Markus

Totally different things. I did the course and decided to do enlightenment first.

If you're able to function then what's the problem? From various descriptions, experiences more intense than you're used to are common on the spiritual bath. path.

Do nothing is dropping all voluntary control of mind and awareness. Concentration meditation is concentrating on a phenomena. Mindfulness meditation is making distinctions in phenomena.

It's the frustration of not getting an answer. Ego hates uncertainty. Thomas Edison may have failed 1,000 times in creating a light bulb, after which the vast majority of people would've given up, well, you are going to fail magnitudes more in asking "What am I?" Think about how many times you'd fail if it took you 1,000 hours to have an enlightenment experience. Then you'll also not get so discouraged, realizing that for a hundred thousand times, you look and nothing happens.

If there's no ego, who is being vulnerable?

I think Leo considers posture pretty irrelevant, in the sense that any posture you can do the technique in is fine. Personally, I haven't a clue. It seems like upright (without back support) and even standing keeps me more alert, but that may be because I'm somewhat sleep deprived. I suspect there's something more to it though, as the experience of "do nothing" while laying in bed is way more pleasant than "do nothing" sitting on the couch. I've read somewhere it has something to do with the activation of the RAS (reticular activating system), that's just hearsay. Likely, the people in the East were on to something, why else did they always sit in certain postures? To sum up, I don't think it's such a big concern. If you can comfortably sit in a lotus or stand up, then by all means do so - it's probably healthier for the body than slouching on the couch, plus your mind might be more alert. The primary concern should however be doing the technique you're doing, don't be turning the inability to comfortably sit in some posture as an excuse not to meditate.

I watched 90 seconds of his video and I like the open-mindedness of this human bean.

It seems to me there are two things people mean by self-inquiry. One is what Ramana Maharshi and Rupert Spira advocate(d), which is asking "Who am I?" (or "Am I aware?" in Spira's case). The point of that is basically resting as awareness, as the question leads to awareness of awareness. The other is focusing on the best estimate of your sense of self and deeply wondering what the fuck that is. That's what Leo's "How to become enlightened" video teaches, and he probably got that from Peter Ralston. That's also the technique done at enlightenment intensives, with some additional elements. I personally am doing the latter, as with the former I find it hard to notice whether I'm actually doing the technique or have focused my awareness back on an object. Any input on whether others agree there are these two separate techniques is welcomed.

Is it easier? I have no idea since I've never lived in those countries or even visited them. However, don't play a victim with your time. The only (probably) inevitable activities are sleeping, eating, using the bathroom, and doing work that earns you a living / studying. These bare essentials are required in the east too, aren't they? Everything else in Western culture is voluntary. You don't have to watch TV, go out, etc. That's all your responsibility.

Broadly speaking, being more aware will build your baseline awareness and being less aware will shrink it. Weed makes you less aware. If you're serious about enlightenment, why would you do something that's not necessary for your survival and is counterproductive to your pursuit, unless you're not that serious about it? And logistically speaking, even those who do think they're serious about it will most likely fail. If you're deliberately doing things you know will make the the highly unlikely even more unlikely, you might as well give up.

Are limits inside awareness or is awareness inside limits? If it's the latter, how do you know it's inside limits if you're not aware of those limits?

When you feel like it. So you've been doing breath counting...try breath following for a month, or do nothing for a month, and see which you like. I see do nothing as a kind of a fallback technique because it's effortless, so you could do that when you don't have the motivation that particular day. Do nothing is out of the 3 best for enlightenment, I'm quite sure.

I imagine "do nothing" is one of the most effective techniques for enlightenment, besides self-inquiry. So I guess the question boils down to whether you want to get high or get enlightened.

"If the ego really is an illusion but egos are happy with the ego because the ego serves the ego /.../ then what would motivate egos to find out the ego is an illusion? Surely egos would prefer to live within the ego if egos have everything egos think egos want."

I do think it's just your ego. I don't quite understand what you're saying.

Unless you plan on permanently becoming a hermit or going into a monastery, you're probably going to need a career of some sort. It doesn't have to matter in the end, it's just a journey you pick that will feed you, pay your bills, and hopefully be the most meaningful thing you can think of doing career wise. I'm currently reading Adyashanti's The End of Your World and it's becoming quite clear enlightenment is not a way to avoid living and doing stuff people do. There's still relationships, hobbies, work, and being inauthentic in any of these will be unbearably painful when you're highly conscious. So do the course and you'll have a blueprint for the career aspect of your life. The FAQ addresses the enlightenment issue. I'm glad to have studied life purpose theory but I've decided to put it off for a few years, and in that while my only directly life purpose related activity is University studies, while I focus on pursuing enlightenment.

How's the enlightenment documentary coming along?

@Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj What Leo said cleared it all up for me:) It's not note everything though, since that implies the activity of noting elements of your experience from any sensory channel. There's no noting in do nothing.

Aha! I get it now.

@Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj I don't see a practical difference. If there is one, I'd like to see it, but I'm not able to. Not manipulating your experience = not controlling your attention, isn't it?

I'm 19 now, for 10 more months. In any case, this is what I'm starting. 1. Self-Inquiry. I'm planning to do 1,000 hours over the course of the year. It seems absurd to wait with pursuing enlightenment since it's the foundation for the only thing you really care about - happiness. 2. Strategic thinking. There's a reason a lot of the information on it originates from the military - lives are at stake. You're looking for the most effective way to ensure you win. In the case of personal development, it's your life at stake. Not in the literal sense, which is why complacency is easy. Nothing more important to you than your life - so make something of it in the most effective way. 3. Health habits. Good nutrition, mobility work, cardiovascular training, going to the gym. Taking care of health is an essential thing in life, as it ensures you'll have more energy and time for doing what you want to do - which is valuable, unless you don't care about living to the fullest. 4. Reading. I'm planning to read 1 consciousness book a month, as well as one book a month on the other implementations I'm doing. Educating oneself, or "gathering of intel" is crucial for effective strategy.

As far as I'm concerned, It's the same thing - not consciously manipulating your experience. Be still. Allow everything to be. Let go. Do nothing. I believe it's also called "just sitting", "the meditation of no meditation".

If you put in the effort, hell fucking yes. What I mean by that is over the next decade or two implementing all the stuff you learn there. I got a lot clearer on the career aspect of life, and found a life purpose that feels pretty damn accurate and inspiring to me. I certainly don't regret buying it, but I think the full value of it can only be appreciated after taking action for say 20 years. I graduated high school this year so I felt this information could be really useful to me. My parents ridiculed me for being frivolous enough to pay 236€ for a course. But seriously, if acing something you will spend half your life doing is not worth that much, you don't really value your life. It takes the wisdom to connect the dots between listening to some bald guy talk for 25 hours and creating an extraordinary career. People who haven't studied personal development don't really seem to be able to do that.

@charlie2dogs So you're claiming to have the truth? If so, how can you communicate it?

You're talking about the absolute truth, I'm talking about relative truths. Absolute truth is obviously incommunicable. In the context of radical honesty, a relative truth is reporting what you perceive to the best of your ability. When I say "I believe the earth to be round", I am giving a report of the working of my mind.