vizual

If you want to attract high quality friends you first have to become a high quality person. Like attracts like. In your post you are only judging people and saying what you don't want and like, in stead of saying what you do want. A golden rule in attracting the right things is that you stop judging and constantly gauging the results, and in stead you start loving and trusting the process. If you shoot everything down at first glance you won't get very far in manifesting your preferential desires and goals. Open mindedness and mental flexibility is key.

Only consciousness exists, therein lies the true beauty and wonder.

The only somewhat valid definition for enlightenment I can come up with is: "Truth is Absolute". There is absolutely no wiggle room in trying to define the truth, when two truth-realized entities cross paths they have the same exact knowing of truth. Yet, they can have a vastly different way of expressing their experience of it in words. There lies the problem in these definitions. When the ego hears a definition which totally makes sense it gives itself a pat on the back for "understanding" enlightenment, it gives itself the permission to rest on its laurels because it already "knows". The only way that coming up with these metaphors and definitions, along with trying to find truth in subjects such as biology, physics and philosophy, is that the absolute truth is nowhere to be found in concepts. You can have an explanation of every little(and big) thing that goes on in the universe and still be totally oblivious to the truth.

Now or never.

I'm wondering how open minded and liberal people are about having sex and/or relationship with transgender people. So let's say you are a guy and you meet an attractive woman(or so you think). You chat her up a bit, and at the point you want to take her home with you she confesses she was born a boy. Would you mind? Would you be grossed out? Or would you embrace the experience? This goes for girls also who meet a guy who was born a girl.

Drama and people arguing about definitions of enlightenment actually make me chuckle

All fears stem from the fear of the loss of Self. You have equated Self with the physical body, as long as you identify with the physical body there will be fear. When you realize the true Self(as opposed to the false Self) all fears will slowly vanish, since the true Self is incapable of dying. Finding the true self is easier said than done when you are currently engrossed in the false, it won't come for free. But it's something to keep in mind while you are looking for bettering your life.

What about when you feel a good connection and attraction and you would never guess she was born a boy until she told you. Would just the idea of her once being a boy deter you? What exactly about that idea puts you off from it?

What's wrong with selfishness? Are you scared you don't get what you want because everyone acts selfishly? Isn't that also selfish in itself?

No way dude, I do daily meditation, self enquiry, chakra balancing, yoga and prayer. My guru told me my consciousness level is over 9000

So many people worried about the future of the "human race" lol. The human race, just another wave in the ocean and there is no way to discern when the wave started, nor when it will end. Good luck with uploading your consciousness into a computer. Better yet, tell me when you find your consciousness so we can compare yours to mine.

@Frogfucius A single point? Tiny atoms? Matter? Energy? Force? All connected? This is all crazy talk. Conceptualization is a bottomless pit. You can divide your experience of reality infinitely small and infinitely large. And every single belief you try to take on as truth will be tested(and shot down) by reality. Science and Spirituality are the biggest obstacles to seeing the truth, in today's age. Good luck

It's quite simple, all experiences require an experience which experiences something "in time". Everything that has ever been experienced in time is not enlightenment, even if you had a momentary loss of self. It's the self that is trying to get back to that state... in time. All actions and rationalizations the ego makes are all in time, it's the ego that is trying to become enlightened, but it never will. The ego always wants to become something, whether it be enlightened, a saint or even "no one". Becoming enlightened is not a rational experience, it's not even a spiritual experience, or an "experiential" experience. It's simply not an experience at all. All efforts the ego make to become enlightened are futile. This can be frustrating, but it's part of the truth, the ego has no power to make anything happen. Things happen despite of the ego, not because of it. So when the ego chases a thing it cannot understand, enlightenment, it can become very angry and frustrated because it is the ultimate thing it can never attain. Is this anger and frustration necessary? It's not but it probably depends on how you are wired. People with a strong attachment to their intellect probably have to face a stronger internal battle with their monkey mind than others to cross the other side. The only thing you can do is let it play itself out with the least amount of resistance.

