Spiritual Warrior

6 months from now you are going to make yourself so proud

I am also proud of you 🙂

Great advice

The point of the post is to spread positivity.

We can always find something to be proud of in ourselves

Here's your answer right here. We humans like to overthink things. We drive ourselves crazy analyzing all possible scenarios when all we have to do is shut off our brains and listen to our hearts to find the path we're meant to go down. You already have the answer you seek. Don't waste you're time overthinking it.

Yes! That is a good recommendation if he really wants to get into stage green. Just start meditating.

That is wonderful to hear!

Why are you forcing yourself into stage green? In my personal opinion, you should be aware of the spiral in depth and then just live your life. Spiral Dynamics is not a step by step guide to how to live the good life, it's just a model. You also probably have lower stages that you haven't integrated fully, such as the "conquering" red or the "moralistic" blue. Just live your life man, let go of control and walk the path that you're destined to walk down.

I have a house out in the woods that I meditate in and do meditation walks. It has a fireplace that keeps the house warm. Electronics are sparingly used. I have a high quality, highly conscious girlfriend. We have a healthy and loving and supportive relationship that is based upon honesty and truth. We have lots of un together and I am able to act completely myself around her. I am a full time dance instructor, making a sustainable income doing what I love. I create beautiful and inspiring dance solos and impact my students lives. I have reached and continue to reach levels of consciousness that allow me to access the hidden truths of reality. I have a muscular and strong and shredded physique. My chest is chiseled, I have six pack abs, I have large tree trunks for thighs and defined calves, my biceps are shredded, my shoulders are broad. I am an objectively hot man. If you want to create this kind of life for yourself, you will need to create a structure that will support its growth. Good luck.

It has been boggling my mind recently, how can I form a picture inside of my head that looks very real. I can describe it's properties. I am able to access this picture "inside of my head" while also looking outwards intro the world. What is this thing, this picture in my head that is in my head, on a metaphysical, it doesn't make sense to me that it can even exist. Let's take this example, I can see a "gremlin" in my head. He has big, sharp teeth. He is holding one of those old fashioned tape recorders that he is manually rolling. He is smiling in a most devious way. He is rolling thoughts into my head. This is my inner gremlin, as described by Richard Carson. Now, why and how can I conjure up this picture inside of my own head? From my perception, I am clearly seeing this "gremlin," however, he is not in any way shape or form out there in the real world. Is this because out there in the real world isn't actually real? So there is no difference between the thoughts that I conjure up and the things that my eyeballs see outside of this body? How do I know what I'm seeing with my eyes is a real thing? What is the difference? And why can't I grasp this picture of the "gremlin" while I can reach out and grasp this water bottle in front of me? Therefore the water bottle is a real physical object, correct? and the thought of a gremlin is not real. Then again, what makes something real? Is it the fact that it can be grasped? That's what makes it real? If something were real then I'd have to be able to grasp it, otherwise I cannot possibly be able to tell if it's real or not. Culturally, we consider things that are graspable as real physical objects. But does that mean that the air around you isn't real? I cannot hold the air, my hand would go right through it. But it is there, isn't it? Maybe everything is real and me labeling things as not real is a complete waste of time. Or nothing is real. And how would I know the difference? Ughhhhhh I am so confused.

The Difference Between Self and Being I'm about to start reading the next chapter in Peter Ralston book "The Book of Not Knowing" where it talks about what the difference is between self and being. Before I start, I'd like to theorize to get the blood flowing. Feel free to join in. The Self: the self is a combination of thoughts/pictures that describe who I think that I am as this human being that navigates through life. For example, I have a name, I have blonde hair and a red beard, I am a short guy, I am well intentioned, I once drove my car past a stopped school bus and received a ticket, I sometimes act like the victim. In conclusion, anything and everything that has happened to this self are things that I identify with, this is my personal story and it all plays a role in who I am. Or so I think... The Being: Now, here's the juicy one, what is being? The being that I am is the part of me that is able to perceive and experience things in life. It is NOT the experiences themselves which is what the self is identified with, it is the thing prior to the experiences, it is the part of me that makes experiencing these things possible. And it has no properties and no characteristics and no location, it just is, it is just "being." This is what I actually am. Conclusion: We can confidentially say that the self is a false sense of identity and the being is the true identity. The self is made up of mental constructions that are... I was about to say fragile.... But to the self, they do not feel fragile at all. And here lies the issue, the constructions in my head that I identify with feel so very concrete in my life. I have been living like this for 30 years! I have to find a way to dis-identify with the false self. I want to take a bat to this self that I have constructed and smash it into a million pieces.

