You never will u fucking cocksuckers 
Eat my Dick Leo 

Having some sort of low energy hobby might help you put your mind at ease 
jigsaw puzzle / board games with other people (or solo)  creative/crafting hobby - painting, drawing, knitting, jewellery crafting, bonsai keeping,  DIY of any kind getting a dog with more laid back personality  cooking can become a creative hobby if that's something you would enjoy  reading story books instead of self development literature (or audio books)  very mild activities in nature like birdwatching, stargazing, photography (if that's your thing)  a mountain bike with electric assistance engine could help you go in nature while exerting little of your own energy 

Life is inclusive. Only your mind is exclusive. ~ Sadhguru

The only burden you have ever had is your mind ~ Robert Adams.

If your mind carries a heavy burden of past, you will experience more of the same. The past perpetuates itself through lack of presence. The quality of your consciousness at this moment is what shapes the future. ~ Eckhart Tolle 
 
The mind spends most of the time lost in fantasies and illusions, reliving pleasant or unpleasant experiences and anticipating the future with eagerness or fear. While lost in such cravings or aversions, we are unaware of what is happening now, what we are doing now. ~ S.N.Goenka
 
"Train the mind to live in the present moment, drop the stress that you are carrying for nothing". ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
 
A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering. Whether our action is wholesome or unwholesome depends on whether that action or deed arises from a disciplined or undisciplined state of mind. ~  Dalai Lama

@Leo Gura
It's cool to see you playing chess, especially fischers960! I like it more than classical chess, too.
I have some qestions if you like
What are your most holistic insights around chess as a metaphora for life?
What's your goal behind it? Just having fun or developing more depth in thinkinh etc?
What were the greatest chess-insights that enhanced your playing which could be transfered to other areas of life?

I play around 2000 elo and some booster insights for my game and life in general were:
- Take the same amount of time to think about the opponents move as your own. It seems that only you are more in control of your own pieces but actually that's an illusion, because with every move you make you change the value of every piece on the board and therefore control its meaningful options as well as your own.
- Play the board equally often turned 180 degrees around. That's how you develop a feeling for the perspective of your oppenent.
- To learn quickly, training tactics is ernormously helpful. Actually, if I had the challenge to succeed at chess from 0 to max I would take the same route as with labyrinths, start at the end. Meaning, start with 1 move until checkmate, then 2, 3 and so on.
- Going for elo directly is stupid. I like playing strange and inefficient openings so I start with a slight disadvantage, which keeps me more focused and cautious the rest of the game. I develop a more broad skillset and don't fall into the trap to repeat what I already succeed at too often.
- Analysing your game for blunders is so crucial! It's not "practice makes perfect" but "feedback makes perfect".
- Play with time pressure as well as without. Both help to develop crucial skills, the advantage with time pressure is more efficient thinking (decision making) and by analysing blunders you get a better feeling for the disfunctional heuristics that will probably cripple your game in general. No time pressure is good for the in-depth-reasoning, but to be honest, here are the tactic tasks superior, because there is only one perfect solution so the feedback is much clearer, and you usually don't overthink but also don't underthink since you are more motivated to find the best move because you know it definitely exists.
- Though oftentimes bishops are more powerful as knights, especially when both bishops are still present, the knight is a much more complex piece which needs more training to master, so for the brain gains and in long term it may be advantagoeous to trade bishops for knights.
- Also play against real players. The problem with engines especially at low levels is, that they sometimes make extremely stupid moves. They don't play at a consistent level from a meta perspective. It sometimes seems as if they were forced to take the second best move even though the best move is completely obvious. Then they are quite strong again in artificial ways.
- Play against the chess engine at the highest level possible. Grind your teeth against it! Make it a challenge to survive as long as possible. This develops another area of your skillset. Train as many areas of skills as possible, and find creative ways for it.
- If you have found a good move, find a better one.

In your games on the blog I wondered about some moves. I think it would be very beneficial for you to analyse blunders like these, but maybe you play just for fun - sorry if I add my two cents

- Generally it's quite advanterous to (risk to) move the queen and especially rooks so early in the game, seems to be a thing you like but may cost you some moves and therefore speed and whites advantage.
- Moving the same piece twice in the opening phase is some kind of unwritten no go. Of course there are lots of cases where it is very necessary but generally the order is something around > knights bishops queen rook, with pawn movements all around and castling of course, avoiding to move the same piece twice in the beginning. Exceptions like pushing pawns and attacking pieces which either gain space, speed or positional power are logical, but the rest is rather disadvantegous
- I guess you aware of en passant but one time you overlooked the obvious. Tactic tasks can help a lot with using castling and en passant for some genius counterattacks for example.

