ChimpBrain

Well this makes a lot of sense because I know I'm currently stuck somewhere in between orange & green. I still believe there are objective truths in the world and that one of them is as a society we should be striving to minimize human suffering and maximize human flourishing. If yellow /turquoise sees a man being murdered do they just assume he was likely to be the next Hitler, his murder was "meant to be", and go on their merry way? I've seen mentioned several times over the past few days how transcendent morality would function in the future in a more conscious society, but what about here and now? To me, for the time being, it seems like more of an abstract concept we should keep in the back of our mind and apply to judgments of ourselves, friends and family. Not something that should be applied to society at large. I want to make it clear that I'm asking these questions and pushing back in a genuine attempt to better understand, not because I think I'm right and others are wrong. Maybe I'm having a hard time with the concept because I've read a few books on morality by authors who are also somewhere in the orange/green range and I can't yet shed what I learned from them. I AM starting to realize more and more on this journey that every phase I go through is just that, a phase, and I'll eventually take those beliefs/knowledge and build on them to enter the next.

Ajax didn't say that, but a lot of what Leo said in the video could be construed as saying that if you don't listen to the entire video very carefully and piece it all together. Maybe I need to fourth viewing before I comment in here anymore lol

@abrakamowse Thanks. I'm a big fan of Sam and have read all of his books multiple times, including Free Will. @Ajax So rehabilitate criminals rather than punish them, I'm on board with that. I think I grasped how to apply this concept of not moralizing in my own life pretty well. I also think I grasped the concept of transcendent morality. It's when he starts talking about society in general and accepting violent crime that throws me for a loop. It's one thing to realize and accept that bad shit happens to good people, it's another to give up on discouraging people from harming others because "reality is what it is". I'm hoping his follow up video next week will tie up all the loose ends for me

I've watched this video 3 times so far and will probably watch it another 3 times over the coming days in an attempt to better grasp the concept. Out of all of Leo's videos this one has been the hardest for me to wrap my mind around. At times it sounds like he's advocating anarchy, complete pacifism, even nihilism, but at other times he makes it clear he's not. I think this advice about moralizing applies primarily to our inner dialogue, not to how we should structure a society. I'm all ears though and have enjoyed the replies so far. I'm glad someone started a thread about this.

Meditation has improved my life on many fronts from stress reduction, better control and understanding of my emotions/motives, better sleep, increased level of happiness, etc. I'm not chasing enlightenment, I meditate to improve my quality of life.

The sexual attraction to others thing is normal, read Sex at Dawn if you haven't already. As far as your need to seduce, that sounds like an ego's need to feel important, desired, worthy, etc.. Also totally normal but something that's relatively easy to overcome with a little effort. If you haven't already, watch Leo's video on making bold life changes.

I'll be 35 shortly. I wish I would have discovered "self improvement" about 15yrs before I did, but alas, the Internet wasn't really much use back then. Or if it was, I was unaware. Better late than never!

In that case my apologies, I just misinterpreted your post. I should take the "don't make assumptions" portion of The Four Agreements a little more seriously shouldn't I lol! I thought you were being dismissive and/or condescending. Again my apologies!

There's really no need to act like that, man (woman?). It's obvious that English isn't this person's first language and they're probably just doing a poor job of conveying their thoughts for this reason. Not because they need therapy. Not trying to tell you what to say or how to act, I just want to see this place remain positive and helpful. Much love.

You can't possibly not eat, and eat, all of the things that random internet articles say are good/bad for you in various ways. There's so much contradictory clickbait nonsense out there regarding nutrition it's ridiculous. Like Simon said, eat what you know you're supposed to eat. Whole foods, not processed junk. Meat, eggs, fish, nuts, oils, and a wide array of plants. If anything is carcinogenic it's Fruity Pebbles, Poptarts, Orange Soda, Skittles, etc, etc

Really? The people you know must be very different from the people I know.

I should have mentioned that I can only do "do nothing" meditation while microdosing. My brain is too hyperactive to do any type of concentration meditation while on it. Do nothing works really well though. Just sit still and quiet and watch your mind do whatever your mind wants to do....only what it does while on an entheogen is not what it does while sober lol. Glad you got something out of it. Hopefully on the whole it was more of a positive experience than a negative one.