I am truly sorry to hear about your situation. I don't know exactly what is going on in your life, but I can tell that you have a very pessimistic outlook on life. This will only lead to more negative outcomes to arise. The only way to get out of this cycle is to find something to be hopeful about. Hopefulness will lead to getting yourself out of the rut that you are in and onto a brighter path. Find something positive that you can work towards and find a way to believe in yourself to get there, whether it be landing a job or living in an apartment or meeting a girl. Envision yourself enjoying this luxury and your mind will naturally find ways of moving you towards your vision. Good luck.

@Leo Gura thanks

A lot of good answers here. For me, I would rather navigate through life with an understanding of Truth, rather than being blind as a fucking bat and swinging at things randomly. It's nonsensical to me to live like this. And I do think that it will make my life experience more enjoyable in the long run.

I'm sorry that you had such a dysfunctional family dynamic growing up. You didn't deserve that :/. And you're right, kids are fragile and should be nurtured with love. As an adult, you're quest will have to be finding ways to give that love to yourself, the love that you didn't receive as a kid. And now that you are aware of this dynamic, you could even make a life purpose out of it and find a way to help other kids or families that are in similar situations. Best of luck to you.

I can't wait for this realization

I am currently contemplated what Nothingness is metaphysically. If you'd like the exercise, attempt to explain what Nothingness is on a metaphysical level. Thank you

Transcending the Spiral, Entry #19, The Quantum Crawl into Stage Two Thinking, April 6, 2025 I would like to journal about where I am at in the spiral nowadays. Since my last post, I broke up with my girlfriend and I started working 60+ hour weeks as a substitute teacher and a ballroom dance instructor. I want to make ballroom dance my career path and this is what I have to do right now to make ends meet. There is no possible way that I could have balanced my intimate relationship with all of the working that I'm doing. I am sorry *****, I really did love you and I wish you the best through the rest of your life, you deserve anything and everything that you want. As a recap, back in March of last year, I started to take a look at what it is going to take to make the quantum leap into stage two thinking. At that time, I was convinced that I was ready for the leap but I was sorely mistaken, I had many blind spots to fill first (or selfish desires we may want to call them.) In September, I had just broken up with my girlfriend and also had an "animalistic" shrooms trip in which I was fully unleashed, barking and saying anything and everything I wanted. I then started feeling like I wanted to integrate stage red into my system. Since then, I have calmed down quite a bit. Nowadays, I am getting a handle on my finances, very much in stage orange mode, being strategic in order to get out of debt and create a nice financial foundation for myself. I always work a lot and I have pulled back from socializing with my friends. A lot of my free time nowadays (which is very little) is being used to read spiritual books such as The Book of Not Knowing and I am a Strange Loop. I don't see the benefit of socializing right now. I don't see the benefit of dating either. Both things seem like a waste of time given the strides that I would like to make in my spiritual conquests. And socializing is EXTREMELY distracting. It completely clashes with my spiritual pursuits and I am keenly aware of this. I honestly have come a long way on the spiral in the past year. I used to be a lot more concerned with my status as a man, posting things on social media to get attention and being overly concerned with how women see me. I don't care so much about these things anymore. My attention is more focused on being a more loving person, on being a more mature personal, on being someone that is capable of making a large impact on the world. This is more my focus and it feels great, it is very liberating to not think about my own success so much. The spiritual work and most importantly gaining the insight that the self image that I hold of myself is completely fabricated has allowed me to not worry about myself as much. Of course I still have lots to work on but I can clearly see the limitations of thinking about how I am being viewed. It's as if I can look out into the world now and go about my business without having the need to manipulate my environment so that others see me in a positive light. These thoughts don't cross my mind so much anymore. I am acting more authentically. And if I act inauthentically I can usually see it happening and it frankly grosses me out. This is you transcending out of the needy- orientation and into the being-orientation. Congratulations-fuckin-lations. You are on your way. It hasn't been a quantum leap into stage two thinking, it's been a very slow crawl and I have much farther to go.