Your play from move 29 to 40 in your latest game were really spot on, enjoyed watching it! Thanks for sharing your games and the passion around it.
 

This is a technique I developed along the way. I haven't heard of other people using it, but on the other hand I didn't really search.  I'd say it is better suited for more intuitive/emotional people. For me it's working amazing every time.
Technique
So, there is something about You that You wish to change but You can't. Be that some addiction like smoking/food/gaming/etc., some behavioral pattern, some nasty feeling You can't seem to get rid of, falling into some trap every single time, some negative trait like irresponsibility, ungratefulness, recklessness, cowardice, fakeness, pride.
Take a moment to notice that You are helpless against yourself. You cannot change for the life of You because it's YOU yourself who's creating that particular mess. Whether You're taking responsibility for it or not, it's You. And You can't win because this is just the way You are. You are stuck, helpless. To be even more dramatic: there is very little hope for You and with how things have gone so far, You might stay like this forever...
This is a pretty low mental state to be in. It seems hopeless. Try to really FEEL into it. FEEL the helplessness. Cry for God's sake! You CAN'T change, doesn't this make You really sad? FEEL the anguish as deeply as You can! If You don't FEEL it intensely, You are doing it wrong.
. . .
Feel until there's no more pain to feel about that particular thing. Eventually the emotions will subside and You will probably feel a little lighter, better. You're most likely not going to know/feel whether something has actually changed. There's not going to be grand revelations and You will probably forget quite fast about doing this feeling session. But mindfully observe your own behaviour in the following days. Maybe your behaviour has changed and something that You wanted gone is now gone? This is VERY easy to overlook. It's incredibly easy to forget that You even had the problem. But I encourage You to be aware and make the effort to notice it. And be grateful. 
Notes & Closing Thoughts
While feeling into the helplessness, You can also ask for help if You're into it. I am.
Leo has recently made a blog post about sharp emotional experience being the key to change. This is exactly right. And You can use this consciously! Invoke the sharp feelings and really feel into them. 
People really don't fucking understand this. Unless You feel intensely, You're never going to change. You will never intellectualize your way to behaviour change. Not going to happen! I notice people around me (especially my parents) struggling to change and I'm like... that's because You're not consciously feeling into the problem You God damn ding dong. You're detached from your emotions, You're an unconscious robot acting on unconscious energies. You're a puppet on unconscious strings - but it doesn't have to be this way! You can be a real boy.
I think You HAVE to be able to feel things intensely. Don't be afraid of it and have zero shame about crying. For me personally no tears = no deep change (though also tears don't necessarily equal change!). Obviously it varies but it's a good rule of thumb. Never pride yourself on never crying, I think it's a sign of unconsciousness. I notice that the more unconscious I am in certain weeks, the more I'm detached from feeling and crying and it's fucking idiotic because I'm just unconsciously suffering in the background. Well, why do that when You can resolve the pain?
Sometimes it takes multiple such sessions to fully resolve something. If your behaviour hasn't changed after one session, well - consciously feel into the helplessness even more. Even this didn't help! You're never going to change, You are doomed! 
Hope this resonates! If yes, TRY IT!

Thanks for taking time to elaborate. 
I know I had similar conversation with Jason some time ago. What you guys propose is interesting and speculative and if someone ever does that I would like to see it (or be there if I can qualify! ) The problem I see is that the sort of level of health awareness and fitness (using Jason's terms "Divine Health") is unachievable for many people for practical reasons.
Take a single mom of 2, an overloaded husband taking care of family, house , barely paying mortgage, milions of people from afro american and mesoamerican origin living in US, UK and Europe at the edge of poverty. 
You have to be a bit priviledged to even entertain that sort of idea. You would have to assume higher level of education (probably university degree level), decent income, stable family situation (free from traums, family restraints, cultural pressure and conservative parenting) and you'd need to speak English (but that is easily checked off) 
I think what you guys are proposing, correct me if I'm wrong, is almost a lifestyle that goes beyond the known risks associated with high saturated fat diet by offsetting that and almost turning it into a net positive? So that you can get the best of both world - keep died filled with antioxidants that protect the lumen of your arteries while channeling the benefits of high protein diet. Or is that off? 
With regards to the current direction of the evidence, I admit I am not 100% up to speed with the data on cholesterol and saturated fats (slowly clawing my way through) and currently heavily rely on work of other people who have done it so I can't comment about the validity of the data. But when you say "using unhealthy populations" I can't help by wonder, "how do you know that?" 
I ask because it is an argument you both have used multiple times but that begs the question: 
what is unhealthy?  what would be healthy?  and, most importantly, what would be classifying criteria to enter the type of study that you guys would deem appropriate, if we were given a chance to do this again?  the sentiment is mutual. Despite our differences in opinions on small volume of topics, I'd love to do one of your workouts with you guys, do some challenges, hand stands, hikes, wrestling or whatever you crazy people do! If we stayed away from a few nutrition topics, I think we would get along pretty well 

