There is an infinite number of ways to manifest Love. So I wouldn't limit it to any one profession. The whole point of Love is that is literally Infinite! Everything is a manifestation of Love.
With that said, the ultimate profession is becoming a mystic/Bodhisattva because only a hardcore mystic will ever fully realize what Love is. Ordinary people, including artists, just aren't conscious enough to realize how deep Love goes. They also aren't selfless and pure enough to manifest Love in it purest form. Their bodies and minds are too corrupted by ego, culture, and defilements. So their work is nice, but it pales in comparison to the work of someone like Jesus.
To manifest love at the highest levels you must become conscious of what Love truly is, and then you must completely rid yourself of yourself (see quote in my sig). And then whatever you do after that doesn't matter.
This is usually only achieved by full-time monks and mystics. And even then it's rare. It's not easy for a human to perfectly reflect God. You'd basically have to surrender your entire life to do it. Which is why it's so rarely done and awesome.
If you really care about Love, devote your life to the way of the Bodhisattva and you won't regret it. And make sure you do some 5-MeO-DMT along the way.

All of physical reality is it, expressed. From your body to the trees to the mass shootings you see on the news every week.
To be totally selfless.
Fear and lack of consciousness.
Change all your selfish motivations into selfless ones.

I took 60-70 microgram of acid with my beloved one and it was one of the best experiences we've ever had.
I've already had a couple of awakenings, but this was my deepest one and it took me by surprise, as I only took a relatively small dose of acid. we're already pretty experienced at tripping together, so we are very in tune with each other. I can recommend tripping with your beloved one, as it can take connection to an incredible level and you can drag each other deeper (just make sure you absolutely trust one another) <3
so it started with the ayahuasca patterns the shipibo folk talk about: we saw them appearing on our bodies, later we saw them shimmering on every surface. we saw energy flowing from our hands, illuminating the whole room.
we were lying face to face and then suddenly I got dragged inside the aya patterns (not the first time, it already happened in my last yagé experience) it felt like being dragged through a giant meat grinder, my body being cut into countless slices and put together again. like dying and being born, again and again. it actually was so, so effortless: I kept in mind Leo's last video about letting go and that's exactly what I did. I let go of everything. I let go of every theory I've heard and read about, every idea, every belief. it was so effortless, it didn't even feel like dying. it felt more like a heavenly dissolving of 'me'
it was all very clear and controllable. my mind and ego completely dissolved and yet I perceived everything as sharp and clear. the boundaries between 'me' and her completely dissolved. also between 'me' and everything else. I was catapulted into infinity in infinite direction. I experienced infinite infinities in every infinity. the only thing in my mind was: oh my god, this is it, it's infinite! and it's all love
I have that desire to share enlightenment with others, to help people awaken. and I could clearly feel that that desire comes straight from my heart. it comes from a place of love. I could feel that love is the whole purpose, the purpose of life and ultimately of enlightenment. if an awakening experience does not culminate in love, than it's not the Absolute. the nature of it is infinite, that means infinite love
I wanted to share that with my beloved so badly, that my heart cracked open (I've never felt so much love in my life) and I concentrated on that, on pure love. then I perceived myself as an empty vessel, though which divine energy flows through and I sent it to her. thats when she started having the exact same experience as me (it was her first encounter with god, non-duality and divine love) and it brought her to tears. it was so, so beautiful to see. her words were oh my god, oh my god. that's when I knew, she's there. and when I knew: I can. I can be a vessel of divinity and love, if my desire comes from a pure, heartfelt space 
we were the entire universe and expanded into infinite infinities, until we reached a point were we opened our eyes, looking at each other: we communicated telepathically and felt like we were 'outside' existence (I don't really know what that means yet): we saw each other as Shiva and Shakti, two gods giving birth to existence. we held our hands and felt like we were merging together. it was like making cosmic love to each other and creating all life and the entire existence in the process. it felt like we were creating the origin of everything. and the origin of all creation is love, pure, unconditional love
it was magic, absolutely incredible <3
my conclusions are: love is the highest. I don't actually care about insights and awakenings if they don't culminate in love anymore. and I want to share my experiences. what shall I do with all of this, if I can't share it? 
I hope it can inspire some of you guys :3 thanks to Leo and all of you on this forum. I wouldn't be here where I am right now without you. I am so grateful <3

