Breath in, breath out. Do this for ~30 minutes a day to feel better about your pathetic life and maybe one day you will attain some sort of mystical state where you will have permanent joy and bliss! You may even get an altered state of consciousness and access private secret knowledge! Woo! This is what modern day spirituality is about, a total hack.
 
Tyler's quote ; " In a catastrophic emergency you're taking giant panic breaths , suddenly you become euphoric , docile , you accept your fate.
 


 
Calm as Hindu cows!
How to break free? Unplug from this ''spiritual'' crap, go outside and do whatever the fuck you want to do! Stop being so sterile and respectable and '' clean '' , this is all BS. You're a dirty ape that requires daily showering & feeding itself just to keep itself alive. You can't force spirituality by meditating, I've meet kids who are more spiritual than Zen masters who practiced the most advanced techniques out there. All those techniques keep you chained, break free! If Leo is authentic then he should read this with an open-mind and see that he's just deceiving himself.

Almost no one is mentioning no thoughts, it seems as it is the largest boogieman as that's what mostly the self is. To illuminate the problem is the problem for the problem.
The largest red herring is that no thoughts means absolutely no thoughts, which isn't true. For the modern society we need some, but very few thoughts to function, and that's undoubtedly worth it. Well or depending on what job one has, i.e knowledge workers need more non-self thoughts.

@Outer It goes deeper. Not just having no thought/belief during meditation (knowing full well that I can stop the meditation and have thoughts/beliefs again). Imagine having no thought/belief and being powerless to stop it. This isn't just a meditation exercise that one can stop. This will go on forever. No thought, no belief - forever. It can be absolutely terrifying and absolutely liberating.

Until that sweet game compels you to be a cog in the machine to produce sweets for others.
Just kidding  
Ultimately nothing gets better or worse forever. There is always an end. It's called death.
Also human mind is complex and operates through hedonic adaptation. Even Leo mentions that he forgets some days how bad his early careers were, taking his present condition as the norm if he is not vigilant enough. 
So it always boils down to that bastard yapping inside...one way or another 

@Maycol I understand this is a review and I just want to say that your whole attitude of comparing and judging between the books is probably a bad thing.
Better in what sense? You seem to judge how it is getting to the deep end faster. You might have an easier time developing concepts that you have and just have them stay there as concepts but his entire books and works are best perceived as workbooks. 
You should be reading and be creating a list at the same time as you're reading of possible work you could do and then choose what you want to work on.
The Book of Not Knowing is better in my case in the sense that it is about the thing you cherish the most. You and getting you. 
By whatever means and methods. It is a completely open thing. Even the trying of it is open. You don't know in the most way you don't know. You do that continuously and try somehow, if even you're trying in the first.
Yes this sounds non-nonsensical but not-knowing is just that. Not knowing even the not knowing, if that makes any sense.

I haven't watched anything about Leo's Kriya yoga stuff. Why don't you? Why do  you want Leo to be 100% correct? Take what you need, no one's going to carry you or push you. You're all on your own.
“It is your show.

It is your universe.
There is no one else here, just you,
and nothing is being withheld from you.
You are completely on your own.
Everything is available for direct knowing.
No one else has anything you need.
No one else can lead you, pull you, push you or carry you.”
― Jed McKenna

There is an important difference.
Firstly, let's make sure we're on the same page as to what contemplation means. Contemplation in the context of enlightenment work is equivalent to self-inquiry. Don't let the word contemplation fool you. It does NOT mean: sit there and think about stuff. << That is NOT contemplation, and that will not get you enlightened. Contemplation really means: directly experience your true nature right now! Focus deeply on only question: Who am I? or What am I? And probe it experientially for 30 to 60 minutes like a laser beam, never wavering.
Meditation is sitting down and literally doing nothing. Letting go of all control and letting your monkey mind run as you observe it. There is no goal in meditation. You just sit and accept reality exactly as it is, no matter what is happening. Meditation is helpful for enlightenment work, but it's not as direct as self-inquiry/contemplation.
 

