aurum

Blah blah blah. Limiting beliefs, block it out. However I'm sure it is a challenging niche to get into that will require a ton of action. That's where the strategy and full commitment will have to come in on you part.

"When the student is ready, the master will appear" - Some Zen guy I always tell people it's really up to the person which book will be best. I could hand 1,000 random people a copy of The Power of Now and if they're not ready for it, they're not ready for it. My strategy for choosing books is simply to keep my eyes and intuition open. I've found that every time I act on a strong urge to read a book, I always get tremendous benefit. It's actually tough for me because with the blog, reading is partially what I do for a living. So I often get bogged down in trying to get through books just to get through them and end up resisting that intuitive urge that says "read this one". So ask yourself: what are you drawn towards? It doesn't have to be an obsession, just follow what interests you. I've found curiosity to be a far better driver than almost anything else.

@eskwireNot saying you shouldn't do it, but It sounds like an extreme decision. Plenty of people are able to have fulfilling relationships, so is the problem really with relationships? Consider that.

I really feel like many people are not grasping the effect of Virtual Reality in the future. VR is the one thing that I see that has the potential to effect the world as heavily as the internet did. Only because of the direct grab on people's attention and time/energy it will save people. Will people still travel when you can just put on a headset and be anywhere you want? What about the entertainment industry? You still going to pay for a on stage show or movie when you can transport yourself into a movie? How will relationships between men and women be effected when there's VR porn? Kidding, but also not kidding at all. So my point is people are massively underestimating this. And don't think it's a pipedream for 50 years in the future. If the internet taught us anything, it should be that things are moving fast. Zuckerberg knows. It's not a mistake they bought Oculus.

Tough question, I mean that's literally my entire blog. What I usually tell people is that it depends on what the person is looking for. What goal are you trying to accomplish? What challenge are you facing?

I've only done them once at a pretty small dose so my perspective is really limited on this. But for me it was absolutely a positive experience. I can definitely see the potential of shrooms for personal development. Some insights I had: 1) You become extremely present to the moment. It feels like you have no history and there isn't much of a future 2) Everything felt dreamlike. This is hard to explain except to say that events just didn't feel "real". 3) So much of our behavior is driven by discontent. When I was on shrooms, everything was just perfect the way it is. This eliminated the need for a lot of "doing" 4) Life is a playground. So whatever play means for you, go do it 5) Patterns became extremely interesting. Your mind is essentially grouping things together into patterns all the time Definitely want to do higher doses in the future and eventually work my way up the psychedelic ladder to the granddaddy, 5-Me0.

What difference to you does it make if he steals everything Leo does? The guy is extremely successful and produces quality, informative content that can help. End of story, I like him.

I was convinced at one point that I had ESP. No idea if that's true or not, but the fact that ESP seems like a real phenomena means that it could have been true.

Love this. People seem to forget this part in the "kill the ego" frenzy that goes on in spiritual circles. We're all on this forum because we're after something. Even people pursuing Enlightenment are after something. If Enlightenment truly offered 0 benefits, I'd actually think twice about the path. But after Enlightenment, there's still a self. And it's still going to do self things. Even the desire for people not to be selfish is part of the self agenda. The Void has no preference for anything. So really, the most egotistical thing is to resist the fact that the world is run by self-agendas. Acceptance for what is, no matter how "evil" or "selfish" it may seem is the "spiritual" thing to do.

Sitting in the cold likely will have the same effect as Strong Determination Sitting. The point of SDS is to break your resistance to the present moment by putting you in so much suffering that you have to give in. Cold would do the same thing. You're going to be sitting there, thinking "oh god, how much long do I have? This is unbearable". And sometimes it will be pure misery for the entire sit because you won't let go. Just stay conscious and eventually you'll have a breakthrough. I wouldn't recommend it necessarily every time you do meditation. But it definitely can have it's benefits.

To a certain degree you're probably kidding yourself if you claim the opposite sex has no power over you. The real question is how attached you are. I also was highly motivated by women for a long time. And while I still care about success with women, it's not my default driving force anymore. I care far more about just being happy because I've seen that women aren't going to do that for you. If you're going through the same thing, that's good. That's progress. You're gaining consciousness by real world experience. Ultimately you want to reach that same place with everything in your life.

How many times have you met her in real life? And for how long?

I've never gelled that great with girls who are really sensitive and / or shy. I like to joke around a lot and with sensitive girls it's usually too much. I have to tone it down in order to still relate with them. With bitchy girls, I can really let it loose. Nothing like a playful, verbal sparring match At the same time, if I'm going to be in a relationship with a girl, I definitely don't want her to be bitchy all the time. I love when she's sweet and girly. So I'm not really looking for "nice" or "bitchy". I'm looking for self-esteem, sexuality, sense of humor, playfulness, investment and a willingness to grow. Self-esteem maybe being the most important. I want self-esteem because otherwise it's like dating an empty bucket. I'm gonna keep trying show this girl that I care, but she's not going to accept it because she can't. It doesn't jive with her self-image that a guy would care. On top of that, self-esteem means she's going to be willing to let me grow. Make no mistake, I know there are girls who hold their man back because they're afraid of him succeeding too much and them dumping her. So for someone with ambitions like mine, that's a hard "no". Yeah. Self-esteem is just the shit. Everyone just love themselves already damnit

I'm actually optimistic about the word getting out about Enlightenment. It's still very far out of the mainstream consciousness but I'm not counting out the Internet.