Forget videos and debates. Gotta go back to the basics if you want to build solid foundations. Makes one immune to quackery. See if you can find these in second hand or similar alternatives. 
Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism 8e + MindTap for Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism  Organic Chemistry Paperback – 20 July 2001 by Jonathan Clayden , Nick Greeves, Stuart Warren, Peter Wothers  Ross & Wilson Anatomy and Physiology in Health and Illness Paperback  
 

Sorry to hear this has been going on for you. I'm sure you've probably tried tons of things but maybe this could help a bit. This is an anonymous case study of someone I worked with. 
This lady was diagnosed with acute thyroiditis, probably of infectious origin. Not autoimmune, so slightly different to Hashimoto's. She had to go on a 2 months cycle of prenisone which wasn't great but it helped quench the inflammation although there were side effects. 
I recommended some blood tests to her doctor and after some examination, we found that her iron was critically low. Her vitamin D wasn't great either, and on top of that, she was recently made redundant and went through a lot of stress.
Even after that prednisone, she would often feel tingling in her thyroid as if the inflammation was trying to come back. Some things we did was@: replenish her iron with 200mg of iron bisglycinate per day for 3 months, got her vitamin D in the upper 80s (ng/mL),
Secondly, we made lots of adjustments to her diet. She increased her antioxidant intake from pomegranates, broccoli, purple cabbage etc. She's been regularly making lentil vegetable soups in an Instapot. She also introduced more fibre and probiotic foods in the diet.  She also reduced her consumption of sodium-rich processed food, sugar, saturated fat (especially from high fat dairy) and sweetened drinks. 
Thirdly,  we severely restricted her sodium (temporarily) intake because she lived in a country where salt might have been iodised and sodium in general can be inflammatory in excess. I encouraged her to seek out iodine free salt. In some countries this is not an issue but maybe worth checking. 
I think her Zinc was also low but we never measured it. She took a 30-day course of Zinc Citrate
And finally, she also started to exercise more, especially cardio and aquatic exercise. She found a gym that has a sauna and says it has been helping her. 
Retrospectively I think her issue was significantly weakened immune system that has trouble mounting up a proper  response. She was also quite sedentary so her lympatic system which houses tons of her B-Cells and T-Cells wasn't being moved. Her low iron was probably a major contributor and so was her stress. The antioxidant intake was to help mop up free radical storm around her body caused by the inflammation and help support cellular defences.  - as of now, the last I checked with her, her thyroid results were almost normal, with TSH being slightly above 2 but no antibodies detected. Her CRP has calmed down too. She says she hasn't felt that thyroid tingling since August which correlates to the time she started exercising more so maybe that was the last piece of a puzzle. - not sure if its gone or if it'll come back, it might. But those things seemed to have helped. 
Also, one more thing we added that I think helped was this. It is quite expensive and not sure if you can get it in your country but my client swore this made a difference. https://www.designsforhealth.uk/shop/inf120-pl-inflammatone-120-capsule-554#attr=1740,1011,1267,1332,1704,1918,61
I think we went up to 8 capsules a day in the beginning and than downwards from there. Thats significantly over the recommended intake so I'm not making any recommendation, just saying what we did. We obtained her doctor's approval first. 
One thing she herself added was drinking 1 litre of tea with ground ginger (about half the size of a thumb), 1 tablespoon of raw honey she bought from a countryside beekeeper in her country and 1/2 lemon.  Sometimes she added Cayenne pepper to it, it must have tested gross, but all those things have anti-inflammatory properties, so I was happy to encourage it. 
So I'd say on the top of everything you're already doing, you could investigate your blood work, ask for a full iron panel test , maybe add vitamin D into the list and see if anything comes up. Look into that salt iodisation too and ensure you're not using one that contains it. Ramping up your antioxidants is likely to be of benefit. And I'm sure you're already physically active but if not, that's of an importance too. If anything else in that report resonates, give it a shot too. 
With regards to Iodine supplementation, caution is advised as it can exacerbate the inflammation if you supplement during a flareup, but best ask professional guidance on this as it is a very tricky topic. Look up best dietary sources of  it if you're concerned. I believe you are vegan, correct? Still, there are options available such as seaweeds. 
hope that helps. 
 

