Spiral Dynamics - Stage Red
 
Spiral dynamics is a model of the human psyche and value systems as they relate to the environment and time period they find themselves in. Human environments and society changes rapidly, therefore the psyche and value systems transform with it.
 
Evolved from a collectivist stage - Purple - tribal, magical thinking, animistic, ritualistic, allegience to chief, ancestors, elders and clan
Red now represents - egocentrism, exploitativeness, impulsiveness, authoritarianism, no guilt, survival of the fittest and might makes right mindsets
Next step is stage Blue - absolutist, moralistic, hierarchical, burreaucratic, nationalistic, dogmatic, religious, theocratic, loyal, traditional, conformist
 
Red is domineering, power hungry, animalistic (no or little sense of human rights for survival, possession etc...), individualistic, taking charge without compassion, self-absorbed, sees life as survival in the jungle, victims vs. predators, looks for immediate gratification of its desires, ignores consequences, risk tolerant, challenging death, prevailing - necessary for its survival. 
Understanding Red from higher stages (high Orange, Green) can be difficult, because they might assume, that humans always were compassionate and aware of the feelings and needs of others and nice to their families, but this is not exactly true if we look at the history of humankind. It is not evil, but actually it might be necessary for some to be able to survive in a specific kind of environment. If you are reading this, most likely you are lucky to live in a country with fair police, court system, society with high morals etc... Stage Red is not a mental disorder.
Stage Purple, that comes before Red, can be falsely perceived by the higher stages as peaceful, but because it needs to live in a tribal culture, which naturally grows in size, and simultaneously there are multiple tribes fighting over limited resources, some sense of personal ambition, need to control and overpower others is necessary in order to continue living. Actually having a peaceful chieftain of a tribe can cause the elimination of entire families by neighboring tribes, so becoming physically strong and thirsty for power, can, in reality, save lives of innocent people ---> stops being nice, stop being a victim, goes to a fight to win.
 
Values: Personal power, strength, brute force, display of toughness, heroism, daring, being the boss, being #1, winning at all costs, conquering one's enemies, thrill of conquest, being able to bully others, glorious death, warrior mentality, fearlessness, competition, crushing opponents, intimidation above diplomacy and other soft means, groin centered instead of heart centered, ambition, playing it big, revenge, respect, loyalty to the boss, decisiveness, action, pragmatism, no nonsnse, taking ownership, getting things done, just do it mentality, shoot first - ask questions later, status, machismo, pride, bragging, charisma, plain speaking rather than intellectualism or education, manipulation, exploitation, sexual conquest for power, torture, inflicting suffering, enjoying life to the fullest - damn the consequences, power contest, breaking rules, finding loopholes
 
Characteristics: Wants the respect that it deserves, free of guilt and shame, indifferent to the suffering caused to others, enjoying itself, narcissistic, impulsive rather than strategic, intuitive, follows gut feeling, doesn't look far into the future, uses fear and intimidation to govern, tyrannical, believes in gods that are complimentary to their life style, desensitized, violent, doesn't cultivate relationships, uses others, treats others as animals and instruments, ballsy, cocky, likes to beat the odds, takes a lot of risks, direct, blunt, materialistic, hedonistic, ruthless, bloodthirsty, dominates resources and animals, no capacity for self-reflection, perceives all problems as external, sees corruption as the way of life, alpha male mentality, confrontational, sees people as friends and enemies, which must be used/destroyed - relationships are not relative at this stage, submits to higher power only for pragmatic reasons.
 
Examples: Donald Trump, Saddam Hussein, Irak, Syria, Lyberia, Somalia, North Korea, Myanmar, Africa, Palestine, Hitler, Stalin, mafia, pirates, marauders, Yakuza, prison culture, freedom fighters, thiefs, Ancient Rome, Caligula, Nero, samurai code, Alexander the Great, Achilles, Klingons, hackers, sociopaths, psychopaths, narcissists, long shooters, mass shooters, Conan the Barbarian, Joe Pesci, toxic masculinity, Red Pill, Genghis Khan, war criminals, rape gangs, torture, wild rock stars, Russel Brand in his early days, Jules from Pulp Fiction, the Joker, Jim Jones, Game of Thrones characters, some porn stars, strippers, violent porn, absolute monarchs, crucifixion, cutting of body parts as legal punishment, bullies, colonial exploitation, Wild West, slavery, the Terminator, Rambo, cocaine, heroine, crack users, the lesser jihad, ISIS, MMA, UFC, boxing combats appeal to stage Red people, Mike Tyson in his early twenties, Don King, Connor McGregor, bank robbers, black culture, animal cruelty, dog fighting, cock fighting, Lord of War, Alex Jones, Incel culture, aspects of the pick up community, Kanye West, rap music, heavy metal music, punk music, GTA and other video games, graffiti, Sith from Star Wars, Fight Club, KKK, lynchings, Machiavelli
 
Phrases and sayings: Might makes right, Desperate times require desperate measures, No guts, no glory, You have to break some eggs to make an omelette, An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, It's a doggy dog world, Survival of the fittest, To the victor go the spoils, The world is a jungle, If you're not with us, you're against us, Fight to the nail, Take no prisoners, An offer he can't refuse, What's in it for me?, Off with his head, You scratch my back, I scratch yours.
 
