fact if I put a gun up to your head and tell you I'm gonna pull the trigger you're gonna start to beg me not to because you actually know that you're that body/brain? I bet you'd know real quick in that case. Which means you don't really not-know. To REALLY not-know what you are means that you ACTUALLY don't know! Which means that if I told you that you might be a chocolate covered donut, you'd seriously consider it. To ACTUALLY not know what you are means that you can't say for sure whether you're a coffee table or a human being. The reality of what you really are is much weirder than identifying with a coffee table. Becoming a coffee table is easy by comparison. At least a coffee table is an object.