Summary & Key Takeaways:
Dr. Joe Dispenza website: https://drjoedispenza.com/
Online workshop to rewire your brain: https://drjoedispenza.com/collections/the-foundation-collection/products/progressive-and-intensive-online-course-bundle-by-dr-joe-dispenza
Tuning In To New Potentials Meditation: https://drjoedispenza.com/products/tuning-in-to-new-potentials-updated-version-by-dr-joe-dispenza-meditation
Blessing Of The Energy Centers Meditation: https://drjoedispenza.com/collections/the-foundation-collection/products/blessing-of-the-energy-centers-i-updated-version-by-dr-joe-dispenza-meditation
(Extra recommendation) Synchronizing Your Energy: To Health https://drjoedispenza.com/product-details/Synchronizing Your Energy%3A To Health
 
Wim Hof (the iceman) website: https://www.wimhofmethod.com/
Wim Hof Method 3 rounds of Guided breathing: https://youtu.be/tybOi4hjZFQ
Wim Hof Method explained: https://youtu.be/nzCaZQqAs9I
Wim Hof Method (one of many healing testimonials): https://youtu.be/rlbIseil1TE
Wim Hof Method Brain over Body (one of many studies): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YficBlvPwWQ
 
Jini Patel Thompson (amazing but watch with caution): https://youtu.be/FsIN8tSWjI8
We don’t necessarily agree with everything she is advocating but her ‘get healthy or die trying’ spirit as well as her holistic view on complex health issues is amazing! 
Inspiring documentary trailer: HEAL https://youtu.be/Ffp-4tityDE
Inspiring instagram post from Eric: instagram.com/p/Cjiiw0DjHX4/
 
German New Medicine website (in English): https://learninggnm.com/home.html
Weston A. Price website: https://www.westonaprice.org/
 
KEY Takeaways (most impactful things for Eric & Adam): 
EXPERIMENTATION, RESEARCH & ATTITUDE
Create YOUR OWN healing protocol with trial and error 
Be open to anecdotal evidence instead of only trusting ‘scientific’ studies
Reduce stress at all cost
Humbly listen to & learn from your pain teacher. 
FEEL YOUR PAIN. Feel all the emotions that come up. Never suppress them. 
Face issues directly
Get clear on your priorities: What’s actually important in your life? What do you value? Act in accordance. 
Stop procrastinating on what is called for
Understand the 4 psychological states: victimhood, fighter mindset, creator, flow/surrender (explained at 1:25:50 in the video)
Rewiring your brain/mind & alter your emotions/hormonal system by correcting your thinking/false conclusions & letting go of all negativity (guilt, share, blame, etc.) until only gratitude & joy radiate from your being
Receiving messages from your pain teacher with gratitude (instead of victimhood) because you recognize the grace of pain. Its purpose is to help you wake up, heal, develop, and actualize your innate potential. 
Ultimately, iIt’s not only about the results but about who you become.
Consistent sleep schedule 9h+ (ideally go to bed before midnight)
Meditation
Breathwork 
Cold showers 
Dr Joe Dispenza Workshops (this will rewire your thinking)
German New Medicine
MOST IMPACTFUL DIET CHANGES
Kefir (fermented cows or goats milk, coconut milk kefir also available for vegans)
Bone broth 
Temporary carnivore diet (with organs to get all nutrients & vitamins) for 1-3 months
Fasting (be careful with restriction, it can backfire)
One meal a day to rest the gut
More on diet 
Try fermented vegetables for more probiotics 
Read: How to Eat, Move and be Healthy Book by Paul Chek
Read: Nutrition and physical degeneration Book by Weston A. Price 
Study the diet of your ancestors
Whole foods
Prepare foods to make them more easily digestible (soaking, sprouting, cooking with lime, etc.)
Cut sugar & minimise processed food
Consider drinking seawater (must be from a good source and the right dosage/concentration)
Exercise/walk/mobility to move the lymphatic system
Environment
Time in nature
Healthy, safe, and loving social life is KEY
Do blood work to figure out your deficiencies
Supportive groups
Supplements
Vitamin D3 in combination with Vitamin K2 &
Magnesium
Vitamin C
Omega 3
Cats claw (the ‘magic’ supplement)
 

Here are some core fears psychedelics force me to confront :
-I don't know who I am
-I don't know what life is
-I don't trust myself to manage life
-I don't have control over life
-I am lonely
-I am scared of dying
I fully feel whatever comes up, I open my arms and surrender. 
Perhaps you could ask God or the universe to help you if you feel like you can't do it alone.