How to distinguish Red from Orange - Stage orange will manipulate and exploit, red will break kneecaps. Red enjoys the suffering of others, orange is more of a full-on capitalist, red cannot control its impulses, orange is more strategic, make plans, be patient, control its emotions, orange is capable of shame and remorse, is not physically violent and tens to be democratic, red wants a totalitarian regime and rule it, orange values science and education
 
What triggers Red: Signs of weakness and emotional vulnerability, isn't open to exploring its feminine side, especially as a man, ridicule, disrespect, disloyalty, threatening the boss' authority, being outshined by somebody, losing a fight, not being the winner, lack of action, excuses, indecisiveness, intellectual approach, doubt about one's power, feminism, social justice warrior, homosexuality, hippies' values
 
Unhealthy manifestations and excesses: Remember, is Red not bad, but it tends to slide into downwards spiral of violence, abuse, exploitation, mafia, robbery etc... Causes rape, oppression of minorities, terrorism, corruption. Irrationality, zero systems thinking, no education, megalomania, narcissism, sociopathy, exploiting systems. Can't maintain relationships, struggles with building up a stable government through nepotism instead of carefully voting for competent candidates. It ends up undermining itself with chaos, so it needs to evolve into disciplined Blue. Toxic masculinity and hierarchy.
 
Healthy manifestations: Bringing tribes together (Saddam Hussein), cohesion, unification by higher power, moving from tribalism into urbanism. It is fast, decisive, it is not a victim - being a victim, suicidal and helpless is worse than doing at least something. Defending its people against other bullies and armies, standing up to authority. Doesn't need to be so deeply religious and dogmatic, can be more pragmatic, secular, get things done. Offers rapid development and expansion of territory, it can take care of itself, have many ambitions and get the work done. 
 
Statistics: 20 % of adult population which holds roughly 5 % of global influence. 
 
How to transcend Red: Jules from Pulp Fiction moves from living a gangster life to finding god - living through some sort of miracle, maybe surviving a horrible situation. Overcoming addiction, creating a sense of life purpose, developing a sense of higher truth, opening your mind to morality, volunteering, recognize the limits of egocentric life - recognize that if everyone is a bully, the system just spiral downwards. Notice what it is like, when you are the one being overpowered. Realize that not everything can be solved through violence. Develop a sense of guilt, shame and remorse, empathy, compassion and shared suffering. Recognize the limits of authoritarianism, importance of rules. Develop discipline and work ethic, study stoicism. Join the military if you are living in a bad neighborhood and have very little options - use it for education and exploring the world. Educate yourself, read books, explore the world. Change your environment or move countries, change your friends, move to a different city. Soften your emotions, femininity, vulnerability. Join a support group, work with people in a caring, polite way. 
 
Final comments: If you are judging Red, it shows, that you haven't yet fully integrated it. By demonizing and judging, you aren't achieving anything, rather try to understand this mindset and value system. This stage is not related to a race or a religion, rather it is a developmental stage of everyone. It is important for societies to move through evolution quicker. 

@FlyingLotus This is utterly profound. Thank you so much for sharing this perspective. My entire life, I always thought of "dumbing myself down" so I could save time and get things done faster because that's what everyone else is better at doing than I. But I never thought of it in the way you described it. I never stopped and thought about how most people don't actually have this as their second nature.

I just need to channel it into things that are worthwhile, like my Life Purpose. I have a newfound appreciation for this ability. Thank you so much. 
 
@Jacob Morres @itachi uchiha@Rilles Thanks for the book recommendations. I'll have a look.
 

The name of the documentary is "Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness".
If you ever see it in your local theater go watch it, damn it! And you won't be disappointed. You know, before it started, I actually made a bet with myself: I am not going to be told by this movie that I am God. And guess what, I fucking lost. And the movie brought me to tears.
It's much more profound than I expected it to be. And its approach is actually very wise - it starts with scientists trying to figure out consciousness with the materialist, reductionist paradigm, but throughout the movie it becomes more and more spiritually-oriented. It gradually exposes you to more radical ideas. And, spoiler alert, the scientist ultimately gives up his materialism as well, more or less. So a happy ending after all  hehe
The movie on IMDb

Well only one country can't solve the problem. It has to be a global effort. But that can only really be done if there was a global government, which will take lots of time to happen. So there's only one way that we will act globally upon this, and that's when shit hits the fan. I am talking major catastrophes (specially in first world countries, because those are usually the major players globally).

When I use spiral dynamics I separate stage orange into the business stage orange and the scientific stage orange.  I don't see how this can be considered the same. For example, imagine a stage orange like the wolf of wall street protagonist, Jordan Belford do you think he has anything to do with a stage orange scientist like Neil Degrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawkins, or any scientist that discovered anything?
I think the business stage is much more individualistic and less ordered than the scientific stage, which can even be considered a bit altruistic in its endeavors, and it's more ordered, there's a higher sense of collective purpose. In the average business mentality, one tries to maximize his own good as much as possible. Then stage green I would say there are many stage green scientists, but this Is clearly another stage with other priorities. Maybe the stage green scientist will work reasoning from an intention to improve the planet, but a stage orange scientist may think pragmatically, and sometimes may build things that are destructive because of reasoning from a pragmatic or human bias perspective.
Note that I mean the business that tries to maximize one's own gains, the one that doesn't care about innovation, progress, or collectivism, the one that even fights against those things. The oil business, tobacco, fast food are great examples.

Sometimes people require quick intervention though. The enlightenment process involves the release of emotional baggage and trauma that can be debilitating to people. If you're relatively comfortable it's different, but some people live in such dire circumstances that they need a catalyst. Psychedelics helped me overcome some biological barriers like selective mutism, crippling anxiety, and suicidal ideations.

