Ninja_pig

Judging by all of the famous people I know, I would say the best ways are to become a very successful politician, musician, Hollywood actor, become a world-class pro in some sport, or become very very rich.

Leo is the only person I know of who claims it is possible to know why there is something rather than nothing. I remember his answer: there is no difference between something and nothing. Conceptually, I can't argue with this, and I think it is much more reasonable than the common materialist worldview. Leo also has many other claims about the nature of reality, such as the universe is intelligent, I am the universe, and I am actively creating my own reality, but I have not been able to independently verify such claims thus far. I just want to point out that Leo is the ONLY person I've seen who explicitly states something like this and is not question begging. I will say that my knowledge of various spiritual claims is not very broad, but it is pretty descent. I have studied a lot of Physics, Christianity, Buddhism, and even nonduality (from people such as Fred Davis, Thomas Campbell, Elkhart Tolle, Alan Watts, and more), and not one, NOT ONE, has told me that I can understand that fundamental question, or even seems to be interested in the fundamental question, except Leo. These are the questions that Leo says can fall under the category of actual philosophy: 1. What are the right and wrong ways of doing philosophy? 2. What is reality? 3. Where did reality come from? 4. Why is there something rather than nothing? 5. What is Consciousness? 6. How to live the best life possible? 7. How to construct the best society for the good of all? Really. why. WHY isn't EVERY philosopher who has ever existed repeating some variation of these questions as a mantra? What could possibly be more important and intriguing? This isn't to say that other sects of philosophy and spirituality haven't done valuable things though. Buddhism gives you a practical way to achieve supreme long term happiness, Christianity tells you how to live a "morally correct" life, physics tells you how you can understand the physical machinery of the universe using math, and nonduality tells you how to transcend your ego and begin your true spiritual journey. But Leo is the only one who dares to ask the big questions. The fundamental questions. And he claims to have answers. For this reason, Leo is one of the only true philosophers in the world.

I know, health is the greatest wealth, and there is no point in becoming a physicist if I don't enjoy the journey. I like the hard work though, I like pushing myself, and I am fairly confident I know how to deal with burnout and not give up. But I mean I'm pretty sure Einstein wasn't successful in his early years because he was a bad student though. He studied physics independently while being a patent lawyer.

I just want to say that this is the best reply

For me personally having a comfortable life with a descent job is not why get out of bed in the morning. I want to be a physicist, and that takes a ridiculous amount of learning. I'm kind of rushing things and trying to finish my bachelor's by 22 because a bachelor's is like %5 of the knowledge I want to know at best, so I'm just going fast so I have a good amount of time in my life to do physics before my mind is not as capable or something.

Seems easy enough

@Leo Gura Sometimes it's really hard to believe that you are not just putting stuff on this forum with the thought "these granola idiots will believe anything". My mind is still open to the possibility though.

According to Buddhism, the amount of times you have been reborn is pretty much uncountable. There is one sutra that says the amount of blood you have spilled by fighting and dying in wars is greater than the amount of water in all the world's oceans. Probably not true at all, but idk maybe there is something to this rebirth idea.

Looking for some advice here There is probably no activity I have indulged in more in my life (besides sleeping) than YouTube. I don't know the exact number (I'm sure it would be scare to see it), but I would estimate that it is around 15,000 hours of watching in total in my life. It's quite impressive considering I am only 20 years old. I think it started out as a replacement to television, which I have been watching from a very young age. This is obviously a huge waste of time, and I am deep in the grips of addiction when it comes to YouTube. I have been able to quit for shot periods of time (cold turkey for a week or so) but I always have gone back to my old habits. I have deleted every other form of social media (which I may have been previously been addicted to) and have not gone back. This includes Snapchat, Instagram, Reddit, and Facebook. The main reason I have not been able to quit YouTube is that it has benefited my life in many ways. I often learn very useful information applicable to my life purpose and my life in general. I feel I have become smarter in many ways because of YouTube, Actualized.org being one of the many examples. Because of this I often do not feel it is a wise decision to quit watching completely, but at the same time it feels very difficult to watch YouTube "only a little". This is even with things such as the DFtube extension and not watching on my phone. So my question is: how do I get the benefits of YouTube without wasting such ridiculous amounts of time on it? Is it even possible? Is going cold turkey the only way to fix my problem?