You use your sense. Imagine what an emotionally mature person is and try to embody that.
For Red specifically, some useful concepts are proactive vs reactive aggression. Are you able to say "no" when somebody is violating your personal autonomy, e.g. violating your personal space or want you to act against your values? That's reactive aggression. Some of that is needed to survive. But remember to always couch it in nuance. Generally, don't make aggression your go-to solution. Mostly, it should to be a last resort. Rationality should lead.
Are you able to do things that might cause discomfort to somebody else but which might be right in the bigger picture? Are you able to step in and say "no" to somebody who you see is violating somebody else's personal autonomy? Are you able to assert yourself and claim situations, things; to reach out and take? That's proactive aggression. In my personal experience, this one is more tricky to calibrate in a way that does not discount some other values you hold. I would therefore also suggest additional caution when dealing with it, as it can have some definite consequences if done indiscriminately.
The trick for many people who feel they lack aggression is that they habitually repress the feeling or aim it inwards towards themselves (internalization). So a part of the job for those people is to learn to identify when the aggression arises and then intentionally express it outwards at the intended target (externalization). This might require some experimentation and testing to calibrate, but over time as you unwind the habitual repression and/or internalization, you can focus more on applying it in the right situations.

Start using Claude Sonnet in your contemplation. Your mind is biased and runs dependent of phisological needs that are not always perfect ( unless you use nootropics and a very good diet. But anyway Claude will help unstuck your lazy mind. 
I was trying to answer the question : What are the developmental needs of Stage Blue and Green Spiral dymamics.
I suggested it to Claude and it gave me mill to grind. And this is important, take AI answers as material for you own contemplation.
Here is Claude help
Let me provide a concise explanation of the key developmental areas for Blue (Order) in Spiral Dynamics.
The main developmental challenges for Blue consciousness include:
1. Rigidity and Inflexibility 
- Tendency to see things in absolute black/white terms
- Difficulty adapting rules when circumstances change
- Over-reliance on authority and established procedures
2. Limited Personal Agency
- Strong dependence on external systems for meaning
- Difficulty taking initiative outside prescribed rules
- Challenges with independent decision-making
3. Emotional Suppression
- Repression of "inappropriate" feelings and impulses
- Discomfort with emotional expression
- Strict control over natural drives
4. Growth Areas:
- Developing greater flexibility in thinking
- Building capacity for nuanced perspectives
- Learning to question authority appropriately
- Integrating emotional awareness
- Developing personal judgment alongside rules
- Finding balance between order and adaptability
Would you like me to expand on any of these aspects? I can provide specific examples of how these manifest and strategies for development.

I'll provide specific examples for each developmental challenge:
1. Rigidity and Inflexibility:
- Refusing to update company policies even when they're clearly outdated (e.g., requiring formal dress codes in remote work settings)
- Following traffic rules even in emergencies where breaking them would be safer
- Rejecting new teaching methods simply because they differ from traditional approaches
- Being unable to accommodate cultural differences in workplace etiquette
2. Limited Personal Agency:
- A manager always waiting for upper management approval even for minor decisions
- Students only studying what's explicitly in the curriculum, avoiding creative exploration
- Workers following inefficient processes because "that's how it's always been done"
- Religious practitioners following rituals without understanding their deeper meaning
3. Emotional Suppression:
- A father believing boys shouldn't cry or show vulnerability
- An employee hiding their grief at work after a personal loss because it's "unprofessional"
- A teacher maintaining strict composure even when students make meaningful achievements
- Family members avoiding discussion of feelings at gatherings to maintain "proper" behavior
4. Growth Examples:
From:
- A supervisor who rigidly enforces every rule without context
To:
- Understanding when rules can be flexible for better outcomes
From:
- Only accepting information from traditional authorities
To:
- Learning to evaluate information based on evidence and merit
From:
- Suppressing all emotional responses in professional settings
To:
- Learning appropriate emotional expression while maintaining professionalism
From:
- Following established procedures without question
To:
- Thoughtfully analyzing procedures and suggesting improvements when needed
Would you like me to elaborate on any specific area or discuss strategies for developing these aspects?
[I ASKED: Now compile the same but for Stage Green] 