Have you ever noticed that flow states hit you out of nowhere, when you least expect or force it? The other day it occurred to me that flow states do not come because we simply want them to. Instead, the probability of Flow states increases as a result of forward motion, of momentum, and of disciplined action over time. 
There is a strange interplay between 1.Self-deception, 2. Higher consciousness theory, and 3. Flow states. This occurred to me as I was attempting to figure out how to get into flow more often. Flow feels good, flow feels like your life is meaningful and on track. So how can you uncover your potential for positive forward momentum by understanding the interplay between self-deception and flow? Answer the following for yourself:
1. How often do I use the excuse of "feeling overwhelmed" or needing to feel "regrounded" in order to get out of doing something productive? 
 
2. Can I start to notice when my mind tricks me into inaction? What mechanisms are being used (journaling for hours, binge-watching Leo's videos, reading and never taking any action)? 
 
3. Have I genuinely given the following habits the time needed for them to provide me with momentum towards flow states? Examples of habits:
- Daily Meditation upon waking.
-Exercising every day
-Journaling to a 30 minute timer?
-Setting 3 priority actions per day and executing them, regardless of resistance to action.
 
4. What is the longest I can go with my good habits before I self-sabotage? 
 
5. How can I realize that the pay off for establishing my habits as standards is greater than the sacrifice and pain felt in the process? In other words, is feeling flow states every day worth breaking free of my self-sabotage cycles? 
 
These questions helped me uncover the fact that I often use meditation, journaling, or watching content on youtube as mechanisms of procrastination. Second, they uncovered how I never let any of my good habit gain the momentum to get me "in the zone" or in "flow," so my mind never had a frame of reference that felt worthwhile for breaking free of my procrastination mechanisms. 
Often we choose mechanisms of procrastination that feel like they produce flow or forward momentum. They often do so in a hollow, unfulfilling way if we are self-honest. We need to build the endurance of our awareness to realize that they produce FALSE FLOW states, and that discipline brings a much richer flow experience over time. 
If you feel stuck in a cycle of inaction, of being addicted to comforts of "over-journaling" and binge-watching youtube for hours on end, then the very first step in curing your predicament is building your awareness of this cycle. 
1. complete the exercise above. 
2. pick ONE habit, establish it as your new "mindfulness over procrastination" experiment.
*For example, I chose doing 50 pushups every day no matter what. I asked myself every day, "what kind of momentum do I feel towards pushups today? Does it occur before or after I start doing pushups? Is this feeling worth it to me to continue improving my flow state frequency?" 
3. forgive yourself for self-sabotaging in the past, move forward with your new lessons and experiences. 
*forgiveness is key, because self-guilt perpetuates the cycle of sabotage. You did not know or have the frame of reference before this point to do any better, so now is your chance to start fresh every day, and run the experiment of flow to see where it goes. 
 
If you complete this exercise, or have useful input on this insight, let me know! Good luck with achieving flow. 
 

You should watch this if you're worried about AI "taking over". It's a silly fantasy, I don't know why Musk is so obsessed by it. Probably childhood trauma.
 

Designing your life by Bill Burnett This book is for you. I know this is not a specified answer, but while reading the book you will find the answer for yourself , and the answer that you going to retrieve for yourself would be way more useful than any answer given in the forum. 
Brief summary about the book
This book implement you with the mindset and thinking strategies, and the action you need for building your career and having a fulfilled joyful career life. This book works on your beliefs and assumptions about whatever career, job image you have. This book Gives you examples of people who had career problems , and how they managed using the book's advice to go through them ,tackle them, and win in the longterm. I'm currently a student but I'm following every bit , and taking action. Remember this book is about taking action , not just fancy theories , it's mostly a practical book. Goodluck buddy.
To make it even more luring for you there is a concept in this book that talks about similar situations to you. to keep it short , and i'm not quoting from the book directly i'm just ranting. The story basically was a girl fantasizing about having a restaurant , and believed it would be the best job for her , she loved the idea and her imaginations went big on that. Years gone and she opens a restaurant and then realize it's not really for her , she just didn't like the work. The solution that the book suggests is a concept called "Prototyping" , You don't jump in the pool right away, you test if the water is too cold , or too warm for you, You do that by either asking people who had similar job you're aiming for " What do you love and hate about your job?" , and then put yourself in their shoes, and see if you would enjoy that. OR you could do that by actually doing small jobs related to the field, that can give you a little bit of an idea of what you like and what you don't like. The book talks about approaching life like a designer , a designer gathers data then do the action , repeat the process gather more data and repeat another action , look at the result , gather more data, and so on. When you're designing your career you kinda could go through the same process if you look at it in that frame , you want to gather data about yourself, what you like and don't like , do an action , see the result , Did u like it ? Yes/NO , Do another action , Gather data about yourself , etc..etc.. NO one has figured himself completely right when he was 5 years and said I wanna be a doctor, and it goes on when we grow, we need to test ourselves , instead of falling to imagination loops and when you actually go to work you feel stuck. Anyway , this book can't be summarized in this thread , It's HUGE and has so many juice in it , Read it , work with its concepts , do the actions , then report back to the forum. This is just one concept of ALOT I haven't shared from the book. Goodluck. 
Just one more concept I would like to share
I'm just editing this reply one more time because there is this concept that I really love in the book. Well, to keep it short and simple, there's something called an anchor problem, and this is usually how people get stuck in their lives , and even waste more energy on problems that won't get them unstuck. People could get stuck for days, Months, years, Decades, on anchor problems. The book talks about a concept (again like a designer) called Reframing. Which means when you have a problem , that's not actionable , you can't do it for some reason , you have to come up with ideas (also covered in the book how to come up with ideas) To turn the anchor problem into another problem that could be actionable , and that will move you forward , instead of being stuck. This concept is really lovely, it tells you how simply by reframing the problems that you create and get stuck on , you could simply get unstuck. Top of that , There are examples about how people applied that concept into their lives and produced change, this will make the concepts get really understood and practical in your perspective. That's it, No more edits.
 