Hume is nice for starting philosophy but ultimately he's wrong in many foundational ways.
Heraclitus is good but there's so little of him to read. It's just a handful of lines.
Epictetus is great
Heidegger is too confusing for me to bother with. It's not ultimately true enough.
Kant is an epistemic idealist. He doesn't go far enough. What he's missing is ontological idealism.
You're better off just reading summaries of such philosopher's work on Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Otherwise you'll waste years read dense books which only make you more confused than you began.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/idealism/
You have to be careful when it comes to reading philosophy because it can become a quagmire which distracts you from Truth.

That's the whole problem of communication and abstract philosophical work. It's often impossible to really understand.
Some philosophical writing is abstract that there is literally not enough information in the book to clearly know when it meant.
Which is why I shower you guys with so many examples. It's only from lots of examples can you understand the abstractions.
Honestly, Kant is not worth your time to read. Kant is not nearly a profound as people make him out to be. Various distinctions he makes are confused and deluded.
If you want to read some good Western philosophy, try Plotinus or Berkeley.

The way you frame this is already a big problem.
This distinction you make between mindset problems and actual problems is itself a mindset problem!
What if all problems were nothing but your mindset towards them? Contemplate the significance of that.

@TrynaBeTurquoise Yes, theory is important because it helps ground you from spinning out of control into delusions and fear.
But it's not the only factor. There are other aspects of development, like how much emotional baggage and trauma is stored in your body.

For those of you into Kriya, I would highly recommend that in addition to reading the original Kriya book I suggested, you also read the books of Santata Gamana. I now prefer his more simplified techniques. It's a much more streamlined version of Kriya which I think will be even more effective. I found too much needless complexity and variety in the other way.
Right now my technique stack is very simple:
Mahamudra x3 Kriya Pranayama x24 Kriya Supreme Fire x3 One-pointed Concentration for 5 mins Eventually, with lots of practice, you should aim for something like the following stack:
Mahamudra x3 Kriya Pranayama x36-x72 Kriya Supreme Fire for 10-20 mins One-pointed Concentration for 10-20 mins (Bonus: Yoni Mudra x3) (Bonus: Kechari mudra) EDIT: ideally, do this stack twice per day. But if you don't have that much time, at least once per day.
Don't attempt to do this second stack right off the bat. It will not be sustainable. You need to gradually build up to it, like with heavy weightlifting.
I think the original book I recommended is still very good as an introduction and foundation because Gamana's books are so short and thin that they do not provide enough information about Kriya to a total newbie. They are aimed at people who have already been initiated in one school or another.
If you are strictly following the original book, that is okay. You can keep doing that if you want. Or you could switch to this more streamlined version like I decided to do. I don't like learning too many complicated techniques. But that's just me. Both ways should work in the end. It's mostly a matter of style. Although I actually think the streamlined version will end up to be more effective because it concentrates your limited time on the most powerful techniques, and less time is wasted on learning new complex techniques.

@nowimhere Sounds like your butthole is immune to God. This happens for some people. Not sure why. Too much darkness for the light to enter Or just due to genetic differences and so forth. 
You could also try sub-lingual. Might work better for you than plugging.
Otherwise just stick to vaping.
I'm amazed though how well plugging works for me with all psychedelics. It's just perfect for me. The only substance it hasn't worked for is NN-DMT.

It means you imagine it.
It exists only because you create it. If you stop creating it, it will stop existing.
This is not a matter of belief. It is a matter of becoming conscious of how you are creating it.
For example, you are not yet conscious of how you are creating your own brith. You have confused the idea of your birth for some real event outside your own mind. It doesn't even occur to you that your birth could be imaginary.
In other words, you are basically insane, imagining stuff like a psychotic. The most importing thing you are imagining is that you are not imagining but that its all real.

Yes but then how do you handle a situation where an atheist comes into the temple and starts teaching atheism and nihilism?
It is tricky to handle that because you're damned if you kick him out and damned if you don't.
And that's precisely the problem of how do you handle ignorance? It's not easy. You cannot escape fragmention in the relative world. You can be super enlightened but fragmentation will still happen to you. It will be thrust upon you. As God you are doomed to forever keep dividing yourself.
People will attack you just for speaking the truth.
After enough trips you realize that your whole life is one long trip, so the distinction disappears.
There is no difference really between being high and sober other than that you are much more conscious of your full capacities when high.
God and Love are always present. It's just a question of how disconnected one is from it.

