Truth

A lot of this has to do with forcing or pushing your agenda on reality. and reality isn't too keen on giving you what you want mostly because of the all the agendas already in place, and I'm not just talking about other people's agendas and other things, I'm talking about your internal agendas (eating, pleasure, TV, Facebook, friends, family, listening to theory, distractions etc.) so now not only are you trying to push your agenda onto reality but you're pushing yourself onto reality as well. (your muse, your creative ideas) and as you've noticed it's tough. So ultimately the best strategy for this is to just step back, kind of look at the big picture, and kind of wait for that higher muse to hit you in the face and you can do this by getting inspired by people you look up to, motivated by their work, look at their processes, and things such as this, naturally this will move you and connect with your muse and your creative side creating a better chance for your ideas to flourish into reality, because that muse can be a powerful force when you're actually directly in touch with it. As for with control, the Ego can't get what it wants without control, but since we're not here to transcend the Ego let's talk about masculinity. Your gravitating towards woman who don't have it together actually makes you feel like more of a man, it feels good. It comes down to articulating what you actually want in a partner but also, making sure that you're not denying the feminine energy, or the femininity that women take on as their lifestyle. see Psychology of the Male & Female Mind for more information, critical for understanding women, yourself and what you biologically want from woman, and not just your ideas of what you want. But if you're looking to transcend all your Egoistic deficiencies that's gonna take enlightenment work which Leo has videos on too. Leo has some good perspectives on perfectionism and creative blocks so I'll include these -->

happiness and enlightenment are different things, although they are close because they both have to do with your well-being and your state. In a sense happiness is more of a destination, it's a state you "get" (pursue) to, a temporary emotion that oscillates, and enlightenment is more like a verb, it's not a destination or something you get to, it's what you be, what you are, it's what you IS and living from that place. You need "motive" to get to a certain "destination", so if you strip away reason and destination and yet are still able to maintain the state of happiness then what are you left with? Being. You're it. there's nowhere to go and that's enlightenment.

@electroBeam "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." There's actually a couple reasons one could be continuing to act in this manner --> 1. Not feeling respected. 2. Used to feel weak and in order to compensate for it they Overcompensate to fill their deep seeded insecurities. (of feeling weak or not strong or unconfident) 3. Being competitive, always trying to "beat" you in some form. The ideal strategy is to give them what they want, what do they want? If it's respect, try to convey respect to them. If it's competition, don't ultimately play the game but don't lose either. Just let them know they are already a winner in your eyes, if you can do this you'll totally flip them around and they might even start to help you. It's best to leave your ego or "self worth" at the door and take on this attitude that you're a guy who gives everyone value, and you feel good when everyone around you feels good. This is ideal.

I'm definitely ready to throw away the raft so, with that said

You don’t have to be patient and understanding with someone who is flaky and unreliable, but don’t jump to conclusions that they are this way either, be tolerant but don’t be a doormat either, If they’re not aware that you’re noticing that they are flaky or unreliable, let them know that you’re feeling like they are this way. This is very important. Consider there’s a good reason they are being flaky and unreliable. Look at what you’re offering, how are you coming off? What are they looking for? Can you give that to them? Etc. Help them to help you to help them, but if it still just looks like flakiness and unreliability then move on, you can’t really help someone who can’t help themselves. They either just aren’t serious enough or they’re just incompetent. It’s not a bad or a good thing, It’s just the truth. Yet always strive to give everyone your confidence and understanding in a serious, honest, undogmatic way. Be their outstanding tool

@Consept "Thought is always saying that thought didn't do it." - David Bohm It's like TWO people in ONE and they both have to use the same voice to talk and they both claim to be "ME" which creates an assumption of separation from each other and this is the illusion.

Also exposure to tons of material and concepts is very important, definitely a type of learning. but as Leo mentioned in the video --> "This is just ONE perspective on learning. It's not an exclusive perspective. There are OTHER perspectives about what learning is that are also important which I want to share with you in the future." So @alyra He'd definitely call that learning.

I've been trying to maintain a kind of creative/positive mind state throughout my day for the longest time, which I actually achieved today. it's actually quite a complex process. It's not just one principle or even like 5 principles. it's like a culmination of principles arising relatively every moment. All in order to be free and take that freedom where I ACTUALLY want to go with it, aligning with my highest values. I gave myself some really pragmatic ways of doing this so I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes in the future.

@wavydude Absolutely. You're absolutely free to take any position that you want in life. Honestly some people just need to sit down, put on some music or something and get in touch with their heart. And I know that can sound very hippyish but, by taking on this position that everything is meaningless and empty is happening because they've purposefully devoided themselves of meaning and passion, Why? Because they've created taken for granted positions and beliefs and lost side of their absolute freedom. Their infinite nature. Their soul/heart. Whatever you want to call it; and deep down they recognize that it's time to return, and how can they when they’ve already decided that it’s meaningless and pointless? And the Truth is we don't actually know that things are this way. But we can pretend to know, and this gets us into trouble. We take a position and hold it as Truth and then we're stuck in that position. Not allowing us to be open or free to be any other position. Moving from one position to another (meaninglessness to meaningfulness) is just a start. The ideal is to be positionless. Absolutely Free, but at the same time grounded not to venture too far off into the void . Now cue the sappy inspirational music!