Hey guys!
When going through the value assessments part, it is suuuuuuper key to get in touch with your intuition.
I struggled with this, until I implemented Do-Nothing meditation!
Give it a go, especially if you're struggling with getting in touch with your intuition.
Recommended links for DNM:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ6cdIaUZCA&t=37s (Shinzen Young's vid)
2. Leo's vid
 
 

This is 100 percent yellow.

(Disclaimer: As the following text is based on my personal experience, it will most likely be flawed in numerous ways. Also, please keep in mind the inherent limitations of language. If there seems to be contradiction or paradox, it may be precisely because of the very nature of language. Sometimes contradictions themselves are the most powerful pointers. )
 
 
"Infinite Love never fails."
- Nahm
 
 
Pre-Feeling Phase
In order for you to know, where I’m coming from, it makes sense to give you some context.
How did I stumble upon the path of self-actualization? Well, the very core of it was constituted by fears, insecurities, and a lack of self-worth. But the interest of understanding anything about reality also emerged at that time – no matter what the topic was, I was interested in understanding it. I came up with the term of “not negating knowledge”. All of these lead me to better myself, to understand more about myself and reality, and ultimately, to live a life worth living.
Eventually, I stumbled upon actualized.org; as I always had quite a good grasp on conceptual understanding, I soaked up Leos videos like a sponge. In the conceptual/ rational sense, I always considered myself to be quite sharp.
With self-actualization came meditation. Awareness, mindfulness, and consciousness became the crux of my everyday life. I noticed that whenever a person did something really good, they always talked about how doing it consciously was a key component to their mastery.
Awareness, mindfulness, consciousness – terms like these sounded to me as if they were ‘things’, which lie in the center of my head, right behind my eyes. At least, that’s what it felt like. This misunderstanding led to me being ‘in my head’ too much. In consequence, meditative practices had more of a concentration character, as well as an ‘analytical, non-labelling awareness’.
For a long time, there was this feeling that there is ‘something off’. Something, which does not sit quite right. One ‘component’ was missing, but I never knew what it was. As I searched for the answer, I turned my psyche (and pretty much my whole life) upside down, constantly bettering myself to ‘find that thing’ – until 6 months ago.
That was when I noticed very deep wounds within myself. I realized that I denied my emotions since a very long time, unknowingly suppressing them. I denied feeling my emotions because I was afraid of being vulnerable. I didn’t want to admit that I was broken inside. Self-actualization and spirituality only deepened the denial. Eventually, the denial of my emotions caused bigger suffering than biting the bullet and going through the emotional release. I was at a point, where I couldn’t stand it anymore.
My self-image shattered; and I rebuild it in a ‘conscious way’. I swore to myself to never run away from feeling again. Half a year has passed, and some massive emotional healing has happened since then. As a thank you for everything I learned from this forum, I wanted to share some of my insights and findings along the way. I hope this post will be helpful to the one reading.
 
Feeling is Direct Experience
Synonyms: Actuality, Now, The Present Moment
I want to start with direct experience, because everything what is being written here ultimately tries to point towards direct experience. By writing about feeling, I don't want to imply to think about feeling, but to rather just feel (In fact, I could even stop the post right here, but I won’t).
As soon as you feel what is in your experience, you will recognize that feeling is direct. With feeling, we bypass our thoughts, and get in direct contact with what is actual. Thoughts veil direct experience and make us ‘lose contact’ with the present moment. Funny enough, feeling is prior to thoughts. So even though thoughts cause a disconnection from direct experience, we can also feel how the thoughts themselves feel, thus ‘anchor ourselves in the now’.
 
Feeling is Acceptance
When we choose to feel, acceptance is inevitable. Without ‘thinking it out loud’ we say to ourselves: “Alright, just for this moment, I will allow myself to see what is currently going on in my experience.” (Thus, accepting everything as is).
Oftentimes, we fight against emotions, which feel bad. We try to keep ‘em out of the house or lock them away. By doing this, the only effect we achieve is ingraining beliefs about ourselves even deeper, as we give them more meaning and treat them as more real, as they actually are, instead of just letting them go. Self-referential thoughts are conditioned and learned, even though they oftentimes seem ‘rock solid’. And because of that, we do have the ‘power’ to let them come and go. Welcoming self-referential thoughts (maybe with an inner smile) is just as important as letting them go.
But in order to let them go, we must first accept them. Acceptance by thinking about accepting may be one way, but more often than not, it simply doesn’t work because it feels forced. Feeling, on the other hand, makes acceptance effortless. Feeling already implies that everything which is being felt, is accepted – because we ‘agree’ to feel what already is the case. By feeling, we give our body and mind the necessary space for emotional healing.
Feeling is healing. It frees you by leading you to emotional release.
 