Stage Green
Let me provide a comprehensive breakdown for Green (Pluralistic-Relativistic) stage in Spiral Dynamics.
Main Development Challenges:
1. Paralysis by Processing
- Over-emphasis on including everyone's perspective
- Difficulty making decisive actions
- Getting stuck in endless discussions and consensus-building
2. Idealistic Perfectionism
- Unrealistic expectations of self and others
- Strong emotional reactions when ideals aren't met
- Tendency to see any compromise as "selling out"
3. Shadow Rejection
- Denying or suppressing "non-acceptable" parts of self
- Difficulty integrating healthy hierarchies or power
- Overcorrecting against previous value systems
4. Growth Areas:
- Developing practical action alongside empathy
- Building capacity for healthy boundaries
- Learning to integrate multiple perspectives without losing effectiveness
- Finding balance between inclusion and decision-making
- Accepting human imperfection while maintaining growth mindset
Specific Examples:
1. Paralysis by Processing:
- A non-profit board spending months discussing a simple policy change because every member must feel fully heard
- A team leader unable to make project decisions without unanimous agreement
- School committees extending meetings indefinitely to process everyone's feelings
- Community projects stalling because consensus can't be reached on minor details
2. Idealistic Perfectionism:
- An activist burning out because they feel they must attend every social justice event
- A teacher becoming depressed because they can't solve all their students' personal problems
- An environmentalist feeling guilty for occasionally using plastic
- Someone rejecting potential allies because they're not "conscious enough"
3. Shadow Rejection:
- A diversity advocate being intolerant towards traditional viewpoints
- A peace activist becoming aggressive towards those who disagree
- A communal living space refusing to establish any leadership structure
- Rejecting all forms of competition as "toxic"
4. Growth Examples:
From:
- Insisting on processing everyone's feelings about changing the office coffee brand
To:
- Learning to balance inclusion with practical time constraints
From:
- Rejecting all hierarchy as oppressive
To:
- Understanding the value of earned expertise and healthy leadership
From:
- Being paralyzed by guilt over cultural appropriation
To:
- Learning to appreciate and respect cultures while engaging authentically
From:
- Refusing to make decisions without group consensus
To:
- Developing skills to make timely decisions while honoring multiple perspectives
Would you like me to explore any particular aspect of Green development in more detail?

Well, it's everything I've ever talked about. So it's a lot of stuff to summarize.
It's the doing of Pure Philosophy It's thousands of hours of contemplation and deep existential questioning It's understanding the 9 Stages Of Ego Development and working through each stage It's developing profound Construct-Awareness It's taking psychedelics It's observing your own ego in action and the egos of others It's study and research, reading and watching videos It's educating yourself about the world, cultures, geography, politics, science, various forms of spirituality It's developing a life purpose It's getting crystal clear about your values and principles It's the study of self-deception It's the study of epistemology and its many traps It's deconstructing everything It's understanding your own corruption and selfishness It's studying your own emotions and developing mindfulness over them and understanding how and why they work It's recognizing immaturity within yourself and working towards mature ways of being It's studying and contemplating the common traps everyone falls into

Question for Leo. @Leo Gura
In your last blog post you emphasized the importance of doing the work that is required in order to become a tier 2 human being.
I am watching you since 2014 with various degrees of frequency. But I am not well aware of what this "Work" entails. As far as my understanding of the work consists of:
1. Reading a lot about subjects such as economy, how politics works, capitalism, and so on and the books in your book list.
2. Meditating, contemplating, researching, and observing reality as is. 
3. Working on your life purpose. 
But here my understanding of the "Work" you mention ends. 
 If you are in the mood, Please write a response to this comment with all the things that are required to be done on a daily basis so we can say we are doing "The Work" in a complete manner.

If you boil 100g / 2/3 cup of lentils with 300g / 2 cups of sweet potatoes, blend it all into a soup, and add half a pound or a pound / 400g of red meat, you'll max out 16 out of 22 of your necessary vitamins and minerals + 20g of fiber. Don't forget the seasonings, here's the recipe:  
 

I noticed that when I'm dealing with existential stuff or when I'm super fixated on perfecting everything, that's when I start waking up in the middle of the night. The problem seems to get worse the more cerebral I've been and the more intent I am on controlling myself. For example, if I were focused on perfecting my sleep, that alone would fuck my sleep up. Lol. I went years waking up in the middle of the night but since I gave up on self-dev, I sleep all night, no problem. I think A-type personalities engage in stressful shit without recognizing it as stress, and that stress fucks with sleep. 