I like this idea. I will keep this in mind for stopping/starting habits This is a really good idea. I will implement this. I keep a look out for the feeling of saturation now that you mention it. I will also read that book recommendation. Thank you! I think I will start following a rule where I can only watch YouTube while sitting in my chair or showing something to someone. No watching in the bed or bathroom or while eating. How did you delete your account? I tried deleting my account and it deleted everything except for the algorithm data. I still get relevant recommendations but all of my playlists, comments, and uploads are gone. I think I will implement this also. I like the idea of coupling movies/youtube time together and only watching at the end of the day. Maybe I'll do 1 hour of YouTube or movies and one hour of reading each day. Interesting! This is actually a really good idea! I don't think that this is a possibility right now because of my living/work situation, but I will attempt this in the future! I think I'm actually going to start recording this. Maybe use a spreadsheet to keep track of all the videos I watch and how much I enjoy them. Thanks for the suggestion! @Loba I think I am definitely like you with my thirst for knowledge! Although, I think my YouTube addiction may be restricting the total amount I'm able to learn because most videos are pretty short and don't actually teach you that much and I also don't read that much. This is why I think moderation is important because I want to be able to learn a lot from many different sources without using up all of my time. I actually didn't consider disabling comments, but I think that's what I'll do from now on. Disable comments and subscriptions. You have all been very helpful! In summary I will implement the following rules in an attempt to moderate my YouTube/movie consumption: 1. Limit scrolling on YouTube on my phone to 5 minutes per day, so I can look for a few new videos to watch. 2. No watching YouTube when I am not at a computer sitting down in a chair with my full attention on the video. No youtube in the bathroom, during eating, or in bed. 3. Only watch YouTube between the hours of 7:00pm and 12:00am (usually after I have eaten dinner) and only for 1 hour per day. 4. I will keep track of every video that I watch on a spreadsheet and rate each video out of 10 to determine which ones are worth my time and which ones aren't. 5. I will use YouTube's "watch later" functionality to find videos I want to watch and only watch those on my watch later playlist. I will only watch videos after they have been on the playlist for at least 24 hours (to avoid compulsively watching videos that I see) 6. The only exception to these rules is when I want to show a video to someone else, in which case I have to be in their physical presence and we both have to be watching the video. Thank you all again for the suggestions!

He's actually doing pretty well these days believe it or not

- Believing certain spiritual messages just because they are said often rather than independently verifying their validity - Thinking spirituality is not important simply because most people are not practicing it/make fun of it - Believing spirituality will fix all of your problems - using spirituality as a means of escape - thinking that there is one spiritual teacher/discipline who has it all figured out - thinking you are more wise than anyone else - Thinking that you will become or stay crazy because of a spiritual experience or psychedelic experience - not reading - thinking yourself superior to others because of your spiritual progress - reading too much (without a meditation/contemplation/yoga/psychedelic practice to back it up) - Thinking you can make others see spiritual truths - Not being constantly on the lookout for traps and tricks of the mind

Dude. You're doing fine. You're 22 and your progress is enough to make a lot of people feel behind in life. What I've noticed after my admittedly mild spiritual awakenings is that at some point you just have to live life. Just play the game. Spiritualty doesn't give you meaning, it doesn't give you color, it just kind of gives you perspective. Right now I'm 20 and I'm trying to become and aerospace engineer. Why? cuz it's fun. What the hell else am I gonna do? The more honed your ability to say "fuck it" the more exciting life can become. What is the lesson of all spirituality beyond the fact that life is its own purpose? Like idk, fuck around. Do normal person stuff. Play. https://youtu.be/rBpaUICxEhk

In my opinion, there is not one specific style that is the best. I would say to search on google for dojos near you and find one where there is an air of seriousness and desire fore excellence. Don't join one where its like a bunch of people going to yoga class. There needs to be an element of honor and respect in the dojo. Also try to find a dojo where you can participate in sparing. DO NOT try to get into martial arts simply by researching it on the internet. Being around others who are experienced is the only way to truly gain the benefits of practicing martial arts. You can of course gain value from knowledge on the internet, but you need to actually meet the people and not just know the techniques. Trust me, you will see.

Crumb Jack Johnson Frances Forever

Take notes on the topics you are learning about. Keep a journal and write in it regularly as well as writing essays on topics you find interesting. Whenever you see a word you don't understand, record it. Eventually you will have a collection of words to memorize. After you read something or watch a video, make sure to go back over what you specifically remember from the content and write about it. Writing forces you to think and is the only way to truly know how much information you have retained. I like to use Quizlet for memorizing lists of words/definitions. Just make flash cards with words and definitions and go through them for a certain time period each day. It's a tried and true method that will cause you to remember things for long periods of time. The practice of consistently taking notes and holding yourself accountable to the knowledge you consume will train your mind to become more attentive whenever you are learning anything.