Find what's beautiful, and you'll find what's true. Find what's true, and you'll find what's beautiful. Even for what you think might be ugly at first.
Tenacious D once wrote a song called Tribute. In the song, they describe having played the best song in the world but forgetting the lyrics. Now, they can only pay homage to the song, and hope to listen to the greatest song again. This is what spirituality is like, except with the Absolute truth.
The reason no one can tell you the absolute truth or even describe the absolute truth is the closest you will ever come is the act of witnessing and feeling pure divine beauty - a sign of the underlying Truth that connects all. Do not think that enlightenment is an event that happens once and never again.
The question is: Do you see the beauty now? Can you find the underlying connection now? Are you aware of the great song in the world - the song of life - right now?
So make no mistake - I can not, will not, should not ever purport to tell you the absolute Truth.
No one can. Not even Jesus. Anyone who does is a false prophet.
No word, no painting, no book, no drug, no meditation can either. Those are even falser prophets.
The only thing Thing that is the Truth is The Truth. But at least Beauty will point you in the right direction.
Will you choose to pay attention to the Beauty of the Truth in everything and the Truth of Beauty in Everything?
That is up to you.

To understand 2017, you must understand the years before that.
 
2014 - SURVIVE
It was the year that I had athletics ripped away from my life
It was the year that I saw my parents get divorced
It was the year that I had my grades plummet, at the time ruining what I thought were my chances for a good career
It was the year that I broke up with, at the time, the love of my life
It was the year that I thought life was meaningless, the world was meaningless, and that I was meaningless
It was the year I almost killed myself 
 
2015 - WAKE UP 
It was the year that I began following actualized.org.
It was the year that I invested in the reading list
It was the year that I invested in the life purpose course
It was the year that I began  to watch every single video I could.
It was the year that I was getting ready to finish college and began experimenting with my own business ideas
It was the year that I was just beginning to wake up to a better life.
 
2016 - NAIL YOUR VISION
It was the year that I truly began to explore the nature of consciousness.
It was the year that I experimented with psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and several monster doses of 5-meo DMT
It was the year that I created a 5-meo-DMT neurofeedback protocol 
It was the year that I studied under zen masters like Brad Warner, Doshin Roshi, and Peter Ralston
It was the year that I discovered who I really was on an existential level (THAT)
It was the year that I recognized the importance of personal values. 
It was the year that I began to understand the nature of true contemplation.
It was the year that I began to figure out a real vision for my life beyond just money or power
It was the year that I began writing my thoughts down religiously
It was the year that I began to realize that its possible to have abiding, joy and love for oneself -- and truly grasp what that feels like. 
 
2017 - PLANT THE SEEDS
It was the year that I earned better life by embodying my self-derived philosophies
It was the year that I got comfortable with Not Knowing. 
It was the year that I doubled down on the importance of taking 100% responsibility 
It was the year that I got a perfect score on the MCAT after 550 hours of study
It was the year that I competed on American Ninja Warrior and Broken Skull Challenge
It was the year that I worked as a photographer then a cognitive neuroscientist and now a professional videographer 
It was the year that I began seeing out of the eyes of yellow, then turquoise, and now Coral
It was the year that I cleaned my room each morning, slayed my dragons each night, and saved the girl in the long run.
It was the year that I began dating a turquoise woman (and my fucking god it's so much better than dating someone at lower level.)
It was the year that I began waking up everyday excited to know that I could die that day
It was the year that I realized that life = happiness
It was the year that I realized that love = a behavioral commitment to raising the quality of a being, no matter what and for no particular reason
It was the year that I quit sugar
It was the year that I quit the porn, masturbation, orgasm cycle
It was the year that I quit sleeping in
It was the year that I  finally understood what 'take 100% responsibility' meant on an existential level.
It was the year that I finally became 100% financially independent.
It was the year that I realized that ultimately everything we do is an attempt to recreate joy in our lives as an expression of love for our life, the people around us, and the world itself.
It was the year that I realized that all work, all development, all things come down to simply loving oneself unconditionally and seeing yourself, the world, and everyone as perfect yet still able to get better. Perfection is a process of improvement, not an end goal.
It was the year that I realized that there's no proof, no contemplation, no lover, no teacher, no exercise, no psychedelic, no practice, no accomplishment, no thing at all that can make you love yourself or show you why you love yourself because unconditional love is unconditional.
It was the year that I realized that nothing can take away the fire of unconditional love that lies at my very core because everything that would try to take away that fire would just be more of that fire itself.
It was the year that I realized that this is not some teaching and that any explanation of the above is useless, as seeing, feeling, and being the fire that burns is an experiential thing that goes beyond all talk and all philosophy yet is available at all times.
It was the year that I realized that that is enlightenment. That conscious existentence is itself just a ride meant to show you the strength of that fire and that such existence is enlightenment thus everything you have ever consciously experienced is itself enlightenment and the entire universal consciousness of all things possible in all times in all possible realms is enlightenment.
It was the year where I stopped trying to become enlightened because I AM. (Then again, if you're on this forum I can basically guarantee that you're not mentally ready enough to appreciate what it means to stop trying. So don't listen to 99.999% of the fools who parrot the words 'stop trying to become enlightened' --- It's only through all of the trying and all of the struggle that you'll even begin appreciate why it is that there's nothing to try for when it comes to loving yourself and the world for being perfect yet capable of getting better. So give it your best, do absolutely everything you can, and then you'll get that all you have to do is see that you've been perfect this whole time. To skip straight to the end ruins the fun; there's no shortcuts when there is no path.)
It was the year that it became normal for me to cry out of pure joy while living everyday life. 
It was the year that I could truly say I no longer need actualized.org although its nice to visit every once in a while.
 