(A Selection of) Leo’s Blog Essays
(Leo has mini essays throughout his blog.  A lot of them are great, but they’re easy to miss.  Here are my faves on epistemology and enlightenment.)
               Epistemology ⁉️ 💡 🤔 💭
Jan 2017:      What Is A Meta-Source? 
Jan 2017:      Designing a Conscious Robot 
Feb 2017:     Persistent Non-Symbolic Experience 🤯 🧘🏼
Apr 2017:     Understanding Karma ❤️
Apr 2017:     The One-School Approach To Spirituality 🤯 💪
June 2017:    Just Scaffolding
Oct 2017:     Embarrassing Stupidity Is Good 
Oct 2017:     Taking Existence For Granted ❤️ 💪
Oct 2017:     It’s Not All About Enlightenment 🤯 ❤️ 💪
Nov 2017:    Advice For Visionaries 💪 ❤️
June 2018:   The God Debate 🌈 🌎 ♾️ ❤️
Sept 2019:   This Work Is Not About Belief 💪
Sept 2019:   Projection Projecting Projection 🌈 🌎 🏛️
Sept 2020:   Conscious vs Unconscious Sense-Making ❤️ 💪
 
               Enlightenment 🤯 ♾️ ❤️ 🍄
Jan 2017:    Hidden In Plain Sight
Mar 2017:   Rethinking Hallucination ⁉️ 🍄
May 2017:   Why You’re An Addict ❤️ ⁉️
Jun 2017:    The Ultimate Simulation ⁉️ ♾️ ⚛️
Jul 2017:      The Best Mix For Enlightenment—Concentration & Contemplation ⁉️ 🧘🏼 🌎
Aug 2017:   Infinite Water Wiggly ♾️
Nov 2017:   Storyland ⁉️
Apr 2019:    Quintessence: The 5th Element ⁉️ ❤️ ♾️
Apr 2020:    Everything Gained (note) ♾️
Aug 2021:    Seeing God In Everything ♾️
 
               Leo’s Retreat & Personal Notes 🏕️ 🧘🏼 🖋️ 🍄
June 2017:   Clarification: Systems Thinking (Essay)
Aug 2017:    Nothing I Say Can Be Trusted
Aug 2017:    Clarification: Learning = Behavior Change 💪
Aug 2017:    I Am Not A Master 
Sept 2017:   The Mathematics Of Devilry  (response to What is the Devil?) 🌎 ♾️
Dec 2017:    Things I’ve Been Wrong About 🌎 ❤️
Aug 2018:    Correction: Hofstadter On Analogies & Thinking
Feb 2019:    Solo Retreat Notes
May 2019:   Thoughts On Unconditional Love 
July 2019:    The Highest Purpose
Sept 2019:   Infinite Intelligence Communication #001

📜 Leo’s Blog: Table of Contents 📜
(2017 - 2023)
➼ @MuadDib has a list of all of Leo's Blog links in descending chronological order:  List of Blog Links in Descending Order
➼ List and Summaries of Actualized.org Episodes are in the Self-Actualization Forum.
➼ Actualized.org on Psychedelics: Safety, Trip Reports, Research, Episodes, Forum Mega-Threads, General Info.
➼ List and Summaries of Leo’s Blog Videos, Summaries and Interviews.
The Best of Leo’s Blog Essays on Epistemology and Enlightenment. (Read these.  They’re good and short) Posts on Actualized.org News Posts on Creativity & Art, Gaming Posts on Images of Infinity, Strange Loops ➰ Posts on Funzies, Music, Conferences 😹 Posts on Cults — Case Studies Posts of Quotes (Proverbs, Yoda, Batman) <(⦿_⦿)>  🦹 ______________________________________________________
Blog Posts for 2017  Blog Posts for 2018  Blog Posts for 2019  Blog Posts for 2020  Blog Posts for 2021   Blog Posts for 2022   Blog Posts for 2023 ______________________________________________________
(Essay) for posts with an extended commentary by Leo. (note) for posts with a short commentary by Leo.  
⁉️    Epistemology 🤯   Enlightenment 🌈   Spiral Dynamics 💪   Life Purpose and Mastery 😹   Funzies (after Sept 2021) 💸   Money & Corruption ➰   Strange Loops  
🍄       Psychedelics 🍄🧷   Psychedelics and Safety 🍄🧳   Trip Report 🍄🔬   Psychedelics Research

