Well, you might as well ask, "Leo, why did you confuse me when you said you went to the bathroom?" since the bathroom is imaginary according to you.
Yes, it is imaginary in the big picture. But there are levels and degrees of quality to imagination.
When I say I went to the bathroom, that's a kind of conscious experience you could have.
When I say I became conscious of every electron flowing through my computer, that's also a kind of conscious experience you could have.
And so on.
Yes, your present moment is also a kind of imagination, but a deeper kind.
BTW, even though you intellectually understand how history is imaginary, you are not actually conscious that this is the case yet. So there's a whole awakening there that you're missing.
I'm just pointing out kinds of higher consciousness which you are missing and could experience if you want to. Like talking about kinds of animals you could see on safari.

Spiral Dynamics certainly is over-simplified and has it's problems. But the 9 Stages Of Ego Development is really phenomenally accurate as far as individual development stages go.

It's not that he holds back truths, it's just that given his role he doesn't even have the intellectual curiosity to pursue deep truths. Because if he found them and then started talking about them it would tank his career.
It's not like McDonalds does not know how to cook a gourmet $20 burger. They could easily make one. But their audience wouldn't want to pay for it. So McDonalds chefs don't even bother making quality food. Many people in media are deeply audience-captured. Few people do what I do, which is deliberately piss off half my audience.

Very few women are loved for who they are.
The whole beauty of being a man is that you get to love yourself. Which is the best kind of love.

https://jacobin.com/2022/10/bernie-sanders-wealth-concentration-oligarchy-democracy
The top 1% of the wealthiest americans hold 33% of the wealth The top 10% of the wealthiest americans hold 72% of the wealth The bottom 50% of the poorest americans hold 2% of the wealth ^^ Yes, you read that right!! ^^ ✅️ ? ?   
 

Nice story, thanks for sharing. Don't worry, you're in a good place for only 25. You got plenty of time to make those needed adjustments to your career and lifestyle. Don't try to do everything at once. Spend a few years getting your career in order. Spend a few years doing pickup. Spend a few years on your health and fitness. And spend a few years on spirituality and awakening. Then 10 years from now it will all come together in a beautiful way for you.
Yes, developing financial independence is a huge foundational step that enables everything else. So give yourself a few years to work on that. Be patient. It will be worth the investment.

I solved all my social anxiety through inner game, going out for 3 years, and tons of awakenings.
If you develop proper inner game and spirituality then social anxiety just stops being a thing.

I do have more understanding of regular people however I have to balance that with not allowing them to corrupt my mind with bad ideas.
Also, it's just a phase you go through. You start out life generally loving mankind, then you go deep into spirituality and you actually start to hate mankind for all its lies and bullshit, then you integrate that and come out the other end with a true capacity to love mankind.
Can't say since it's just some story in a book. Who knows what's true in that book and what is made up?

Reddit is a toxic cesspool. Stop consuming such low vibration information from losers. Find a good pickup forum where guys are taking action and not making any excuses.
The narratives your mind spins will make or break you in pickup. You must become your own cheerleader, even if you have a shitty night you gotta immediately reframe it as: this was a good lesson for next night. All future nights will now be better.
Like bad trips, your worst nights are some of your best for growth. Failure at getting a girl is not failure in growth. Not at all. Never judge your night based on whether you got the girl. Judge your night based on how much action you took and how many new lessons arose.
Losing the girl is what teaches you the deepest lessons. You will lose 100s of girls, so get used to it.
Do not consume attraction information from anyone who isn't going out at least several nights per week. Only their advice and opinions matter. Do not allow keyboard jockeys in your mind. Most guys online are keyboard jockeys. They don't approach.

Yes, I understand that method.
I have heard that some very advanced guys boil their game down to this: you basically go to a club and quickly compliance test every girl until you find one who is very compliant and down. You spend most of your time just screening for logistics rather than getting all fancy with your verbals. You don't waste time running long sets for 30+ mins. Instead you quickly test girls out for 5 mins to see how down they are. If she isn't down, you eject and move to the next. This may be the most efficient mechanical way of getting laid.
I think there is some truth to this, but it's not entirely true.
I think attraction is a factor. But of course attraction can be generated with solid game.
I think if you limit your game to just pure compliance testing that's too mechanical.
Then again, I am not some master at game. It can also be hard to know which PUA coach to trust. They're not exactly trust-worthy or objective people. They tend tend to be scummy and dishonest.
Yes, it is hard to test stuff like that.
In practice, most guys who are really good with game also have fairly good looks, which creates a killer combo. And then it become very difficult to know which is doing the heavy lifting in the interaction.
Looks are certainly a factor. Online game proves this conclusively. Now in-person game is very different, but still you would be a fool to assume that the #1 factor in online is completely nullified with game. Game can get you far, but you cannot game your way into a girl's pants if she is simply not attracted to you physically at all.
Sometimes you run very solid game but the girl is just not interested. This is pretty common actually. The key is just to move on to another girl who is.
It's hard to say. I would say he's got a pretty dashing look. But he's not some jacked, tall, muscular, big-jawed dude. He does not fit the classic jock or Chad stereotype. But I would say he's well above average.
He is extremely charismatic and charming, and has insane verbal game.
He's a lesser known pickup coach. I'm not going to name him.
To be fair, his theory is that girls do not have a type. He believes if his game is good enough any girl will sleep with him regardless of type. Be believes the girl will backwards-rationalize that he is her type after she sleeps with him.
I'm not sure if that's true. I'm just telling you his mindset. It's hard to measure these things objectively.
I'm open to the idea that girls don't really have a type. But I think some girls simply won't be attracted to you physically, and you should therefore move on to other girls.
In my own experience I've noticed that Asian girls are more easily attracted to me than other kinds of girls. This suggests that type does play a factor. Then again, it's hard to measure this objectively.
No, his game is a lot more charming, charismatic, and verbal. It's not so mechanical as just compliance testing.