No you can't. Enlightenment isn't something you can believe yourself into, it's beyond beliefs and concepts. Every thing you think you know about enlightenment is false, it's not about being one with the universe nor being everywhere. How can you visualize something you can never know what it is? Sure, there are a lot of guru's who use a lot of fancy words to describe their experience as an enlightened being but these words only point to the real thing. "I am the universe" is just a pointer, there is no such thing in true enlightenment. Enlightenment isn't something you can find, nor can you understand it since there is nothing to understand and there is no one who is doing the understanding. Throw away all your beliefs and maybe you will see the truth.

The observer and the observed are the same thing, or rather no-thing. When you watch your thoughts, thoughts appear. But no one separate is aware of these thoughts. The same as you watch out of your window and birds appear, no one is watching these birds, yet they appear. True consciousness is not a thing that watches over everything, true consciousness is everything. It's what is called unity.

@JustinS By shining awareness on something you simply mean to concentrate on something. For instance, concentrating on one's thoughts. When you are concentrating on your thoughts, who is that is doing the concentrating? Has that thing/person any choice in the matter? Let's say you are meditating on your breath, you are concentrating on the inhalation and exhalation of air. But all of the sudden someone smacks you on the back of the head with a stick. The direct instinct is to shift the concentration of the breath to the person behind you. So who is it that shifts the awareness of the breath to the person behind you? And what is the difference between an "action" and a "shift of awareness"? I ask the last question since you have concluded that there is no free will in the actions you take.

No difference. It's all about your intention, if your intention for enlightenment is pure, the circumstances do not matter. It's very attractive for people seeking enlightenment to put these Indian, Thai cultures on a pedestal because they seem more "spiritual" to us Westerners. But at the end of the day, it's all a smokescreen. There are just as many "obstacles"(or whatever you want to call it) in Eastern cultures as in Western cultures for reaching enlightenment. Even if you convince yourself that moving to India would benefit your proces of becoming enlightened, all your crap you have here will travel along with you to India.

Obviously his ego is invested in being this Youtube Guru. There needs to be a willingness to let go of everything. If enlightenment means you become a bum living in the streets and sucking dick for 2 dollar Mcdonalds coupons, that ought to be 100% acceptable and okay. There can be no attachment at all to all your romantic stories about an "actualized life" nor becoming some "enlightened saint".

Only awareness raises the tolerance. You could do cold showers but it won't necessarily raises your tolerance to discomfort because the ego can easily "grind it out" without actually raising awareness. The ego won't be fooled by tricks.

YES! Preferably even before childhood.

What do you mean by that the right side of the brain is just awareness? What is awareness according to you? According to this website the right side of the brain has distinct functions, just like the left side of the brain. Just different ones. http://www.livescience.com/32935-whats-the-difference-between-the-right-brain-and-left-brain.html

@SaynotoKlaus Don't worry I'm not upset lol But.. you don't want self actualization because Leo says so? Do you take everything Leo says and does as gospel? The main thing Leo is doing is to encourage people to follow their paths and draw their own conclusions. He's just handing out several tools to do so. None of his video's contain "the Truth", because whatever the truth is, it is not written in stone and surely not presented in some video on the internet.

When you "talk shit" about people do you believe the thoughts and emotions that come up when you do it? Do you think these thoughts are a somewhat accurate description of who they are as a person? When you see these people the next time, do you judge them on the basis of the things you have said about them? If you really do think these labels to be true about these people, why do you feel the need to express them to others? I mean, if they are true, then surely everyone can see these things you are expressing, since they are true. But what if you are not sure if the stories you put onto people are true? Are you maybe looking for validation from other people by having them confirm your notion of reality so you can feel better about yourself? Would a truly authentic and honest person really pass rigid judgments on people to boost their own self ego? Are you willing to firmly stand behind all your comments about these people when you look them straight in the eye, if not, how authentic are you really? Questions, questions, questions.

To walk around with a normal Self under your arms is already burdensome enough, can you imagine having to deal with an "actualized Self" ?