Cool man, keep us posted! I've messed around with quite a few of them too. I currently take alpha GPC, huperzine and vinepocetine every day before my workouts. I've tried several of the racetams and noopept and wasn't impressed but I hope you have better luck. You gave me some new ones to try that I wasn't familiar with, so thanks!

I enjoyed this and thought some others here might too.

I've only ever tried do nothing and what I guess is some sort of mindfulness or vipassana where I just focus on the breath or a sound and try not to think. I tried strong determination sitting a few times but I literally never made it more than a few minutes so I guess that's too advanced for me right now. Oh, I also tried a guided loving kindness meditation a few times with zero "success", my imagination is really underdeveloped and I couldn't hold an image or thought of someone in mind for more than a few seconds at a time. So is this pretty much all there is and I should just stick to do nothing and vipassana, or are there other styles of meditation that I might actually be able to do "successfully"? Thanks!

Thank you Leo. Good to see you back on the forum! I'll take your advice and stick to the basics, especially since that's what seems to be providing me with some sort of results up to this point. Because of your videos I'm now about 4 months into daily meditation. I definitely feel less stressed out in general, I actually notice when I'm having undesirable thoughts now and can stop them, and my overall level of happiness seems to have increased, so those are big improvements. Even if I never got anything else from the practice this in itself would be worth the time and effort.

I had never heard of this but just looked it up. Sounds interesting. Might make a good bday gift request or something. I'd like to try one before dropping $200 on it. Is it something you wear all the time or just while meditating or what? If you wear it while meditating how do you know if it turns red with your eyes closed? Maybe I'm misunderstanding what/how it's used.

I would feel guilty too about spending my free time doing something like playing video games or watching TV. I would not feel guilty about using it for things that don't involve self actualization work though as long as they were productive by some other standard. For instance taking my mom to lunch, going for a hike, going to the gym, taking my daughter to the park, taking my wife to dinner, reading an educational book, cooking a healthy meal, etc, etc.

Same thing happens to me sometimes. When it does I'll get in as many mini-sits (5-10 min) throughout that busy day as I can and then make up for the lost time on Sunday by doing two 45 min sessions.

That's not what I meant. I meant instead of taking full doses that cause "unbearable emotional pain" once a month or however often you use them try taking 1/6 to 1/4 of a hit. That's what I do. Generally on a Sunday afternoon when I have no responsibilities I'll take 0.5g of mushrooms or 1/4 hit of LSD and meditate for several hours. You can get most of the benefits without any of the negative side effects at a much lower dosage than most people take if you do it right.

It looks like the only option within reasonable driving distance from me. Has anyone attended one of these? They offer several different types of programs but I was considering the plain old meditation retreat.....

Sooo my taste is apparently nothing like most members here, but whatever. This is the new single from my favorite band. Lyrics quit moaning about fate and change stand up on your feet and rise with every fall you get the pain, you learn the lesson start now, open your eyes dead bodies falling from the sky we are the ape with the vision of the killing a rain of shame that fills the mines no other blood in me but mine time to open your eyes to this genocide when you clear your mind you see it all you’re receiving the gold of a better life when you change yourself, you change the world your heart is pounding in the brain as they drag you naked in the mud a devil’s dancing in the rain how could you fall so low? no! we will never let go! let us watch them die! time to open your eyes to this genocide when you clear your mind you see it all you’re receiving the gold of a better life when you change yourself, you change the world

Have you experimented with microdosing?

It won't be easy to add muscle as a vegetarian who's not interested in supplements. Amino acids are the building blocks of muscle tissue and plants are not a good source of them. It can be done though. With that said, no one including the calculators above can tell you how much you should be eating. There are too many variables involved. Your best route is to calculate how much you're eating now including total calories and macronutrient percentages and then start slowly adding in more calories, especially protein, until your weight starts to increase. Let's say you calculate that right now you're eating 2k calories, 100g protein, 200g carbs, and 90g fat, I'd add 300 calories to that in the form of 50g protein and 25g carbs and do that for a few weeks. If your weight doesn't increase add another 300. These are just random numbers obviously but you get the idea.

All I really hope for is that I don't die in some kind of extremely gruesome or painful manner like burning alive or being trapped in the wreckage of a car wreck for 10hrs before perishing.