I have been thinking recently... Where are we all going? What is the point of this thing called life? We must be going somewhere... The answer to this question lies within the spiral of spiral dynamics. The goal for all of us is to climb up the spiral and fully integrate each stage on the way up. The higher you climb, the closer to God and truth that you get. I want to help my friends move up the spiral. I don't want to manipulate the people within the friend group for my selfish gains, I want to manipulate the entire system, so that they all, individually move up the spiral at their own pace. This requires me to understand where each person is at and what they need to do in order to fully integrate a stage and then transcend it. I will also need to develop myself along the spiral simultaneously so that I can better help them. This plan also requires me to start tapping into stage yellow. In order for me to change a system, I will need to understand how a system works. I am talking about a single human being as a system here, and also the friend group itself as a system, which I will have to understand more clearly in order for there to be real change. I need to first understand where each player is at on the spiral. Do they have any red? Orange? Blue? Green? Any yellow? What does each person embody? What do they enjoy doing? What are they working on or need to work on? (I am not using their real names for privacy) For reference, we are all about 27 / 28 years old right now. Listed below are the main players within the friend group. There is a hierarchy to this. I am going to put Pablo at the top. He hosts the most, is very close with all of the top players of the friend group. I would consider myself his right hand man. (its possible that I am being biased here, I will try to more consciously look at this matter) I am the best at schmoozing with everyone. I am the closest with the people at the bottom of the friend group. He is closest with the people at the top. My role is to make them feel included. His role is to plan and organize things. I trigger stage green empathy and stage orange charisma for this, he triggers stage orange planning and also has the best sense of humor, probably also a stage orange trait. Pablo - Has fully integrated red at a young age. He got into a fight in high school while standing up for what he believed was right, and has had several altercations with authority figures in which he was standing up for what he believed in. I feel safe while he is around. Has integrated blue very nicely as well, he has strong family values, strong loyalty, has self-discipline (although could maybe use a little work), he does tend to engage in "white lies" but he has improved upon this over the years. (White lies show lack of empathy and a willingness to manipulate other people) Has not fully integrated orange yet, he does have a house, a nice car, and seems to be well off. But he is still a penny pincher. This means that he is not living in abundance with his finances. Its as if he has been stagnant financially ever since he bought his house a couple of years ago. Green - Not a big hugger, eye contact is good. Has never done yoga. Does not eat healthy. Does show empathy towards others, but mainly kids, women, and the elderly. Struggles to give out love and empathy towards other men. Summary on Pablo: Seems to have nicely integrated red and blue and is done with those two. He is now stagnant at orange, needs to work that out. Honestly, I think that getting him to dive right into green would be very beneficial to him. Get him to a yoga class. That's the first step. Myself - Red- Has not fully integrated red yet. He is still small, has not worked out enough to build real muscles. Does not always say how he feels so that he will get approval from other people. Blue - Has not fully integrated blue either - Work ethic and self - discipline are not great. Is fairly loyal towards his friends and family. Orange - is not financially independent, is in credit card debt, does not have a house or even an apartment, does not have a serious girlfriend or a nice car. Green - Has integrated green nicely. Was a vegan for 2.5 years. Goes to yoga. Eats healthy food. Has done psychedelics. Gives out a fair amount of hugs. Is triggered by ugly stage red antics, such as animal abuse and racial inequality. Yellow - Has ambitions to integrate yellow's systems thinking, but I'd say does that have any integration of yellow just yet. Summary of myself: Although I have a lot of work to do on the red/blue/orange front. While I am working out those kinks, I will be able to simultaneously show my friends what stage green is all about - I want to get them to engage in these activities, such as hiking, yoga, healthy food, psychedelics, and being more loving towards others. Ant - Red - I know that in his rugby days in college and football days before that, he must have had to trigger red at times. I also know that he would have these crazy drinking and fighting competitions in college at his rugby parties. This screams red to me. I know he has also kicked people out of his parties in college, is also a big dude, definitely worked out for a while in his hay day. He shoved one of our other friends to the ground one time for "crossing a line" - It was controversial, but this shows that he is willing to trigger red and assert his dominance. (this was like 4 years ago) I think he's fully integrated red and transcended it. Blue - Has to wake up every morning at the same time. Has good loyalty and good family values. Orange - does have a house, a nice car, has fixed up the house, makes good money, shows good charisma, Green - Does have a good amount of green. Uses the word love a lot. Asks me if I need a hug sometimes. (I never do that) Is very caring and empathetic to the feelings of his friends, although I do notice that he misses the cues of his girlfriend when she is upset. Has never gone to yoga. Eats somewhat healthy. Drinks kombucha sometimes. Does still drink alcohol a lot. Summary for Ant: He seems very well integrated on all fronts. Am I missing something or is he ready to start moving over to yellow? He actually may have integrated more green than myself. I am unsure how to handle him. Paco - Definitely some red. His fighting history and interest in the UFC and the WWE is evidence of this. Does he have enough red? Yes. Does he have enough blue? No. I think he could use an increase in his self-discipline and work ethic. He is inconsistent and tends to slack off, not wake up on time. He is lazy in soccer, does not get back on defense, which is evidence towards not being a team player. Does he have enough orange? No. He is living with his parents right now and therefore not financially independent. He has orange-like traits in his money grabbing and ego-centric ways. His charisma and strategic thinking could use some work. Does not have very much green. Not that into hugging and is just very eco centered. He cares about his friends and loved ones, but doesn't care about strangers. Not very accepting of the transgender community. Still uses homophobic slurs. Summary - He is way too ego centric. He will have to integrate the more communal and loving stages of blue and green. If I can introduce him to stage green more, I think that will go a long way. Hug more, invite him to yoga, etc. Overall summary: Several other people within the friend group will need to be analyzed, but this is a good start. What can I do right now to help these folks? Get them to go to yoga with you. Or go on a hike, be more loving, flash green in front of them, get your hands on some psychedelics.