Well if everything wasn't meaningless and empty you couldn't be free to do anything you want. Paradoxically saying "everything feels meaningless and empty" IS MEANING. You create that distinction. Meaningfulness and meaninglessness lay on top of reality which is Absolutely Free. and this is an amazing insight to have, you'll start to see how you are spiraling into infinite meaninglessness, and that shit goes deep. It's infinite. Hopefully this can help you start to wake up and see how free you are, by taking on this attitude of things feeling meaningless and empty will make you free. And you will start to see that these things are completely subjective and start to see what meaninglessness and emptiness actually are. Absolute Freedom, and paradoxically, that's the most meaningful thing there is.

This is actually a very good idea for my meditation practice. Stare at the blank wall instead of staring out into the world or my room or anywhere else I'm meditating so I don't get distracted

Taking advice from some Trolls? Sounds legit.

Absolute Infinity/Enlightenment

@Ilya a more scientific perspective --> if you look at split brain patients where they cut the corpus colosseum this gives you a clue that you don't know who you are. 1 side of your brain is completely foreign to "you". This next video is about a girl who had her ENTIRE right side of her brain removed and she still talks and acts just as she normally would. Even a post here on the forum where this dude was missing 90% of his brain! Hopefully you can see that there's already a part of "you" we can cut out. as for your further questions about you why you exist at all and ridding your identification, just first recognize that you are something radically different than what you currently think you are, that's your first step, then you can move onto finding out what and who you are existentially.

For me currently it's simply seeing it exist. It's also cool to see the feedback you get from others, what they think, if they like it, how you could improve etc.

Your instincts are right. It's just when we talk about enlightenment we're constantly trying to resolve the paradoxical nature of the work. people are just trying to make you more aware of the potential pitfalls of "pursuing" enlightenment, pursuing what is literally right in front of you.

Reciprocity. There's a good read in The Happiness Hypothesis about it --> " Zigong asked: ‘Is there any single word that could guide one's entire life?’ The Master said: ‘Should it not be reciprocity? What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.’ (Analects of Confucius)"

For me a big part of it is accurate perception of reality, making decisions based on false appearances and misunderstandings would be a noob move.

What she meant is you'll have something bigger going on in your life (preferably your life purpose), this in turn doesn't make the girl the center of your world which can turn into a huge issue. girls don't want to be your number 1 in their life. she'll feel smothered, and you'll come off as needy and clingy among other things. When they say "you don't need to have a decent paying career to attract women" they are just trying to destroy any limiting beliefs you have to approaching women and being with women and they aren't really talking about maintaining a long successful healthy relationship. That is a different matter.

I was thinking about his post and it reminded me of this quote “If it is a miracle, any sort of evidence will answer. But if it is a fact, proof is necessary. ” - Mark Twain

@Danka They were working so hard that their life was passing them by. It's the trap of success, the addiction to doing instead of being, sleep walking through life, they'd even come home and get sucked into their TV, pigging out for hours on end on their couch after a long days work. How can you make time to just sit and be conscious when you're in a constant state of progress and doing. You miss out on a lot, this is why consciousness is so damn important.

@hinawashi The Argo is still the Argo The ship is only separated by our perceptions. I mean, yeah, the original components have changed, but, consider the boundaries we create in an ultimately unified universe, there's only a boundary there because we created it. Once the ship started to restore it's "original" or "warn out" pieces that's when we decided (or created the boundary) that it was no longer the ship, and we forgot that the entire universe is a unity. The new pieces are the old pieces. they were never separate from each other. So the ship still remains as it's original identity just newer and more robust From this perspective you could say that the transformation was already there or already occurring or already occurred. It just depends on how you look at it, and whatever you decide on is mostly likely "where" or "when" it will be.

Good stuff! But I'm curious, what is your first biggest reason(s) one fails at life? Looking forward to hear more.

Basic journal entries definitely can seem ignorant or even arrogant over time, Those types of journals are less important compared to the most important journal entries you will make which are the --> how to's, the deepest insights you have, deepest understandings, keeping yourself on track, reminders, techniques, mindsets, big picture concepts (including the big picture of self actualization itself), your motivations and visions, strategies, values etc. which I keep in my self actualization journal. there are some journal entries I make that don't amount to anything and that's just how it ends up being but it won't always be that way. The process of self actualization or just personal growth is a recursive process, it's always changing and morphing, and that's the way it will always be on this journey. And it's your job to navigate through it. “We are like sailors who are on the open sea, and we must construct our ship, but are never able to start a fresh from the bottom. Where a beam is taken away a new one must be put in place at once, and for the rest of the ship is used as support. In this way by using the old beams, and the driftwood the ship can be shaped entirely a new, but only by gradual reconstruction. ” This is what growth entails, so it's time to develop a taste for it.

Care to post what was being said?