Feeling reveals Truth
Rather than entangling ourselves further in thought stories (=beliefs), via feeling we can 'untangle' this mess and see the truth behind the thoughts, which veil direct experience. To be conscious of truth is to be conscious of direct experience – which, counterintuitively, means that there is nobody/no person/ no identity being conscious. When you think that ‘you become conscious of something’ you got it backwards, because a ‘you which becomes conscious of something’ implies an identity which realizes something, which is not the case. Language becomes really limiting and misleading here. You could say the exact opposite of what I said, and it would still be as true as what I wrote. So I’ll just stop here. Remember, all of this is not to be thought about. Thoughts don’t ‘solve’ this ‘riddle’ (there is no riddle to be solved).
‘You’ are nothing but a thought. ‘You being conscious’ is also a thought, as well as ‘you dropping the identification with thoughts’ or ‘you connecting to direct experience’. Untangle via feeling.
Truth may ‘hurt you down the way’. It may even amplify suffering because the lies we tell to ourselves become illuminated with the discovery of what is true (the discovery that we were lying to ourselves the whole time can hurt but can also be the most hilarious thing). It is the only way out of suffering because once you ‘discover truth’, you discover that which is beyond (or prior to) thoughts and identity. Running away from truth (by resisting feeling) is not going to work very well for your wellbeing because truth (=existence) is inherent. You can’t fight it, as existence is already the case. That’s why you need to surrender to it (=not running away from feeling in order to resist what is true/what is the case).
The upside is that truth feels absolutely amazing and is everything ‘you’ always were looking for. Once ‘found’, it feels like your back is being watched by an unlimited source. Truth is good. Everything aligned with truth feels good. Fighting against it does not. Feeling, and feeling what really feels good to you, guides you ‘towards truth’.
To be able to see that fighting against truth does not feel good, you really need to be honest with yourself. I say that because you could also be lying to yourself that you’re feeling good, when really, you’re not (which was the case with me), hence honesty. Discovering what feels good can be a slippery slope, as the ego is the most brilliant liar. Truly a witty mastermind, constantly tricking you into believing stuff, which makes you think that you feel good, but it actually makes you feel bad. Gotta love that fool for his genius. Discernment is key. Feeling allows honest discernment.
We also may see relative, partial truths behind thoughts. An example may be: “Ohh, now I realize why I felt like shit the whole time. Unconsciously, I was focusing on these self-referential thoughts with negative connotations. As every thought multiplies and manifests, they were the cause of my suffering. If that is so, I have the choice to direct my attention towards thoughts that feel good and serve my wellbeing. But how do I separate the wheat from the chaff? Feeling, of course!”
A ‘more fundamental truth’ arises from these inspections (even though there really is no such thing as a ‘more real truth’ or a ‘less real truth’), which is that there is ‘something’ prior to thought stories and all the emotions that come with them: groundless being.
This groundless being is not perceivable, because there is nothing prior to it, thus, there is nothing which could perceive ‘it’. It is crucial to realize that we are it. That’s why self-inquiry is so tricky. We try to ‘find it’ – but there is nothing to find, because it is already right here! Any search implies that there is something to be found. But how do you want to find something you’re already ‘looking’ at? Being is being.
That's what all these spiritual pointers are trying to point to: that which is unspeakable, which is not possible to articulate, because the articulation itself is ‘it’. Nothing is outside of it. Yet, terms like nothing, emptiness, awareness, consciousness, love, now, and so on try to point to ‘that thing’.
‘It’ is not perceivable, yet we can feel into it. Meditation is something much more to be felt, rather than to be ‘focused’ about. I personally found it easier to feel into it (=feeling how existence feels), rather than trying to inspect it with awareness. Inspecting it with awareness mislead me, because I tried to ‘inspect truth’ like I would inspect the hand with awareness. It always lead me to try to inspect a form (regardless of which shape or not-shape this form [or not-form] may take). With feeling on the other hand, I can simply feel and relax into it, and melt with it, until there is no meditator left. Only existence.
The realization that we already are that which we are trying to find resolves the paradox of 'perceiving groundless being'. We don’t ‘need anything’ per se to understand being because it is already understood because we already exist as being. Language really challenges me to articulate it, to ‘deliver it to you’. Ultimately, just forget everything which is being said here and ‘inspect’ your being, i.e. melt into being. Being trapped in the realm of language unfortunately will lead you nowhere with this inquiry.
‘Perceiving’ truth/nothing is the hardest thing to do, as it is beyond perception; yet it is absolutely the most natural and simplest thing to do, because it is our core existence and literally needs no effort; even wanting to understand what is being talked about here implies effort, but it really is effortless.
Another helpful pointer towards effortlessness might be: Do you need to do anything in order for this moment to continue? Try to stop the moment. Try to choose what you will do next. Try to take absolute and full ownership of the movements of your body. Are you choosing to move your body the way you do or are you more like on autopilot? You see, ‘it all runs by itself’, without any effort from any person. Inspect. See that existence flows effortlessly. Feel, that you do not have to do anything in order for you to exist. Feel the relaxation that comes with that effortless flow. Allow yourself to feel the goodness that naturally ‘flows out of it’. Nothing more is needed.
 
