Markus

@bazera It's part of a larger documentary as far as I know. I once embedded one of the interviews on one thread but Leo didn't want it posted and thus removed it, which is bizarre to me since Ralston has released them.

@Frogfucius "This is an illusion" is another belief you've picked up. If you had a direct understanding of this being an illusion, you wouldn't be complaining.

@Parki There's a way to find out, you know

It's fine. The point of mindfulness practice is that you NOTICE these things. You notice when there's inner talk, you notice when it vanishes, you notice when there isn't any. The labels are just there to make sure you're actually noticing and not self-deceiving, and to help maintain your concentration.

I don't believe in reincarnation. With beliefs about science and evolution in my web of beliefs, it just doesn't make any sense. Do I know it doesn't exist? Nope. I can't think of a conceivable way it could be proven one way or the other. You didn't ask any specific question about suicide, so I'll go on the things others have commented. Is it selfish? Sure. So is moralizing about suicidal people being selfish. I use selfish as in "stemming from the ego" rather than society's seeming definition of "this person did something I don't like, thus they're selfish for not having considered how I'm affected by it".

Thanks for this !!!

@avk123 You've got to make a distinction between pleasure and contentment. Pleasure is temporary, and exists relative to pain. People chase pleasure in hopes it will bring them lasting fulfillment, but it never does. Being minimalist by itself doesn't guarantee contentment though. If you've got neuroses, it's gonna suck to be you. It's just that minimalism allows you to focus on pursuits bringing long-term fulfillment, those being consciousness work and to a lesser degree life purpose, while not being distracted by all the pleasures material things bring you.

What is enjoyment? I don't know, but it's a question worth contemplating. I have a theory though, based on some conclusions drawn based on memories of my experience. Enjoyment is not pleasure. It inherently has nothing to do with pleasure. I can enjoy pleasure, but also pain, discomfort, sorrow - it's happened a few times, with milder forms thereof. Enjoyment is the product of non-resistance to whatever experience is occurring. When you resist any experience, whether generally considered "positive" or "negative", you suffer. If you resist pleasure, or joy, you also suffer. If you don't resist fear or anger, you enjoy them. People generally look for enjoyment in activities that produce pleasure: sex, food, drugs, music, etc. They do enjoy these activities, but they also suffer due to them - it's often a constant alternation between the two. Pleasure comes in waves - so people enjoy the oncoming of the wave, but suffer when they resist the passing of the wave, or in other words, grasp on to the memory of greater pleasure than is present at that very moment. When I jerk off, it's really an intertwined experience of enjoyment and torture. I'd really like @Leo Gura to chime in on this.

Indeed, but what does it mean to enjoy? And how is it different from being content? So many fascinating questions, but I'm still gonna work on this "What am I?" shit for a few thousand hours, lol

I'm no expert but I presume that having more muscle produces more heat, and having more fat preserves more heat. Not telling you to become a fat fuck , that carries worse problems. Gold showers and building a bit of muscle are probably both a good idea, for your specific concern and for overall health. I still think temperature tolerance is individually variable, leaving aside any measures you take.

Addict or recreational user? Heavy, moderate, or light? Recreationally, there isn't too much wrong with these drugs. Shrooms have legitmate therapeutic and personal growth related uses. Weed is mildly euphoric and relaxing. Speed is an upper, helps with lack of energy due to sleep deprivation. Now yes, being addicted to weed can screw you up mentally and being addicted to speed can screw you up physically on top of that. But the druggie spectrum is wide and multi-dimensional so I don't know what to say.

@Martin123 Well, you think exactly the way I do on this topic. My intention is to become a psychiatrist and specialize in psychotherapy, so my chosen education path is somewhat different but it's definitely in the same domain. As for the ":(" emoticon, there's no point in it. As of now, it is what it is. It's not just the domain of therapy where people do things suboptimally - the problem is literally in every domain that requires humans to make decisions more abstract than building a piece of technology. Economics, politics, personal relationships, ecology, ethics, etc are all tainted by lack of awareness. So whatever you as a person who's into personal development and consciousness work do, dealing with decision-makers who lack awareness is depressing in a sense, because you can see how stupidly they behave, yet only they can help themselves. It's all outside of your control, so work on giving up resistance to it, allowing it to be. I am first and foremost excited about the possibility of doing things differently in the domain of therapy. Developing a system that actually works, either with curing or coping - either changing the circumstances or accepting the circumstances. Starting a private practice should give plenty of autonomy to try things your way. I don't know what the system is, but raising a person's level of awareness seems fundamental. And different coping strategies and medications can certainly have their place, just not as a be-all and end-all. And if other practitioners see that this way of doing things actually works, they'll also become interested in it. Your primary directive should be developing a form of therapy that is in alignment with what you think therapy should be about. So keep your head up and stop worrying about shit outside your control - that's a distraction, an unfulfilling and unproductive one