I had bad social anxiety in the past and the solution was just to spend lots of time around people against my own feelings of discomfort and not judge myself for my mistakes. Unless you have autism you will be able to become socially adept quickly and even with autism not all is lost. Find some people to talk to (at work, a club, your neighbors, school), introduce yourself, become curious about them and ask them about themselves, remember their names, show them that you like them. It will feel like you are throwing yourself to the wolves at first and it always will at least a little but you will find that it's not so bad. As for GAD, I would say the antidote is meditation. Anxiety is pretty much exactly what meditation targets and it is no secret that your level of peace (which is promoted by meditation) is inversely proportional to your level of anxiety. It's okay if you have trouble doing it at first. Start out small, with short sessions each day. It's okay for the mind to wander you don't have to be doing it perfectly in order to get benefits. Also, whenever I am super stressed out, I go for a run. I basically run until I am super tired, usually like 4 or 5 miles bc I'm not super in shape. Intense exercise is the one true 100% reliable stress reliever. At least for me. It's impossible to feel stressed when you are filled with endorphins and norepinephrine. Your body will also want to relax after an intense workout so that forces you to be calm.

This is my biggest problem with Leo's pickup advice. There is only such thing as "state" if you believe there is. If you drop that belief then suddenly you have the ability to approach every set with maximum confidence and self assuredness. A truly actualized man should be a rock and his demeanor and mindset should not be swayed by external events. You can save a lot of time by just going into the first set with the presumption that you are 10/10 and the girl already likes you. Also, don't approach girls unless you find them attractive. Do I need to explain this?

It is a misconception that our mood, confidence, and self worth are fluid things that change according to external factors. In reality, you can determine your own self esteem and confidence at any given moment. Always go in with the mindset that you are a 10/10 man and the girl is already attracted to you. Of course there will room for improvement, but you should never doubt yourself. Evaluate interactions after the fact, not during. The surest way get a girl to think you are a 4/10 is to think you are a 4/10.

I have this weird thing where I will spend hours back to back just looking at violent content on the internet. This will be things like car crashes, fights, animal cruelty, gory imagery, workplace accidents, injuries, and surgeries. I am really not sure why I have this craving to watch the content. I have spent hours on the internet basically looking for the most brutal videos I can find. It's like I'm looking for something to satisfy me. Usually the binges will only end when I find a video or picture so gruesome that I feel a twisting in my stomach, and then I'm satisfied I guess. The videos don't really make me feel good, it's more like they are filling a void. I will often be appalled at the cruelty that I witness, or feel sad at what I watch. Sad that there can be such brutality in the world. However, I am carried on by a burning curiosity. Something makes me what to watch more. The thing is I've never been a violent person. I have never gotten into a fight or hurt anyone, except a couple times by accident. I'm generally very respectful and empathetic. I almost never insult people verbally. I stand up and stick up for people when I see someone is getting hurt physically or verbally. I really don't like to see violence in my life. I thought about joining the military but decided against it because I don't want my career to be about killing people. I'm pretty sure I'm stage green. Sometimes I get angry and want to hurt people, but it has never resulted in me actually hurting someone. The emotion passes. I generally trust myself. I don't think I ever would choose to hurt a person or an animal unless in self defense or in defense of someone else. Even then I try to avoid violence because usually I can get out of a dangerous situation without employing it. When I was little I spent a lot of time burning insects with a magnifying glass. I liked watching them burn. I didn't like insects, but that's not why I burnt them. It was the same feeling of curiosity that drove me. Something about seeing them burn was just so mesmerizing. I would spend hours outside in my back yard just sitting there holding the magnifying glass over the ants. I would hold it on the for many minutes after they died until the thing couldn't be burnt anymore. I tell this to people and they say that it is strange. I'm 20 and I feel like I would still enjoy doing this. I don't anymore because I'm more conscious of destruction and violence, and that overrides my curiosity, but I mean the craving is still there. When I was little (11 or so) I sometimes would take my dog for a walk and be really rough with him on the leash for no reason. I'm really ashamed of this now and I have never told anyone about it. It felt like I was angry and I was taking it out on my dog. I don't know where the anger came from. I felt like I was showing my dog who's boss or something. I felt satisfying to show him that I could hurt him and he couldn't hurt me. I really wish I didn't do this. It was monstrous. I love my dog still to this day. I wouldn't wish any harm or pain on him. I wish I could tell him I'm sorry. I'm writing all this because I feel like it's connected to the above paragraphs. When I was little I also spent a lot of time pulling out eye lashes or other hairs one by one around my body. Again, It gave me the same feeling of satisfaction. I was just fascinated by seeing the hair come out, the small spike of pain, the little hair follicle left behind. I still do this today a little bit. I don't pull out eye lashes anymore, but I kind of enjoy plucking little hairs from my face that I may have missed while shaving. It's deeply satisfying to me to see the root of a hair that used to be planted deep in my skin. I love pulling out hairs especially that are very thick and dark. I looked this up and it's a thing called Trichotillomania apparently. I don't have it as bad as some people where I will get bald spots, but sometimes I indulge in plucking hairs to "clean up" my face or other parts of my body. Everything I mentioned above seems to be connected to or stem from the same place in my mind. I am wondering if this is a problem in me or if I should be concerned? What might be causing this behavior in me? If it's childhood trauma, how do I overcome it? Does anyone else have similar cravings? Why do I crave these things?