Women tend to be very unhappy in these kind of relationships. On some level, they resent their man. They resent that he isn't what he could be. So if you're a man, you've got to recognize this and take appropriate action. That being said, if you're a woman, let's not just go pointing the finger at men and saying "yeah men, why don't you man up? I'm perfect, so it must be your fault if everyone I'm dating sucks". No. That's immaturity and not taking responsibility for your own life. If you're not getting the quality of guy you want, ask yourself: what could you do to change this? Because high quality men do exist...and some women are getting them. What are they doing that maybe you're not? Hint, it's probably not all about looks. The sad thing I see though is that a lot of women just complain about how their man isn't what they want. Sure, you want him to "just get it". Great. But he doesn't get it. So now what? Complaining is never the solution. You have to be willing to point the finger at yourself, even if it's painful to admit.

Meditation is a tool like any other tool on the path. It has its uses at times and may resonate with certain people. Others won't. But either way, there's no right way to get there.

You're definitely getting it. Except if consciousness is "dreaming" all this up, what does that say about YOU? Who are you? You're not the character in the dream. You're the dreamer. You're God. Reality is neither physical nor real. But I don't mean "not real" in the convention sense. In duality, you have "real" and "imaginary". Those are CONCEPTS, both still part of the dream. I'm saying reality is beyond all concepts. But the best I can do in describing it is to say that it's "not real", at least not in the way people think. Because real is a concept.

I understand the point of the question, I'd say the first. But this dichotomy doesn't exist in real life. Yes, chasing happiness via success is like chasing your own tail. But that doesn't mean there's no point in pursuing success. This is the nuance I feel like most people miss. Pursuing success can actually contribute to your happiness greatly. You're contributing to the world, sharing your gifts. You're doing what you love. You're CHALLENGING your ability to remain detached from outcome, in a state of gratitude and present when shit hits the fan. Because if you NEED to essentially do nothing in order to remain mindful, how mindful are you really? It's a similar philosophy as those intense monks Leo talks about. They do shit like try and be mindful for days in a row because they're trying to PUSH THEMSELVES. The spiritual purification is not about passivity and laziness. It's extremely challenging and requires HARD WORK and ACTION. And there's no one right way to do it because there's nothing that isn't spiritual. So I view pursuing success and the spiritual journey as complimentary. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe one day I'll decide I was totally confused and move into a cave. But that's not likely.

Depends on what you want really. Some entrepreneurs would say you're crazy just for going into something because you love it. That without a solid strategy to generate cash flow, your business will die. I'm more of the "fuck it, dive in and figure it out along the way" type. I'm not saying that's the best way to do business. But I'm such a stubborn artist that I couldn't do it any other way. So it depends on what you want. Are you okay with struggling monetarily maybe for years if it means you get to work on your passion?

Okay, good. In my experience with relationships, this is pretty common. Things are exciting at first, then you settle down and things get "serious". While that's good, at the same time "serious" isn't always that exciting and sometimes people start craving that again. It can happen with men or women, but I've just seen it more with women. You start resenting your partner. So congratulations, you're very average . If you're intent on making this relationship work, then I'd say look into different ways of trying to spark the fire again. It may or may not be able to be done, I don't know. But I'd say chew it over and see what you think. For me, I know something simple that helps in my relationship is that I always try and remind my girlfriend that I think she's sexy. How badly I want her. How much I love when she's sexual. Granted, we don't have a kid and have only been for a short period of time. But I've seen relationships fizzle in shorter.

Check out Martin Ball This is the Enlightened guy Leo did an interview with about 5-Me0. He's likely enlightened...and makes pretty cool music.

So things were better when you first met? What do you believe changed?

Existentially, yes. Follow the pixel example to it's natural conclusion. If that's true about pixels, what about your cat? What about your house? You and I? Aren't these all just arbitrary labels the mind has made up? Think of a Globe. On the globe, everything is divided and we say this or that country exists. But the deeper reality is that there are no divisions on the Globe. We made them up. The Globe is just One Thing without division or boundary. That's your field of awareness. You're talking to yourself, and so am I. We're the same. There is nothing I'm saying that Leo isn't saying in his videos. We may just be using different words or explanations, but we're trying to say the same thing. It's all one, only nothing exists.

In a practical sense, yes. Of course. I'm saying let's go deeper. I'm saying the concepts of "I", "pixel", "seeing", "them" don't have any real existence. They're MODELS of reality, not reality itself. Can you see the significance of this? If you really grasp what I'm saying, you'll see it's the other way around. If we didn't dissect it, it wouldn't exist. Well I've had one of those enlightenment experiences. Here is what it's like and what I found true: .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ...nothing Again, in a practical sense of course you could say there's "something". It's not like wherever you were standing disappears and you're floating in like a giant black hole or anything. But on a deeper level, without ANY thoughts, there's no interpretation of any kind. That's what existence (and non-existence) is: an interpretation in the mind. So you're not "experiencing" anything. It's just a blank. Step into their shoes of someone who is having that experience. Honestly explain to me what someone is experiencing when they're not thinking AT ALL. Can you do it?

It can be uncomfortable to look at, but are you attracted to your husband? I'm not trying to make any assumptions but it does happen. Sometimes the passion goes away. Assuming that's not the case, I'd say you identified the problem well. You've got some subconscious beliefs about sex that are making you feel ashamed, probably from your upbringing / general social influence. You can't resist anything that's repressed, that's why it's repressed in the first place. Keys here are awareness and acceptance. You could try Leo's self-acceptance exercise, get a therapist or look up how to do Shadow Work for starters.