3hrs per night x 3 nights/week would be a great foundation.
That would be the minimum you need to get good at game.

It's very different.
You might be surprised to discover that porn can be better than sex. Because sex is not nearly as visual as porn. But sex has other great qualities you cannot get with porn. The tactile feel of a naked girl is hard to beat. You can't get that with no amount of porn.

Real-world running is quite noticably different than treadmill running. Real-world running is harder. The treadmill just spins under your feet, that's not how real running works, where you have to push yourself forward more. On a treadmill you are not pushing forward, you are just lifting your legs.
If you train on a treadmill a lot, and then try real running, you will feel weak at it.

You want both.
Truth is of course core. But that by itself is not enough for a good life. You need passions outside of spirituality. You need some kind of career, hobbies, etc.
Pick one career and pick one hobby. And also you will pursue truth.

Here's what you do: You just sit and feel the suffering and don't try to fix the other person.
Learn to feel it and do nothing.
And at some point, become conscious that feeling that suffering is something you're choosing to do. And you can choose to stop it. Nowhere is it written that you must feel it.

In my experience you will NEVER feel any difference between organic and inorganic.
However, that doesn't mean it won't affect your health over decades. You can't notice something that takes a decade to build up.
When something finally goes wrong with your health you will not even know why. You will be confused as fuck about it for years.

Switch your attention on something new, something productive. If you just sit around all day with no purpose, you will have a lot of bad thoughts brew inside you.

@Display_Name My only advice to you is to this:
Become very serious about what kind of thoughts you allow your mind to entertain. Take responsibility over your own mind. Do not focus on things that disempower you. If you notice a certain line of thought is consistently disempowering for you, make a commitment to stop allowing that line of thinking into your mind ever again. Just drop it. Let it go. Practice letting go. Watch my video: The Power Of Letting Go.
You are under no obligation to entertain every negative, depressing, disempowering, ugly thought that enters your mind.
Focus your mind on how you can best honor the miracle that is your current life. And stop thinking about bullshit.
Reality is your dream. So if you dream of horror and torture and shit, that's what your reality will slowly become. Until eventually you reach Hell. That's all Hell is.

I have not done it again. Mostly because I feel it is dangerous without a trip sitter.
And yes, it is terrifying. So I'm not really looking forward to doing it again. But at some point I will.

What I did if followed my passion, BUT I was also very practical and knew I needed to develop concrete career plans. So I switched to philosophy, my passion, but I also resolved to develop my game design portfolio and technical skills so I could be hired as a game designer. Which I was.
You need BOTH passion and practicality. Be practical about your passions. Like, if you are gonna study film, have a concrete career plan in mind. Like develop the technical skills of a filmmaker or screenwriter.
No one will mock you if they see you are developing serious technical skill in a craft like writing, art, filmmaking, etc.
You can't just rely on a diploma to get you a career. A diploma means shit. You need to make serious, realistic career plans on your own, outside university work.

Haha. If that were true I'd be getting laid a lot more than I am.
Women absolutely love immature men. Like flies on shit.

By consciously trying a bunch of stuff and carefully observing how you feel.
What you're missing is massive experience. See my episode: Expose Yourself To More Experience

I have an old blog post that lists some of the best sources I found.

That's good. The problem wasn't so much that it was self-destructive but women-destructive. It's not good for a leader of young men to model behavior which is harmful to women. But that's water under the bridge. He is much more careful now in how he speaks.
Well, of course mainstream media is not going to deeply understand Owen and his work. That's not surprising at all. And again, it's not some conspiracy to bring down the little guy. That would be like me complaining that people call me a cult leader because the elites are after me. No, it's just that mainstream media will never understand the things I teach.
The fact that guys like Owen and myself are still allowed to post YT videos is evidence that there is no conspiracy theory or elites looking to suppress deep truths. No one is going to ban Owen as long as he teaches in a responsible way -- which he is now doing. I put out way more edgy and risky content these days than him and I don't have some paranoia about the mainstream not understanding me or trying to silence me.
If media ever writes about me, it's gonna be extremely distorted to the point where it will look like it's full of lies. It's not lies, it's just their inability to understand based on their limited paradigm and life experience. But hey, if my life's work was taken down overnight, yeah, I would develop a chip on my shoulder about that. So I understand Owen's frustration. Society has always had taboo subjects, such as homosexuality, pickup, socialism, or mysticism. Teachers of such topics tend to get demonized. It comes with the territory. Jesus was nailed to a cross. MLK was assassinated.

You cannot learn socializing through a book.
Stop thinking of this issue as even pickup-related.
It's not really about pickup, it's about the fact that you are fundamentally insecure with yourself around other human beings. You lack core socialization skills. This is not about manipulating women into bed, it's about the fact that you are incapable of walking up to a stranger and holding a fun conversation.
Yes, and the only way you'll develop that is by socializing with 1000s of people. So get out there and get started. You don't fix this sitting at home thinking about it. Go out, approach, socialize. You don't even need to do it with girls. You could learn it by talking to guys.
As you develop those skills, you will get a girlfriend along the way. You don't need to stress about that. What you need to do is start developing the social skills like going to the gym.
I've gone through this process. From zero. Nothing you're describing is in any way original or unique to you. Tens of thousands of guys have gone through it. You can too. It's not easy, but it's worth the effort.