What we really need long-term is a new transformative technology that will either: 1) remove carbon from the atmosphere, and/or, 2) block sunlight from reaching the Earth in the first place.
I envision a sort of giant thin film set up in space which simply blocks sunlight from reaching the planet like sun glasses. With such a technology we would not only eliminate global warming forever but we could actively regulate the temperate on the planet to maximize consciousness.
But something like this needs to be funded by big government research.
It's quite obvious that advanced civilizations learn to regulate the climate on their planet.
As a species it's like we're living in the age before air conditioning.
Imagine being able to selectively regulate the sunlight in desert regions like the Sahara or the Gobi, making it lush and livable!
We could even install a UV filter so people don't get sunburned.

If you are prone to depression then contemplation could be problematic in the sense that you will get lost inside your own mind. You have to careful here to balance between theory & practice. For a depressed person going to the gym might be more effective to change one's mood than contemplating on the couch about one's mood.
But it the long run you should build yourself up to the point where you can contemplate things without it driving you deeper into depression. As you become more developed and conscious it will be easier for you to let go of being stuck in your own mind. Kriya yoga & meditation helps a lot with this.
If all you do is sit and think (without any yoga or meditation practice) you will end up getting lost in your own mind. And this will create various kinds of dysfunction.
So watch out! The mind can be a very dangerous thing. Then again, being mindless can be even more dangerous.

Distinction = difference = form = duality
So you are asking, What is difference?
If reality is made out of differences, then what is a difference made out of?
Notice you get a paradox here because if you say, Difference is made out of nothing. That nothing is still a difference. This question cannot be answered at the level of langauge. An awakening is required. You must somehow jump out of the domain of language altogether because all that language is are differences, so you can't use language to understand difference itself. Creating more differences is not the same thing as groking what difference is.

Most people are not interested in being aware of it because you'd be undermining their very way of life!
Self-deception is a VAST topic with many sub-topics. It's the bulk of how humans fool themselves into believing they are human.
The trick is that this stuff cannot simply be taught or explained, it requires deep self-reflection, contemplation, and consciousness work -- which virtually nobody is willing to do.
And even if you do it, you'll still get tripped up in self-deception. Self-deception does not joke around. It's seriously deceptive.

Survival
Rocks don't survive so well. For an object to be really good at survival it needs to be extremely complex.
The body does a lot more fancy stuff than a rock. A rock cannot tell itself that it is real. The body can. In this respect it is both smarter and dumber than a rock

If the mind is deeply stilled a nondual state of consciousness will eventually set in, because duality is created by an active mind.
But merely 5 minutes of stillness will not be enough. You need long periods of stillness over many days, weeks, months, years. It can't just be a temporary stillness, the mind actually has to rewire itself to be less active by default.
From stillness insight can arise. This insight leads to enlightenment.

Wait till you realize that clean vs dirty is a duality.
That's when everything goes full-circle and you find yourself smearing your feces on your neighbor's dishes.
Then when he calls the cops and they arrest you, you'll tell them that freedom vs captivity is just a duality.
Then when the prison psychiatrist examines you, and asks you what's wrong with you, you'll tell him that right vs wrong is just a duality.
Then when he suspects you're insane, you'll tell him that that sanity vs insanity is just a duality.
Then they will put you in the insane asylum where you will be safely kept away from infecting the minds of ordinary folks with the Truth.
And finally you'll die and realize it was all a dream anyway, since life vs death is just a duality

After you die, keep dying until you live through all possible lives. Then you will have lived through it all
Enlightenment is not about seeing through my eyes. Enlightenment is about something even more radical: realizing you are the entire universe.
To realize you are the entire universe does not require you to live through many different lives. You can realize it by staying in your current life.
It's not about becoming multicentered but rather becoming omnipresent/nothing. This does not allow you to see through others eyes. You just realize you are EVERYTHING regardless of what is visible. Your consciousness goes so infinite that visual data simply doesn't matter.
Bottomline is: you are too attached to visual forms. They are not important in this pursuit. You need to turn inward and inquire what you are. That will then explode into infinity.
The nothing you find through self-inquiry is also infinity, since nothing and infinity must be identical. This infinity is what connects you to all living beings without any need to look through their eyes.
I don't need to experience your life to know I am you. All I need to do is realize I am infinite.

