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@Hojo Could you please copy and paste your replies into This would be neat. If you don't do this, I will copy and paste them myself with credit of course. I'm open to any criticism of my approach on posting on this forum.

Could you please go into more detail? I don't understand what you mean by this. My goal is to empower y'all to live an unapologetically unconventional life and break all the social rules. I'm sorry if that did not become clear.

@Hojo AHHHH you didn't reply under the dedicated thread! :cryingemoji:

I believe this reply deserves a separate thread. I hope I don't get flagged for repetitive posting. I think this is justified. If you want to reply to this response specifically, do it here:

My radical claim is that ND is as relevant to all of you as "being in a wheelchair" is to someone in a wheelchair. Think about how much effort someone in a wheelchair has to put into coping with being in a wheelchair. Coping with ND arguably takes more effort since one can't delude someone in a wheelchair into thinking that they are supposed to live a normal life.

@Hojo I agree with everything you just said but want to add some nuance. Being ND causes the person to develop insecurities because they don't fall into the socially accepted way, a valuable person is defined. The worst way (in terms of survival) to cope with low self-esteem is with self loathing, which leads to suicidality. A step-up, but still suboptimal, is self-pity which leads to depression. One way to function with low self-esteem is with denial. If you ignore the evidence of your low self-worth and instead put yourself on a pedestal and put everyone else down, you will deceive yourself out of your depression. One completely random and unrelated-to–anything–at-all-way this could be done is by declaring stuff like: "I am god, I have seen truth everyone else is sheep". This is the narcissistic way of dealing with low self-esteem. I don't necessarily factually disagree when people here say stuff like "I am the only one who cares about truth everyone is below me". I'm rather asking why it is important to you to see yourself as above everyone else. I want to emphasize this point again: All the self acceptance mediation shadow work call it what you want is not reaching the root of the problem, which is that people see you as less valuable. Phrases like: "They are not productive, they are on forums all day" is language, discriminative of ND people and comes from a framework of wage labor (communism has once again entered the chat). If you want to function without a narcissistic way of coping, you will need to learn precisely in what way society is wrong. And this only works by learning about ND (also anti-capitalist theory. Communism Post is coming soon)

I agree and disagree. You are correct that in the past, modern medical science has viewed people who are different as people who need to be fixed (see Foucault). I completely agree that the school system is designed for neurotypical people and not suitable for ND people. ND is a new term and is not scientific. It was coined by the community. It does not have the same baggage/implications as outdated terms like Asperger syndrome. I also see the negative way some ND are phrased as critical. ADHD has the term disorder in it which can be seen as problematic. For example, you could use "passion oriented person". It is absolutely true that our system is the disorder and not the individuals. The trend is that these negative terms are "reclaimed" by the ND community, similar to the n-word was reclaimed by the black community and the word queer was reclaimed by the queer community. This community is part of the ND community and no one seems to be aware of that. Sometimes I hear people who criticize the ND movement say something like "ADHD is bs. Kids should not be forced to sit still in school!". This is cope imo. When I hear this, I think of the closeted gay pastor ranting about homosexuality. School is engineered for neurotypical people and those get through school just fine. If you are smart but struggle in school regardless, you are likely ND. I'm not advocating y'all getting medical treatment. It's the system that needs treatment (communism has entered the chat). However it is crucial for y'all to understand just in what way you're different from the norm. You can do ten years of all the self acceptance meditations in the world and it is not going to help you as much as getting a deep understanding of ND.

This is the definition of neurodivergent. Gender is absolutely ND related. Gender is a social truth. People with autistic traits are insensitive to social truths. The link between struggling with gender identity and autism is well researched. When you research it, you will find a lot of answers about peculiarities of your life. It is very well researched. As always, different sources vary in depth of knowledge about the subject. I recommend the YouTube channel HealthyGamerGG above all. ND is as deep and complex as life is. A ND person acts and feels at least slightly differently in most possible scenarios of life than is socially expected. This is a lot of scenarios. Learning about ND is a lifelong process and has to be done in a contemplative manner. Spending one evening filling online questionnaires is not going to help you much.

It seems like the source of your insight is of contemplative nature. You compare a severely autistic person (SAP) with an infant since their behavior is similar. This is a good starting point. Let's contrast a SAP with an infant. What do you think of the following statement: An infant does not have a developed sense of self since it did not have the time to develop it. A SAP does not have a developed sense of self since their whole life has been a struggle with an influx of unbearable sensations which inhibits their ability to develop a sense of self. This is why both individuals don't process sensations in relation to their selves. My claim therefore is, that autistic people can develop a sense of self just fine as long as the environment is appropriate.

Your perspective on the role of the self in people with autism is interesting. Got any sources?