Feeling opens the doors to Love
For this part I want to share an experience, as I think that captures it best. Also, truth is love (see previous section).
It was a night in which I felt absolutely terrible. Weeks before that night, I was already confronted with several emotional flushes, as well as an inner opening towards feeling. But in that night, I was at a very low point. So I decided to go for a walk. I put on some melancholic music and completely surrendered to feeling every emotion that was coming my way. Feeling certainly didn’t make it better, as the pain was intensified by feeling. It saturated every emotion. But I was sick of putting up barriers against what is true and how I really feel. I was sick of lying to myself. This erased all barriers against any resistance.
Halfway through the walk I started to notice a very powerful, empathetic force that was permeating my whole body. It was distinct from me, yet it was a part of me. I felt a very deep acceptance coming from that force. It was loving me deeply, absolutely regardless of how I felt or who I was. It felt as though that love was smiling at me, was giving me warm hugs, from within. I felt at home.
What I also noticed was that running away from bad feeling emotions robs them from their aesthetic. It turns them ugly. Really ugly. But feeling the deep, hurting wounds has a certain kind of beauty to it. I was really surprised to see that this is even a possibility.
As that experience went on, every wound was washed away, which actually made me really confused. The impermanent nature of reality was revealed to me. I was thinking to myself “Hold on, I’m supposed to feel sad”. The thought told me, that I’m supposed to feel sad (trying to ‘freeze the moment’). But when I felt within, there was no sense of sadness anymore (impermanence). Granted, I wasn’t feeling really great either. But the heavy emotional waves from half an hour ago evaporated and I felt so much lighter. I was ready, to allow myself, to feel good again. Grinning, I walked back home and felt deeply healed and loved. Looking back, I understand now, that this was an experience of deeply healing Self-Love.
On another occurrence, instead of being loved from a ‘distinct’ force, I was the one who was absolutely loving everything which was going on in my experience. I remember riding my bike. My hands were freezing, wind blew against my face, and it was really not that comfortable. Oddly, I was loving all of it. Every sensation was being felt deeply, thus accepted deeply, thus loved deeply. My energy levels shot through the roof and I felt utterly at peace and whole. Even though there were many ‘incomplete’ things in my life, I felt as complete and whole as you can feel. I understood that anything external can never ‘make you complete’. In order to feel complete, the only necessary thing is Self-Love. And when you realize that Truth is inherent, you understand that Self-Love is always the case and was never not the case. It is only our thinking minds that make us belief that there is incompletion. We already are complete. Realizing just how much you are being loved, and how you are that love which loves everything.. leaves you in deep awe for creation.
 
Feeling is a compass
Feeling within shows you what you really want and how you really want to feel. By listening to the internal compass of feeling, it guides you towards the life you want to live (Dreamboard). By letting go thoughts which don’t feel good and choosing to focus on thoughts which do feel good, one starts to effortlessly navigate through the inner and outer world in harmony.
Feeling also ‘monitors’ your alignment with truth. When you honestly feel good, ‘you are aligned with truth’. If you happen to feel bad, allow yourself to take a step back and inspect in your direct experience what causes dissonance with truth. Feel within and it will soon tell you, ‘what’s wrong’. It’s an intuitive process – the more you do it, the better you get. Yet, ‘answers’ are always available to you and do not need any further process besides feeling within.
As feeling opens the doors to love, this also leads to a life full of love. Simply following and trusting your inner guidance via feeling generates love. It’s almost like a cheat code because the more you feel, the clearer you get about your life, and the more love comes your way.
 
How to feel?
There’s nothing to learn about feeling. It’s natural and you always feel. And really, the full spectrum of feeling goes way beyond language. Words only point to other words and serve as a very rough approximation towards direct experience. Still, thoughts sometimes overcomplicate the simplest. If that’s the case, you can use these pointers:
Where in your body and/or mind are sensations occurring?
How do they feel? You don’t need to make this a mental exercise by saying “I feel some tingling in my belly”. Just notice the sensations and feel how they feel. When thought stories about the sensations come up, feel how the thought stories feel, and allow them to come and go. If you don’t feel anything, that’s also something to feel.
You do not control which thoughts come your way, so you do not need to take ownership for them. Simply feel whether they feel good or bad to you. It’s up to you which thoughts you want to give your attention to or which thoughts you give more or less credit to. Choose whatever you want to focus on.
When sensations are noticed, take your time, and stick with them at least for a bit. No need to rush through your body. How does the sensation change over time? How do thoughts about that sensation change over time? Feel into both of these questions.
Also, you can either feel in a very specific way (e.g. focusing your feeling on your belly) or you can feel in a very expansive way (e.g. ‘feeling everything at once’ – the whole spectrum within and without of the body).
The latter is actually a very fun exercise: First feel your whole body at once (maybe after having scanned your body from bottom to top). Then feel the boundaries of your body (e.g. skin, nose, eyes etc.). Really try to feel, what is outside and what is within the boundary. Where is the touching point of ‘outside’ and ‘inside’? Maybe you will notice that ‘boundary’ is nothing more than a thought. It’s really fun to let the lines blur! There are no walls between you and the external world. Thoughts make you believe that there are walls by creating illusory boundaries between ‘you’ and ‘not you’. But when you actually feel the ‘limits of boundaries’, there is no more separation.
When we turn up that ‘feeling knob’ really high, soon, everything vanishes. I really don’t know how to describe it, but when that ‘occurs to me’, ‘I’ start to forget everything I have learned, and just melt into what is. The meditator falls away and everything that stays is just existence or groundless being or awareness or truth or all of these words which try to point to ‘that’.
‘It happens to me’ when I try to go to the core of feeling. Like trying to taste the tongue, I try to feel feeling, which leads to that moment of forgetting everything. I can’t even quite recall the ‘experience’ because I only recognize that ‘that’ happened, when ‘I’ (ego) snap back. All I assume is that I can’t recall the experience because there is no one to experience it. I’m still exploring what’s up with that because it’s really ‘new territory’ for me. Just wanted to put this info out here in order to let you know that feeling is not limited to the body/mind, and that this ‘going beyond’ is also a possibility.
 
