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@charlie2dogs The notion of having a right to do or not do something is a moralistic one. I imagine myself to be open to a critical discussion of Blanton's ideas though I may have some bias. I believe my bias and dogmatism with regard to Radical Honesty to be unjustified as I haven't tested the technique out nearly enough. Could you give an example of the harm? Or of a white lie that's preferable to telling the truth? If you're afraid your version of the truth is false and will harm others, why not say so? Radical Honesty is not about a crusade to assert your worldview, but a reporting of what you notice. It is impossible not to keep our mouth shut to one degree or another, and that's fine. My comment was addressing the telling of white lies in place of the truth, as far as I remember.

I used to sit on a kind of a custom-made seiza bench, where I'd put two large couch pillows on both sides, and a plank to sit on in between them. It started hurting my knees, and no matter what sort of padding I used, it kept getting worse. Then I tried going back to cross-legged or burmese lotus but both hurt my knees as well, though they really hadn't before. My knees were really bad for like a month, with sharp pain on the inside, as well as occasionally below the knee cap or on the anterior. I imagine my problem was with the medial meniscus. Essentially, if some muscles are too tight, the shin gets pushed sideways, resulting in the meniscus being twisted between the thigh and shin bone. It's definitely not worth it to continue sitting on a seiza bench if you have joint pain - I imagine it could fuck your knees up pretty bad. It would probably help to work on bettering the external rotation of the hip joint, as well as foam-rolling your leg muscles. The pain with strong determination sitting is obviously bad regardless but if you're specifically experiencing joint pain, it's an indicator you're damaging the body.

I guess I'm in somewhat of a similar situation, with the exception that I'm not as deep into enlightenment work as you are. Confidence with girls is actually one of the egoic desires that motivate my pursuit of consciousness, though at the same time I acknowledge I possibly wouldn't give a shit once I actually do become enlightened. In order to make your post though, you have to somewhat care. I imagine your problem is basically one of failing to live up to society's expectations and standards. I believe pursuing enlightenment is much more worthwhile than entertaining the problems your mind creates, especially since you're not there yet.

It seems to me that white lies fall into the "please be compassionate to my ego" category. Furthermore, I imagine that the reason we tell white lies is more out of fear of being embarrassed and judged, rather than genuine concern for others' feelings. If I go on a righteously indignant rant, I don't give a fuck for others' feelings, while when I'm afraid I'd be judged for telling the truth, the feelings excuse comes into play. For compassion to the being, rather than the ego, tell the truth. You might want to read Radical Honesty.

"China is kicking our ass at meditation!" (I was looking to do a better Trump impersonation but couldn't find his rant about foreign countries. Didn't bother looking for too long.)

@appleaurorae Leo hasn't posted on the forum at all for close to a month, so that's why he hasn't replied here either.

The answer to all those question is "yes".

Shave your head, lol

Peter Ralston Shinzen Young Sadhguru

As Leo has described self-inquiry or contemplation, he's said that the mind will come up with a lot of bullshit. My "problem" is that when I ask "What am I?", the mind always goes totally silent. It doesn't come up with bs answers. That seems like a good thing since the mind isn't obscuring what is, that should probably make it easier to have an enlightenment experience. Yet, self-doubt being one of the fundamental traits of the self, it is a bit disconcerting. I was thinking about for example the technique they use at enlightenment intensives, where one has to ask "Who or what am I?" and then communicate to one's partner what the mind comes up with. If I were there, it's like I wouldn't come up with anything. There are obviously a lot of ideas about who I am but they don't come up during contemplation.

@Leo Gura Exciting!

Daydreaming is when you get so lost in thought you think what you're thinking is what's really going on. The reason it's called daydreaming is because it works exactly like a dream: you're in an environment entirely projected by your mind and you think that is real. That's what happens in non-lucid dreams, that's what happens in daydreaming. In meditation, you're trying to be aware of the substance of thoughts, not the content of them. As for "do nothing", to worry about whether you're daydreaming or not is to do the technique wrong. If a worry arises, sure, let it be. But don't actively worry. All you have to do is not make any effort to change what's going on, and as soon as you do notice an effort, release it.

Ahahahaha!

It's basically a mantra meditation. You close your eyes and recite some mantra for 20 minutes. The rest is all marketing hype to get your money.

Digging a ditch with a fork is hard work.

@Nic Nothing. He just got lucky. And no, we don't all have that much psychological pain.

"Challenge sequences" http://shinzenyoung.blogspot.com.ee/2012/08/working-smart.html

Well, first of all, this chart is about psychological development, not enlightenment. Secondly, be very self-honest about presuming you're at 7. Where am I? Quite hard to say. In terms of thinking, 5/6, a bit of 7. In terms of my feeling-reactions, I see tendencies as low as 3 or 4.

So here' something really profound. In fact, someone should invent an ad blocking program that replaces every ad with this here. People agree with me when I quote Shakespeare's "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so". Alright, you agree with me...but then, why is your life so fucked up? Where are you guys and gals falling into a similar trap?

Get enlightened, work through shadow material, and destroy the knowledge graph. Achieve freedom from the bullshit of the mind. Then do whatever the fuck I wanna do.

I (sort of) had a habit of being chronically late. The solution is pretty basic: stop doing the stupid shit you do and keep your eye on the time. Measure out how long it takes you to do activities such as eating, showering etc. Often the reason we struggle with such problems is that we make them into rocket science. Just stop.

I guess what you might call sexual misconduct is the most common "anti-spiritual" thing enlightened masters engage in. When your followers see you as a source of authority, it's probably very tempting to take advantage of that.

Well, if you're on the path to enlightenment, everything short of an enlightenment is by definition irrelevant, isn't it? You can have all sorts of cool experiences but if you ain't there yet, you ain't there yet. How could you possibly know whether you're on the right path or not? You're either enlightened or you're not (the depth of the enlightenment is a different concern). If you can't go from 20% enlightened to 30% enlightened, there is no way to measure progress. Getting more mindful, having increased concentration, clarity, and equanimity means you're getting more mindful, not necessarily closer to enlightenment. In a sense, more mindful = closer to enlightenment since with enough mindfulness you cannot keep buying into the illusion of a separate self, but most of the faster methods like self-inquiry rely on "accidental" insight. The short answer is, asking such questions is a waste of time. Keep doing the work until you're there. If you're doing the work then you're by definition on the path, aren't you? Take it as positive feedback, but don't attach much importance to any peak experience. Keep going.

So the vendor d o e s make him one with everything, and hands him that hot dog. The monk searches his robes and finds a twenty dollar bill, hands it to the vendor. He waits....and waits....and waits... . Finally, the monk asks: "What about my change?" The vendor replies: "Change can only come from within."

That is quite encouraging , to be able to make significant progress in such short time.