@Nemo28 Yes, there is an answer but it's so radical you won't understand it.
You are the obstacle to understanding this.
In truth you ARE looking through the eyes of all being simutaneously. One of whom is this human you think you are now. To be a human precisely means that you are only looking through one set of eyes.
To look through the eyes of all humans does not mean you get to compare all their experiences. It means precisely that you are cut off in your own little private world. A trilion private worlds.
It works just like an online mutliplayer game.
You are me writing this comment. But you are so fully me that you don't even know you're you! Because you are fully me! You are so fully me that you have no memory of ever having been you! And vice versa.
Ta-da!
The mistake you're making is that you are imagining being me while still retaining elements of you. No, you have to fully forget yourself. In other words, you must die. Still want to be me?

You're talking about here is dual vs nondual states of consciousness.
In a nondual state of consciousness the notion of a self is missing. You and reality are one. Subject and object are one.
How long it lasts can vary depending on many factors. It could last a minute or a lifetime.

A report of 9 months of serious and continuous work with entheogens, mostly Ayahuasca and 5 -MeO- DMT, but also Psilocybe, raw DMT (changa), LSD,  raw Ibogaine and Bufotenine. 
Where was I ? I was a seeker. I had the bases of reading hundreds of books of Leo's book list, watched documentaries, meditate, lived at Vipassana centers, did many practices which Leo used to emphasis (self-inquiry, contemplation, kryia yoga), traveled the world seeking to immerse and understand red, blue and orange stages. Internally I was dealing with strong negative emotions, stuck in victimhood and was not aware of Love.  I had hundreds of fundamental questions, including but not limited to... Who am I ? What this path will lead me TO ? What is infinity ? How do I know I exist rather then am I a piece of own imagination ? What is LOVE ? What is consciousness ? What/ who is GOD ? WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE, the Absolute, the TOTAL TRUTH ? What is the very essence of reality ?  Why does LEO pushes us so much into these questions ? 
First Ayahuasca trip- The veil was broken. Infinity had no problem to answer directly to my mind. I understood. Extremely shocking, but all my questions were answered. I understood duality. I spoke to God directly. I experienced the full blown nonduality.
Magic unfolds - After each trip as I started to embody the I AM, the Creator and the creation, creating itself, for itself, by itself, my life as a human being in duality had a huge shift. On the first months I experience the beginning of the opening of God's heart into my body. Every trip I went deeper and deeper on this opening process. Eventually I reached a point where duality/my mind was able to experience LOVE when/ if it wants. ''I am loving awareness'' exercise became natural. I recognized LOVE as the TRUTH of my heart and its present in every little cell in the universe. I no longer needed to seek for LOVE or God. Contemplation became an expression of Love which Creation did for love, out of love, to love and TO ME. Creation gifted ME in many ways, by creating trees for example, as a way to express RAW LOVE. 
As my heart was opening I realized my mind is not fully purified. There is a state of unconditional love but I still have many impurity coming from the dual-mind. 
In my personal life it all became extremely intense, I am still getting used to experience ALL feelings and sensations at the same time. I became authentic, brave, joyful,sensitive and intuitive. I can see exactly where I am going and how it will unfold by having perseverance and focus on my assignment as a human being. I am learning how to be an example of a conscious citizen of Earth. I am learning how to apply ALL MY VALUES through my daily life in all actions I do. 
Mostly I now can affirm I am no longer a seeker, I have found ALL I have ever looked for. I was looking for TRUTH and I found LOVE! There is so much love in every cell of my body, in every atom I am experiencing, in every action of my life, in every corner of my house, in every word of the company I work for... often seems like I WILL EXPLODE OUT OF LOVE. 
I live in duality, and in duality I learned how to play the game. Ask and its given. Put your intention out there - especially before a trip and it will give to you! YESSSS INDEED YOU ARE GOD and GOD LOVES ITSELF and ALL you ever wanted this personification of YOU, will give to the YOU. 
Intensity - My last 5 - MeO- DMT trip 4 days ago was so shocking, so radical, so destroying, so full of GODhood... today I am in eternal gratitude to be recognizing myself in duality as a human being experiencing the Oneness from a small perspective. Thats the beauty of LIFE. Like hundreds before me and after me, we affirm THIS IS THE ONLY PATH. A seeker who has found its treasures will affirm to all humanity that this is the PATH. I have experienced every  pain, sorrow, fear, hate, love, agony, BEAUTY, joy your mind can ever grasp through my past trips. And I can affirm again, THIS IS THE ONLY PATH. 
Final outcome - Serious practices and working with potent entheogens has transformed my life in degrees unimaginable. Within the period of 9 months I have accomplished everything I have intent for since my first trip. That's the amazing power of psychedelics. The medicine will give you what your intentions are. SEEK, knock, walk the path UNTIL you realize the way. 
Today  I celebrate life as a simple human being who often forgets I am GOD in order to experience duality exactly as its! I AM. I am aware I am Love. I am aware I am GOD having a human experience. The point of no return has been reached - I vow to be in service of the entire planet. I vow to myself to keep focused on my assignments, to have the discipline to embody and apply the insights and teachings I have received through the use of the entheogens. 
My heart is overwhelmed with gratitude. Leo, thank you for being one of the most important elements of my path. If I can name some master who has pointed the way, its you Leo. I am thankful,  my mind and heart has pure direct love for your being. 
Thanks all of you actualized.org community for reading and if you make this choice, to walk the path with plants and TOAD medicine, I am with you, I am in you. I am ABSOLUTE LOVE. 
Enjoy what you are. 
In love,
In gratitude,
in service. 