Wander around! I did that for a while, it was a great experience. You will learn a lot about yourself and about reality. Godspeed

Lol

Interlude: Wat am I Really? What am I really? I am a collection of thoughts. These thoughts create a story of what this person is and identifies with. For example, I am a dance instructor. I am popular, always have been. I am well liked. I am a good looking young man. I am athletic. I have blonde hair and a red beard. I am funny and witty but like my alone time. I am a high quality individual and any woman would be lucky to have me in their life. But these are all just beliefs about myself. I don't know what I truly am, at a metaphysical level. I don't know what anything is really. What is a chair? You can point to the chair and say that it is called a chair and that it is used for sitting, but that does nothing to explain it's real nature. Here lies a problem. We don't know what anything is at a very real level. Now what do we do about this?

This is my first honest attempt at doing spiritual autolysis. This is a method to attaining truth- realization coined by Jed McKenna. "Autolysis" means self-digestion, and "Spiritual" means the level of self that encompasses the mental, physical and emotional aspects. All you really have to do is write the truth. Just write down what you know is true, or what you think is true, and just keeping writing, until you come up with something that is true. Spiritual Autolysis Journal Entry #1 - Wed Apr 19 '23 - 8:28 AM Lower self: I am a human being. My name is Ben. I know that I am a human being because I was told that I am a human being from my schooling and my parents and everyone else within society. I am told that we as human beings have evolved from chimpanzees or bonobos. Higher self: Okay... do you have any direct experience of yourself as being a human being? Lower self: No... this is just what I have been told. Higher self: Okay... then how do you know that it is true? Lower self: Well... I don't. I am just trusting what other people have told me. Higher self: Okay, then we agree that you do not know for a fact that you are a human being? Lower self: Yes. I agree... My name is Ben though. I was given this name from my parents when I first came out of the womb. Higher self: Have you ever experienced what it means to be Ben? Lower self: Well... I have a bunch of beliefs and pictures in my head that I feel like embody who I, or Ben is as a person, i.e. what Ben is good at, what he's bad at, which people are my best friends, who Ben's family is, etc. Higher self: Okay... Would you agree that these are all just beliefs and pictures in your head, this Ben cannot be a truth within the universe. There is nothing fundamental about it. You do not know what it is like to be Ben. These are all just fictions in your head, beliefs about yourself, there is no being to speak of. Lower self: Yes, I agree. I am starting to see a recurring pattern here. Does the truth lie within being? Higher self: Yes, I think so. Lower self: Well how do you know? Higher self: Well... I don't know, it just seems like the correct way of thinking about things. If all of these beliefs and fictions in our heads are just that, fictions like Pete Ralston has talked about, then how else are we going to come to the truth about things. Lower self: First off, you are putting your faith in Peter Ralston too much. How do you know what he is saying is true? Higher self: You're right, I don't. I want to question what he is saying as well. But... we have already established that there is no inherent truth to the Ben label or the human being label, correct? And this has been established because when we boil down the human being label, this is just a label that other people have come up with in order to label what this species should be called. We call this species human beings. No pure truth to this. Just a label. Same with the beliefs that you hold about Ben, no pure, fundamental truth there either. That is what this work is all about, cutting past all of the bullshit labels and getting to what is truly TRUE. That is what we are after here, and I think this was a good start young Padawan. Lower self: Thank you When will we speak again? Higher self: When you are ready.

Ballroom dance instructor