 
What about 2018?
The theme for this new year:
DON'T TRY. EXECUTE.
 
So thanks, @Leo Gura
P.S.
I'd like to chat with you about some very interesting ideas I had regarding spiral dynamics levels past turquoise. I genuinely believe I can help you with the new level, as its part of my own life purpose to get a minimum of 100 men and women to Coral before I die. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person on the planet who could help you with this, as no one else understands enough about spiral dynamics and is high enough to help you. 
P.P.S. for anyone else curious
The difference between Turquoise and Coral has a lot to do with facing death everyday through some form of BODYMIND practice like martial arts, big wave surfing, or extreme hiking, That is, whereas Turquoise faces death form the perspective of the MIND BODY as by psychedelics or meditation, coral level people face it in a "physical" sense from the perspective of the BODYMIND. So whereas I might place Ramana Maharshi at Turquoise, I would place Bruce Lee at Coral because Bruce Lee can understand everything RM is talking about regarding consciousness, but RM won't recognize everything Bruce Lee might talk about regarding moving his body toward an opponent. Both have experienced death from the MINDBODY perspective (deep meditation), but Bruce practices death from the BODYMIND perspective (a rear-naked chokehold, for example) and thus Bruce is at a higher level. 
Moreover, the levels past Coral are bad ass versions of the lower tier levels, but they can only be accessed once one gets down to the physical embodiment of one's philosophy as by Coral level thinking. I know you know that, but the actual vision of what it looks like is the key here and that is what I'd like to talk to you about over Skype (there are body language nuances that I won't be able to convey through text). 

funny thing with this last one is that the website is actually orange 

Spiral dynamics is false and created by the Devil, the world does not consists of groups, it consists of Individuals, who are free in mind (Liberated), but at the same time not (Striving for Liberation), and obviously not in Maya (The World). The word group is used to put multiple individuals in a category, but note the important word - individuals. The group is subservient to the individual. Spiral dynamics is just a tool for the ego to have the paradigm which facilitates evil in the world, which put simply is taking away freedom for individuals in Maya. It does not facilitate good as good is the facilitation and increasing of freedoms of individuals, not the combating of evil. That's Evil's twin, which I am doing here.

I have been pursuing music for about six years now and I have finally found my niche. I know much of what I make is not everyones cup of tea, so keep that in mind if you have a gander.
 

This is a follow up to the previous post called after 1 week of kriya yoga. I think I'm going to track my personal experience with it for the curious people.
I began to be much more generous. I wasn't the type of guy to usually share what I have and try to make somebody other feel good just so I can make somebody else happy. This is a huge change for me as I've always been selfish and in scarcity mode. I have more compassion for other people even though it's not a lot but it's still a noticeable difference. It feels nice
 
I woke up one morning and started to think out of nowhere about the importance of food and exercise in my life and that thought sticked with me until I made a drastic change in my routine. I started to shop for healthy food instead of eating fast food as I had the bad habit of always eating out and I also started to exercise on a regular basis and my usual state of drowsiness has diminished. 
 