He did say that. And not just after awakening, which he got in four years of practice, but after decades. The realization of no-self, or classical enlightenment, should be seen as just the beginning if one takes this path seriously. Something being a behavioural issue is of course just an idea. There's no such things as one perfect way of behaving so you could always find something to work on changing.

It's true I can't fathom it. I have had a few experiences where hatred of anyone or anything no longer made sense, and these have motivated me to serve, so I can logically see why an enlightened person would want to not be an asshole. I'm just trying to connect the dots of the big picture. I have the assumption infinite divine love is kind of a natural byproduct of enlightenment, at least one deep enough. In that case, why are there enlightened assholes other than those who've had an 'incomplete' enlightenment? If it's not a natural byproduct of enlightenment, what drives one to seek it out?

But Leo...what if one is content with being an enlightened asshole? Why would they then give a shit? Maybe an enlightened person would have the preference of living in a 'better' world, treating others well, etc. But what if they don't? As long as they're not acting egotistically and thus causing themselves suffering, there seems to be no motive other than preference. This reminds me of a part in a McKenna book where someone asks him for help with a suicidal loved one, and he tells him to buy her a suicide handbook or something...Lol

Totally normal. I've done 100 hours of self-inquiry over the last 1.5 months and same thing is happening.

I happened to come across this myself a few days ago. Same hairstyle, same shirt, same background, somewhat similar intro, similar target audience. I don't wanna say anything bad but I don't know...it seems not original enough. Then again, if he has good information (idk), it's not that important, is it?

So I was telling one girl about enlightenment. It seemed at the time like she had asked what I do, which led to me talking about contemplation, her asking what the hell it is, why I do it, and to the question of what enlightenment is. So I briefly thought which unsuccessful explanation I'll go with this time, pointed my finger to my skull and said "There's no one in there." Right as I said that there was a sudden shift in my awareness, and the "me" inside the head as if expanded out, accompanied by an oncoming terror. In my mind I was going like "Holy shit! That's what it is! There's no one in there! That's what the point is! Duh! Not 'becoming enlightened'! How could I miss this!? Shit! How absurd that this supposed thing inside the head keeps asking "Who am I?" like a retard!" And then I woke back up on my couch, in an unusually equanimity-filled state, but not enlightened lol . Looking back at it it's like it hit me in the face that I'm not going to become enlightened, I'm not going to become some superhuman zen-as-fuck motherfucker who's so goddamn detached and badass. Enlightenment isn't an attainment I can add to my trophy shelf to feel good about myself. It's the annihilation of me. It's not like I didn't know that, right? Well, it seems like I really didn't, and still don't. It's all ego! All these fantasies about enlightenment! Fuck! All of it! But I got a bucket of cold water thrown in my face, and it stung for a few seconds. Just thought I'd share this, back in my cozy illusion.

@Jhonny try do nothing

@Capethaz Ralston has a blog

Alright If anyone's worth following or reading though, it's Ralston - he has a mind-blowing level of consciousness, judging by the insights he shares.

I see intellect as a capacity (like muscle strength) and wisdom as a skill (like martial arts). Intellect is useless without wisdom.

Start sleeping and night and being awake during the day At least that's how I solved it each September when school restarted On a no more serious note (since I'm already being serious), there's no magic to it. Force yourself to stay awake in the hours you want to stay awake. Perhaps aim for less sleep in the beginning, since if you sleep enough one night you won't be tired the next due to your body being used to a different rhythm.

If I remember correctly, Leo is doing a documentary on enlightenment, that includes interviews with several masters. I know Ralston's one of them (he's released two clips on Vimeo), didn't know about Spira though.

It's neither. Spira never talks about psychedelic use in his teaching. I'm 99% it's a 'regular person' we've never heard of.