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLND1JCRq8Vuh3f0P5qjrSdb5eC1ZfZwWJ This is a lecture series by a psychologist at the University of Toronto. It beautifully combines historical and contemporary philosophy as well as psychology in order to explain and offer a solution for the problem of apparent meaninglessness to life that is becoming pervasive in the western world. If you are a fan of speakers like Shinzen Young or Leo, or just generally like to hear from stage yellow type people, you will love this content! It is exactly what philosophy and science are meant to be. I personally think that some of the ideas taught in these lectures will become an integral part of western thought in the near to medium future.

I'm done with being numb in my life. For a while I have been avoiding the current state of my life that I have created, mainly through porn and YouTube. I'm writing this because I decided to quit porn and YouTube just a week ago, and it's like I woke up from a coma. My emotional system was completely fucked up to the point where I did not even see many problems I have. I actually don't have that many friends. The ones I do have are kind of weird. They're not bad but they're kind of numb like me. I am functioning far below my capacity in school and in my work. I'm making almost no progress spiritually My body is becoming awkward to use and weirdly shaped form lack of exercise My sleep schedule is very screwed up I don't have a girlfriend even though I really want one I'm doing just enough to stay in the middle of the pack in general I'm not invested or interested in my life I'm not that hopeful for the future All this stuff is just becoming more and more clear to me the longer I abstain from distractions. I've decided that I like confronting the reality though, even though it isn't all that great. I will never go back to my ways of constantly flushing my brain with overstimulation and emotional overload in order to not feel anymore. I choose to feel pain over feeling nothing. If it leads to depression, so be it. I would rather live in hell than not live at all. If I end up with an incredible life, I'm going to feel as happy about it as I can. I will no longer be scared of big emotions. I will no longer run away. I will love life to the very end. It is better to be dead than half alive.

Okay I found this post on another forum. I am wondering if anyone knows what is going on here and why this person might be feeling these things? How can you practice meditation in a way that avoids some of these adverse effects? Meditation is advertised everywhere as this overly benefitial tool, which will increase your focus, reduce stress, improve memory, relieve feelings of depression and so on. Having issues with all these thingd (as does everyone to a degree) I decided to give meditation a shot. It was maybe a year ago when I downloaded my first meditation app, it was headspace. The app seemed promising and I did the introductory guided meditations. In the first couple sessions I could really see the benefits, my brain went from 30 to 60 FPS and my mind felt declutered. I felt present and in touch with reality in a really positive way. Due to curiousity and lack of discipline I dabbled in many apps. And this has led to my unfortunate discovery of Sam Harris's app Waking Up. At the time the app had an introductory course in which you would gradually learn new techniques each day. Things like different breathing patterns, focusing on body sensations, focusing on sounds and so on. While utilizing these techniques I started to develop some weird sensations. I could permanently feel the sensations of clothes on my body, I sometimes felt compusled to just swallow consciously. I started being involuntary focusing on actions that are performed automatically like walking, picking up items and so on. My movements started feeling unnatural. The worst thing that came out of it was when I got to the sections which make you contemplate on questions like, "who is the one who is thinking", "what is the source your consciousness" and so on. These questions have made me feel like my brain is melting or going to explode. If I got really focused on trying to understand those questions, my head would start to move involuntary. I started to get feelings of existential dread, I felt that nothing in existence has substance. I felt like everything is a made up construct and has no intrinsic meaning. I became a spectator of life and I was no longer living. It's been a while since then, but I am still struggling. When I am in the moment having fun I will feel completely normal. But when there is nothing to distract my mind I return to my new baseline of feeling like an empty fucking shell. There are definitely other factors which could have influenced my state, but I still belive that meditation had significant impact. All in all I am convinced of the power of meditation and I hold no negative bias. However, I believe a lot of people who are teaching meditation don't really understand all depth, nuance and implications of this practice. I think it should be approached with more care rather than being advertised as this risk free cure-all blanket solution.

Enlightening post. This isn't talked about a lot on this forum. Many people here seem introverted. Solitude is important for being able to calm your mind, but you can't understand everything by yourself.