I have been battling with some addictions and rooting them out this month especially weed , pornography and masturbation. 6 months ago weed and porn were a  routine for me but I managed to stop them.
Wow this month has been pretty good and I think it would've been impossible without yoga. 
The meditation sessions are not as intense as they were in the first week. I think I'm not doing it them 100% properly but I'm going to try to perfect them and also do it as much as it feels right. I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere I'm enjoying the ride.
 
I've been experiencing a lot of body shocks in the first 2 weeks. My feet or hand would start moving suddenly when falling asleep and that would freak me out but I got used to it at some point. Now they don't show up anymore...
Anybody else keen to share their experience if they have something worth sharing? 

Hi All,
 
I've been doing the sentence stems for the 6 pillars of self esteem for the past 2 weeks and I have decided that because my self esteem is very low in all six pillars that I will spend two months on each pillar doing the stems. However I am having trouble with applying anything that I am coming up with. 
I am currently doing "Living consciously" and I have found that my level of awareness of what I am doing has drastically increased, but I find it so hard to act upon my actual wants and desires and don't feel I can. Which then I go back to the sentence stems thinking that I'm not doing this right because I'm not living consciously. I really don't know what to do about it.
Any input would be appreicated

@stevegan928  steve, here is a proper explanation of the green level. 
And here is yellow 

A NOTE ABOUT ME
I don’t argue to moralize, I argue to nudge things in the direction of my Life Purpose.  Morality implies ideology.  All ideology falls victim to Tier-One Epistemology and the Conceptual Truth Paradigm.  I’m at Tier-Two Epistemology.  I’m always trying to help people.  You’re still embodying the Conceptual Truth Paradigm and you see everything through that lens.  On the surface it might look like I’m moralizing, but what I’m trying to do is effectuate a deeper purpose.  I see the big-picture, and I’m creating systems to change systems from that vantage point.  You don’t switch paradigms until you kinda get goosed out of them.  So, a lot of the time I’m trying to cause a crack in someone’s paradigm.  If I can get just a crack, then maybe that paradigm will start to cannibalize itself as the Ego of the Conceptual Understanding realizes that paradigm is unsustainable.  
Very few people are gonna understand me on here.  They’re gonna judge me from their Conceptual Understanding, their Growth Level.  And most of the people on here are Green.  Green is naturally gonna hate Yellow and Turquoise, just like they hate Blue and Orange.  So, my system causes a backlash to their system.  And I realize that.  What I’m trying to do is plant seeds in Green folks to help them evolve past their current Growth Level, just as I had to do myself years ago.  Green is very naive, idealistic, moralistic, and ideological  — and they don’t see their own limitations.  Green is often blind to their own Ego in many ways, while they’re all too eager to point out Ego in others, and they demonize Ego with a moralistic air about them.   Green gets on a moral high horse just like Blue does — no wonder Blue and Green fight so bitterly, they’re both ideologues. 
I’m trying to nudge people to grow in Personal Development — whether that’s (1) Enlightenment, (2) Life Purpose, or (3) Conceptual Understanding.  That’s my Life Purpose.  That’s my deep life calling — my contribution to the world.  It’s hard to understand me accurately or resonate with me unless you’re at Yellow or Turquoise — or transitioning from Green to Yellow.  I think one of my greatest strengths and talents is to help Green people move into Yellow, and to help Yellow people move into Turquoise.  That’s a niche that I see myself becoming really good at over time — plus I’m passionate about it.  
I’m pushing an agenda, realize that.  Without knowing me personally, it’s gonna be really hard for you to judge me as a person.  Green is the stage where you’re reluctant to say you are better than others.  Turquoise realizes that yes, we’re all existentially One, AND we all differ in many ways including Growth Level.  So I am better than most people in that sense.  I think you’re looking at Turquoise through a Green lens.  I go up and down the Spiral when I communicate.  And I do things the way I do to break through to people.  And sometimes I realize that Red is the best strategy to achieve my aim.  See, I see the big picture.  
It’s hard to judge Turquoise because it’s so flexible that it can morph into all the other vMemes.  Yeah, I think you’re looking through the lens of Green. Turquoise is not rigid, moral, or ideological.  It’s like my BE-ing and Ego is super flexible now and moving towards my Life Purpose.  Turquoise also is much more accepting of Ego than Green is.  So, yeah, Green and Turquoise are very different.  Green is averse to Turquoise.  Maybe that’s why you take issue with me.  
Each Growth Level finds something flawed with the other Growth Levels.  So Green is not gonna resonate with Yellow or Turquoise.  And Yellow is not gonna resonate with Turquoise.  