 
So, that’s about it. Way too many words, but I still hope you could get something out of it. By now you must’ve heard the word feeling so often that you are absolutely sick of it, which is great! No need for words, really.
 
Thank you @Leo Gura for paving the way and providing such an immensely deep and broad catalogue of understanding. There is still so much to explore in life and I’m so grateful to have stumbled upon your teachings in this regard. The quality of my life has shot up drastically thanks to everything you teach. I’m super excited about what is yet to be seen, yet to be learned. You really are a pioneering genius in what you are doing. I literally can’t thank you enough. Honestly, thank you man.
 
Thank you @Nahm for always being so direct with every one of your teachings. Always cut to the chase, always full of love. If you wouldn’t have reinforced the importance of feeling so often, I probably would still be stuck in my head today. But you helped me open the doors to love in tremendous ways. Thanks to you I do feel enabled to create a life full of love, a life I want to live, a dream life. I feel like the foundation for everything which is yet to come has been set. Words cannot describe how grateful I am to have learned from you. Thank you.
 
❤️
 
 

Is that a things?
So I have been reading Wilber and his integral theory. I'm a very chaotic person so it really helped me to think straight but I feel like I'm too analytical right now because I'm always looking how something fits into the bigger picture. 
Systems thinking is a great tool but I feel like I have become too dependent on it. Perhaps I should just stick to it and I will outgrow it? Currently I'm busy with fixing my personal issues and integral psychology by Wilber gives a great frame work: especially the psychograph which combines the great nest theory and the four quadrants. 
I integrated the knowledge so much that I don't even have to use my active mind to psycho analyze people or myself: I'm just observing and my mind just uses passive knowledge to analyze. 
For people who are new to systems thinking: I recommend integral theory over spiral dynamics. It encompasses the bigger picture. 
If systems thinking taught me something it is better to move from big picture to small picture than the other way around. In my experience moving from small picture to big picture, makes the small picture recontextualize and I just lose the wisdom. 

My IQ is around 150-160.  In my opinion, this type of intelligence (IQ) is a combination of nature and nurture.  I was certainly born with a good brain, but I also received a ton of intellectual nourishment during my entire childhood, including encouragement to be "smart", curious, and the drive and self-confidence (slash independence neurosis) to pursue difficult challenges.  I constantly challenged myself.  I loved to learn, and of course my ego was firmly rooted in it too.  My greatest pleasures came from the successes of my mind.
Now, as an adult with a good bit of meditation experience, I've watched my brain think and observed how it works in quite a lot of detail.  The little processes are extremely quick and advanced.  Bits of information from global memory are accessed and linked and iterated on with astonishing rapidity.  Intuition fuels "pictures" which surface out of the subconscious and then inform the left-brain's analytical work, and meta-feedback loops of this kind happen almost automatically and instantaneously.  The whole thing is spectacular.  On psychedelics, it's even more amazing: emotion, intuition, logic, and language are freed from their "lanes" and allowed to dance in unison in a glorious spiral.
I guess my point is that though you are given genetic "hardware", a great deal of intelligence is based on how well you learn to use your mind.  Because it is such a global process, this can't really be trained as much as it is simply the result of a total lifestyle that nourishes its growth.  If you really want to be smarter, challenge the hell out of yourself.  Learn diverse things that are really difficult for you.  Constantly be curious, and pay attention to how your mind works.  Exercise and nutrition and meditation will all help as well.
That being said, I'd frankly encourage holistic growth, relationship development, emotional mastery, and life purpose over intentional intelligence work.  Being smart is useful but also a burden.  The ability to conceptualize well means you are trapped in a web of illusion 5x stickier than most people.  This is why most super smart people are deeply unhappy, I think.  Plus, the most useful thinking is done when you understand the big picture.  Smart people can be REALLY WRONG about stuff when they are stuck inside of paradigms or fantasy worlds.