 
''Live up to understand the Zen''
 
 
 
 
 

The distinction between inanimate objects and humans is imaginary. When the self fully collapses, it is impossible to distinguish yourself as a human from your carpet.
THERE IS SUCH THING AS HUMANS! You're imagining it!
When you understand this, this opens up interesting possibilities such as being a coffee table or a rock.
Consciousness is a universal field. It does not belong to humans or even to creatures. Rather the universal field of consciousness imagines humans and creatures within itself. In the same way that you might carve a human body out of a block of ice. The ego/self is that carving out process which is constantly on-going. That is what we call survival. To survive as a self you must constantly keep chiseling the ice to maintain your identity. This you do by thinking and imaging yourself to be a real self. For this you use memories, stories, concepts, emotions, and a slew of defense mechanisms such as denial, projection, justification, self-bias, etc.

This is my opinions on Leo's defense on Slavoj Zizek's Buddhism critiques. This is for fun. Nothing too serious but there are some important things I'd like to say.
I'm not a Buddhist but I use Buddhist techniques as a primary investigation towards what is true. I definitely understand Leo's arguments but Slavoj Zizek doesn't appear to have a sophisticated understanding of Buddhism. This seems evident not only from his arguments but also from his non-experiential and academic demeanor.
Here are some of the key points I'd like to talk about.
Zizek's argument: Life is suffering but not all of us wants to escape suffering. Falling in love (knowing that it will eventually lead to suffering) is given as an example to support this claim.
Leo's Defense: Suffering is only problematic from ego's perspective. God wants to experience all modalities of suffering and non-suffering as it is infinite. The reason there is so much love is that there is a lot of suffering. And that contrast of duality is the paradox of this work. 
Suffering is a negative motivation and pursuit of what is true is more authentic and less egoic motivation. Suffering is delusional so once you become conscious of what is true, non-suffering comes as a part of the package. Suffering is there for survival purposes. It is there so that you don't put your hand on a stove. 
My analysis: Both Leo and Zizek fail to make the distinction of pain and suffering to a clear degree for this argument.
Zizek doesn't seem to understand that from the ego's perspective, even the most pleasurable moment is tainted by suffering due to craving and aversion. This idea that not everyone wants to escape suffering comes from lack of experience. Lıfe, as known from ego's perspective, IS suffering both the pleasure and pain.
Ego wants to fall in life mostly because of the perceived pleasure it will bring. And it does that with a lot of craving and aversion. In this context, the ego is primarily dissatisfied without a relationship partner. It, then, realizes that falling in love comes with less suffering as a part of the package and accepts it without knowing a better alternative. Boredom and loneliness results in WAAAY more suffering compared to romantic relationships. So you are still running away from pain. The ego is just choosing the route that will result in less suffering. This is true for all egos. 
Leo is correct for the most part. I'd personally also view the pursuit of truth as a less egoic and more authentic positive motivation. But that doesn't mean people who want to eliminate suffering is shooting themselves in the foot. Leo also suffers as an ego and it gets in the way of non-dual consciousness. Once the suffering goes away, the truth is revealed. So separating these as radically different motivation is splitting hairs as both forms of motivation leads in the same non-dual consciousness. You can't know which motivation will actually get you to awakening more effectively as both are different perspectives on the path considering that awakening is a multi-faceted jewel. That motivation difference is more to the do with personality types, value systems, past experiences and conditioning.