Just had a shower thought and insight after watching Leo's latest vid,
The 'should' judgement fucks me up SO MUCH! 
I have been fighting myself for so long on this personal development journey, trying to 'should' my way to success! But it only causes me pain.
I shouldn't be sick today.. only delays my recovery
I should study more.. only makes me take subjects I don't actually enjoy and grind my way through for no reason - even when I've done more than enough study to do well already and I have NOTHING TO PROVE
I should be more muscular, eat more, be bigger.. only makes me overworked and tired, sick and bloated, and have weird self esteem issues in the mirror even when I'm a perfectly fit and healthy young man  -- wtf???
I should be better with girls, be less afraid, be more outgoing and fun and sexual.. only makes me feel stifled - like I'm 'putting on' some personality that isn't authentic and congruent, which leads to turning girls away because of my weird vibes and neediness for it to work
I realised in the shower when I thought "Damn I wish I was in a hot bath right now" that wishing for things is absolutely insane, because IT DOESN'T EXIST. Furthermore, wishing to have a bath (when I don't have a bathtub) is just as crazy as wishing I was a playboy billionaire immortal from mars, there are no 'reasonable' wishes like this because the first wish doesn't exist just as much as the second! 
The craziest thing is that all these prevent me from just enjoying the moment, I literally cannot be happy when I'm judging every single thing in my life, from my past, in the future, whatever -- These are all just fantasies and symbols floating around in my head -- none of it is REAL!!! Time to get off the crazy roller coaster.

I realise this doesn't sound like any new groundbreaking stuff, but I'm just internalising it and really feeling it as applied to my own life. 
Thank you!
 

Yes. What a lot of gifted people don't understand is that math is hard, even if you are gifted. Usually, the following is happening or has happened: You, the gifted individual, can easily and intuitively understand most fields at your particular educational institute. Because of this, you start to notice that you are fairly intelligent and able to easily grasp concepts. 
 
However, when it comes to grasping abstract mathematical concepts it is not as easy as the other fields.  Thus, after a while, you conclude that you must be bad at math, or have a weakness in math. And sometimes it even happens that people blatantly conclude that they have a math deficiency. 
 
Skipping forward, these people consciously avoid intellectual fields of study that require mathematics. In essence, they limit their potential and the pool of opportunities for their future. This is pure laziness and entitlement, it stems from the idea that you have noticed that you are intelligent, and thus, able to learn almost anything without much effort. 
 
Therefore, you expect that mathematics should go the same way as with the other fields. This is pure delusion. First of all, math is hard, period. Secondly, you don't learn math; you fight it. The bottom line is that most gifted individuals never really worked hard at anything so they are not used to it. Consequently, they develop a fixed mindset instead of a growth mindset:
It is genetics. IQ is fixed. Genetics over hard work.  I have a math deficiency (dyscalculia). It is my ADHD.  9 out of 10 times it is not these things that are holding you back, but simply your unwillingness to put in the effort. Trust me! I speak from experience! For instance, I've seen gifted individuals claim they have dyscalculia... While in reality, they are just bad at math because they have never taken it seriously. Dyscalculia is literally not understanding whether 9 or 7 is a bigger number. It is that severe! See, what I am saying? Being bad at math and having dyscalculia are two entirely different things!
● ● ●
I thought I should share this so that people may get new insights, especially younger people that are highly gifted. Another important thing to point out is that learning math also puts a lot of emphasis on logical sequences which is the antithesis of intuition. Don't get me wrong, math also uses intuition, especially when trying to grasp the essence of an abstract concept.

However, more often than not when you are learning math it takes a while for your powerful intuition to develop; that you usually use to understand almost anything very quickly. This is a question I answered a while ago. Let me know if you guys recognize yourself into this!  

@egoless Congratulations! You have unwittingly re-invented Vajrayana Buddhism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrayana
Yidam visualization:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yidam
Diety yoga:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrayana#Deity_yoga