@Leo Gura
Good points.
You're right.
I do have to say, however, I truly don't think you're grasping the significant link between health and spirituality.
Enlightenment is not possible if the foundation is weak: the body. This is physical in nature, and no amount of mental gymnastics can circumnavigate this fact. 
Even the Buddha recognized this fact when he abandoned his asceticism, seeing a weak body cannot support the highest pursuits of the spirit, and he finally had a meal for nourishment of his body.
I'm going to make the bold claim that enlightenment is rare because virtually everybody in this society has a weak foundation (i.e. weak body). Diseases and ailments of any kind are simply the body's negative feedback loop informing us that something is wrong. We're making a mistake, and manifesting the consequences. Look around and tell me who doesn't have diseases and ailments of any kind?
Virtually everybody in this society is eating a high-protein, high-processed, acidic and "dead" diet. If you don't believe me, put your hand in a fire and let me know what happens to the outter cells in your hand.
If what I'm saying is true, any serious student of spirituality and enlightenment would not simply discount this information because of practical inconvenience. With a strong enough why, you can bury any how.
How bad do you want enlightenment?
And by the way, there is a HUGE f*cking difference between 80 or even 90% raw and 100% raw.
Study Dr. Morse, and his experiences while fruit fasting on only navel oranges for 6 months, and his incessant samadhi experiences. It was EASY for him to jump into samadhi experiences, so much so he claims he had to stop the fast and ground himself with vegetables because his practical existence started to fall by the wayside...
Why am I so convinced Dr. Morse's story is true?
I've been following Dr. Morse's protocol of fruit fasting, and I cannot believe how much of his information I am confirming via sheer direct experience: the detoxification process and its symptoms, astringent properties of fruits in the body, elimination of diseases, what the "flu" and "cold" actually is, emotional purging, heightened intuition, synchronistic events, increased sensitivity to both resourceful and un-resourceful emotions, and deep spiritual growth.
This did NOT happen on SAD, paleo, bullet-proof, etc.
I am convinced, that health is a SIGNIFICANT factor in realizing enlightenment or developing spiritually. It's not the only, but if you ignore it, you will not realize it.
As I said before, the Buddha had to come to terms with this fact.
Of course you'll have a few flukes or outliers who realize the truth eating sub-optimally.
I thought I was relatively healthy as a 22 year old not eating any processed foods or grains with a dominance of steamed vegetables and grass-fed meat for a few years.
I was dead wrong.
I cannot tell you how much I'm detoxing: expelling mucus from my body in stools, acids through the skin, etc.
And I'm only 22...
I cannot imagine how much damage a 30, 40, 50+ year old human being has accrued, even if they consider themselves very "health-conscious." 99.9999% of humanity is making a grave mistake... Wonder why 99.9999% of humanity isn't enlightened?
I emphasized EASY above because I am convinced enlightenment is the logical progression of having an optimal foundation. 
Anyway, I'll leave this here. It explains all. I know the truth of the knowledge I've stumbled across:
 
 

I had a good laugh from this post.
 
Relating MMORPG's to the MMORPG of life is a good way to move on from it. Imagine if you're playing some MMORPG, for example, lets say World of Warcraft. Now imagine if you're in the game and you stop your character to utilize some item called "Game Boy" where he can channel the item endlessly. Now while the item channels, you see your character engaged in a game boy device, and that's the only benefit to the item—you just see him playing on a game boy. You probably wouldn't do this for long, as you would realize it doesn't help you level up your WoW character, and you would quickly get back on to slaying mobs and completing quests. Sitting on your computer playing World of Warcraft is a parallel concept to having your WoW character stand still in the game and endlessly channel a useless item.

that make you awakened just by seeing them (I think it can happen, after all avatar made me imagine how would it be if I was a different creature for example) 

Great doc, thanks for sharing it.

Seems like liberals and lefties (green) are missing the point that Afghanistan needs to go through this phase of development, and whilst it isn't our preferred system to have ultra conservative rule, this is a phase that they need to get out of their system because they aren't developed enough yet. Only tier 2 can understand this

But that is emprically precisely the case.
Which is why 20 years of meddling was undone within a few weeks by the Taliban. The US was pushing water uphill with brooms for 20 years.
What you have to do in such a case is to admit your worldview about the region was wrong, not to blame the Taliban. The Taliban was right, the US was wrong. Only the US is too biased and paradigm locked to admit it. The Taliban understands the realities of survival in the desert better than any American. It's the Americans who are delusional here. And history and facts demonstrate this as clear as the sky is blue. Yet Americans are so self-biased they will deny it to the grave.
Which is why I teach about self-bias, relativity, perspective, epistemology, and Spiral Dynamics. A keen knowledge of these fields is necessary to make proper sense of this situation. But of course no one in US leadership understands all that. So here we are.

40:30 of this video, Don Beck being the genius he is foresaw this all.
 

@trenton Read "Reinventing Organizations" by Frederic Laloux or "Corporate Rebels" by Joost Minnar, Pim de Morree. "Let My People Go Surfing" by Yvon Chouinard is a great read, too.
Don't get into gaslighted into thinking better business is not possible. It is, and there are already concrete examples of corporations that have gone that way. Someone just have to scale those solutions, reinvent them in new sectors, it could be you.

Shinzen Young’s See Hear Feel technique is really unique when it comes to how he presents concentration. 
 
Long story short, concentration =\= attention stability, however attention stability can be a feature of concentration.
The beauty of noting meditation is one can get into a state of shamatha without stabilizing attention on a single object. Instead, momentary concentration doesn't disrupt the natural rhythms and flow of attention, or activity of mind but still facilitates the benefits of mindfulness. We learn to ride the wave of this field of flux rather manipulating it. 
Id also highly highly highly recommend Rob Burbea’s jhana retreat. There are certainly benefits to attention stability such as deep jhana work. 

Is the notion of Holons, the first step towards reaching tier 2 level of thinking?
And therefore moving from
vMEME Green to vMEME Yellow?
I've had that thought after watching a Ken Wilber video in which he says that after post-modernism reach its end, and destroys all the house of cards that were built in the previous stages, it turns out that its inevitable to develop more healthy hierarchies in order to create a more inclusive and more sustainable society...
And the concept of holons present both by Ken Wilber and Leo seems to me to be a better conceptual foundation for development,  both personal and societal, because it brings some tier 2 thinking that's required to adress what it's left out by post-modernism in its excess, like:
transcend and include ,
growth hierarchies and
"going meta"

That's my thought on this issue, but I would love to see what you guys think about that, so that we could have a more well rounded discussion about that??...