@Infinite Tsukuyomi <3

@Hojo It is important to note that this the kid in the video is not the kind of person I'm talking about. If this guy is 100 on the spectrum, I'd say the average actualized.org fan is a 10-20. This is still significant and often overlooked, since people who only have mild autistic traits can learn to mask and to cope, which can be a source of self-deception if not done in an aware way. In some way, people with mild autistic traits are at a higher risk since it is not obvious to others and themselves that they are struggling, chronically stressed and need help/be treated with different (social) standards than neurotypical people. It is obvious that the mother is not capable to understand the boy or get his needs met. I am not familiar enough with severe forms of autism to be able to conclude that this person could have a trouble free life in a more healthy environment.

Autism can impede the skill of independence. If that's one of your core values, and you have autism, you have a problem.

Hi, I am interested. I also have a friend who is also a fan. We live in Bonn and would easily be able to travel to Cologne.

@Jannes Thanks for the reply. I think I have not made my point clear enough. I believe the reason why Leo’s teachings have an autistic, ADHD/ED, HSP (Highly Sensitive Person), and gifted-person bias is because he himself shares a significant number of symptoms associated with all of these. My claim is that this is also the case for the most invested Actualized.org fans. (It is important to note that if you have one kind of neurodivergence, the likelihood of also having symptoms of a different kind is much higher than for neurotypical people.) I agree with you that only a minority of people on this forum have a diagnosis. This would likely be reflected in a hypothetical poll. But just because you don’t have a diagnosis does not mean you don’t have symptoms. Having a “rock solid mind” is not an indication of not being neurodivergent. Quite the opposite. Rigorous logical thinking is often considered a trait associated with autism.

I found a very interesting video: It’s about method actors. A method actor is someone who goes to extreme lengths in order to fully immerse themselves into a role (it is explained more thoroughly at the beginning of the video). Interestingly, one of the most mentally intense forms of method acting involves not breaking character even off-set during the entire duration of a film’s production. The actors discussed in this video experience a kind of identity loss, where they struggle to reconnect with their former selves. Aside from being a unique and immersive artistic practice, it’s also fascinating from a spiritual standpoint. One actor featured in the video is Jim Carrey. Many people on this forum will know that he has a prominent association with nihilistic thought. In Patrick Cc:'s video, he presents the narrative that Carrey experienced an identity crisis as a result of method acting, which led him to develop a nihilistic worldview. From our perspective on this forum, we understand that similar realizations can arise through spiritual education and practice. This would make sense in Carrey’s case, as it’s known that he read Eckhart Tolle. I also remember him mentioning Hindu deities like Krishna, which further suggests that he explored a significant amount of spiritual literature. As far as I know, he speaks about his experiences openly. To me, it seems most plausible that his method acting experience triggered what is known as the "dark night of the soul”, leading him to seek spiritual guidance. What’s really significant is that this form of dissociation—through embodying another person—appears to be a fairly consistent method for inducing an experience of the non-self. So consistent, in fact, that Patrick references a study on the phenomenon: Becoming a Character: Dissociation in Conservatory Acting Students (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31592713/) The kinds of psychological struggles these actors face remind me of the traumatic experiences some people encounter during intense meditation retreats, or through the misuse of psychedelics and other powerful substances. It seems that many actors do not affirm or understand the concept of non-self and are caught off guard—mildly put. I find the parallels between this and serious meditation practice fascinating. To me, it seems that monks don’t do anything wildly different in monasteries. The main difference is that it’s more controlled, and instead of embodying a character, they embody the no-self over long periods. Thoughts?

Contemplating something external is usually not stressful. If you do experience stress in such moments, it was likely already present—you’re just becoming aware of it because the stillness has brought it to your attention. In that case, I would go with Leo’s advice. However, stress triggered by deep existential fear—as a direct result of contemplating the self or engaging in open, objectless awareness—is something I’ve personally felt and witnessed in others. It surprises me that Leo hasn’t experienced this. For me, it helps explain why people can go insane while meditating. I have a theory that psychosis and personality disorders are rooted in the sense of self. After all, when you deeply contemplate the self, your very sense of being can shift drastically. It can feel like the ground is falling out from beneath you. One random association I had during meditation was that it felt like being snapped away by Thanos—like I was witnessing myself disappear. I believe that overcoming and affirming that sense of death is one of the cornerstones of spiritual growth. Since the fear of death can be seen as the root of all fear, liberation arises as a result of facing it. You should be cautious when experiencing stress during meditation. At worst, it could be dangerous or lead to an aversion to the practice. On the other hand, stress and anxiety during meditation can be signs of genuine progress—evidence that you're actively confronting your own death. When this happens, try to observe changes in your breath. Since learning about and practicing Buteyko, I’ve come to believe that all forms of stress manifest as increased breath volume. The brain induces the stress response through the breath by increasing the volume of exhaled air, thereby lowering CO₂ levels in the body. The goal, then, is to counteract this by acively calming and reducing your breath.