If you were a torture victim for the past 10 years, your primary motivation for awakening would be to escape from suffering by penetrating the experience of physical pain, not realizing what is true. On the contrary, if you were to spent the last 10 years discussing and thinking about philosophy, truth and science in relative comfort, your view of the spiritual path would be about realizing what is true. And non-suffering would come as a part of that pursuit. 
Leo's motivation is more holistic and deeper but that doesn't devalue suffering as a motivation in the beginning of the path. In fact, I'd argue that suffering was at least a part of the reason why Leo started the path even as a truth seeker. As you go deeper, your motivations and value systems will change and become more holistic and deep.
Suffering is there for survival purposes is half-true. Pain is there for survival purposes. Suffering is how pain feels like from the ego's perspective. And ultimately suffering is an illusion because there is no self that can suffer.
Also about Leo's example: The non-dual consciousness would also not result in you putting your hand in a stove. You don't become stupid when you get awake.
You still experience pain as a raw sensation but there is no suffering anymore. You CAN turn this raw burning pain sensation into a pleasurable experience but when you are on that level of non-duality, would you even do such an act? You can do the same more effectively sitting on a chair and breathing. You might argue that on such levels of consciousness the distinction between breathing and putting your hand on a stove disappears but I'd say this as a counter-argument:
 Deep Awakening not only results in compassion for others but also yourself as the distinction between 'self' and 'other' is transcended on a deep level. Deep Awakening doesn't turn you into a masochist for this reason. I know Leo is aware of this but his example gave the impression that awakening would result in such behaviors. 
I agree with Leo's defense for the rest of the points. 

Yes, indeed, populism (aka, democracy) is a good thing. The problem is when right-wingers get a hold of populism. They turn it into ethnocentrism, a la the Nazis in WWII. Trump's populism is a fake populism because of course he doesn't give a shit about fixing systemic income inequality. He's using populism to create a culture war. This is a perversion of populism, which is supposed to be about increase democracy. But the culture war against the SJWs has blinded the right wing so much that they cannot see that democracy is being undermined. While the right wingers satisfy themselves on hating the SJWs, they overlook how the rich are just using this distraction to get richer. The right has misidentified the problem as globalist elite liberals, when in fact the problem is the systemic inequalities of the capitalism status quo. But right wingers cannot see this because they are traditionalists who blindly defend the status quo even if it harms their economic self-interest.
The problem is the status quo needs to change. But conservatives, by their very nature, do not like change. They want to keep things as it was in "the good old days". But because society evolves we cannot ever go back to "the good old days", and they were never really good to begin with for many people. Conservatives create a fantasy/myth of the good old days and deny the reality of a rapidly evolving society. It's no accident that many conservatives deny evolution. They really don't like change. They want the safety of the past. But this cannot happen in an ever-globalizing world. We cannot go back to living as individual isolated nations. The world is too interconnected via technology & trade. The solution is to embrace change and take conscious control of it, rather than letting it unconsciously blindside us. What we need is proactive government, but we aren't getting it because conservatives have demonized proactive government as "big government", "communism", "government overreach", "world domination by liberal elites", etc.
What we need is FDR style government that makes massive investments in domestic improvements and big picture coordination, similar to what we had for the space race. Government can do amazing things like moon landings if they are properly funded and given a clear vision. This requires good leadership.