@Carl-Richard wha book? I'm quoting the first lines of your first message.
I've been interested in finding such a book. I've been thinking about this phenomenon, not because it's possible to overestimate your level, but to purposefully engage more often in higher levels of thinking, even from a lower stage.
I'll also share an illuminating resource: the book on SOLO taxonomy by Biggs. There's also a wikipedia article, but it's really not in depth.
It's a model to evaluate the cognitive complexity you're operating at, and it was designed originally to evaluate learning outcomes. The book has plenty of examples of each stage (I've included the image of the stages below).
I've learned about this from Justin Sung, and his method is truly revolutionary. I'm quite serious on this topic (I call it meta-learning) and I've been studying it for 2 years, I've taken Justin Sung's course as well, so I'm not just basing my opinion on his YT videos. His approach to studying is pretty much to propel you as fast as possible to the higher orders of thinking. He uses the SOLO taxonomy, but also Bloom's taxonomy (you can find the book too on it), which is a model to categorize cognitive processes, to classify what is considered as "higher order thinking".
 

 

I’m curious about the biggest influences on Leo’s personality, insights, and teaching style.
Here are the two I’m certain of:
1. Owen Cook: Leo’s video style was heavily influenced by Owen’s classic approach—free association, no cuts, etc.
2. Peter Ralston: survival, not knowing, making distinctions, investigating life. I think I'm just scratching the surface with this one.
Are there other ones on the same level of influence ?
 

This collection of work by Christopher Alexander is basically an application of the ultimate truth in making art. The principles in this work are describing the non-dual and self-similar nature of existence. Using these principles that existence/god/nature uses in creating things, the things you create will intensify the wholeness/love of existence. It is a very practical collection of work with a step-by-step process that anyone can use to create more love/self-similarity in existence. The work goes into architecture, art, science, and beyond into spirituality/consciousness. Christopher is far ahead of his time. I think this work will benefit anyone who is doing creative work/art. I highly recommend it. 
 
There is also a documentary about Christopher and his philosophy here:
   
 

Why Adult Developmental Psychology is the Foundation for Transcendence 
 It’s not about escaping the ego but understanding and moving beyond ego-based concerns, leading to a more holistic, interconnected self. 
Gradual Roadmap: Adult Developmental Psychology outlines a step-by-step process of growth, helping individuals move toward higher levels of consciousness. Integration, Not Instant: True transcendence is about integrating all prior stages of development—each stage adds to your self-awareness, expanding how you perceive reality and interact with the world. Transcending the Ego: It’s not about escaping the ego but understanding and moving beyond ego-based concerns, leading to a more holistic, interconnected self. Key Frameworks: Models like Ego Development Theory, STAGES (O'Fallon), and Spiral Dynamics guide this process, helping individuals evolve through increasingly complex and inclusive ways of thinking. Transcend and Include: As you grow, you transcend each stage but carry its wisdom with you, leading to a mature, integrated perspective that includes all prior growth. In essence, Adult Developmental Psychology offers the essential structure for achieving self-transcendence by providing the tools, stages, and frameworks to navigate and expand consciousness.
 
Vertical vs. Horizontal Development
In Adult Developmental Psychology, the idea of vertical development is central. It refers to how individuals evolve through increasingly complex stages of consciousness, expanding their ability to make sense of the world, self, and others. This is different from horizontal development, which focuses on acquiring new skills, knowledge, or abilities within the same level of consciousness, such as personality types or typology systems (e.g., Myers-Briggs or Enneagram).
Vertical Development (Growth in Stages):
Vertical development is about progression through stages of meaning-making, where each stage transcends and includes the previous one. As you move vertically, your perspective broadens, and you can integrate more complexity in thought, emotions, and relationships.
For example, in Ego Development Theory or STAGES, individuals evolve from egocentric thinking to a more world-centric, then eventually cosmic-centric perspective, where they see themselves as part of a larger whole.
Each stage represents a new level of consciousness, not just new behaviors or traits. It’s a deep, structural shift in how you relate to life itself.
Horizontal Development (Expansion at the Same Level):
Horizontal development refers to acquiring more knowledge, skills, or traits within the same level of development.
For example, in personality typology systems like Myers-Briggs or Enneagram, you might learn more about how to operate better within your existing personality type, but your fundamental perspective of reality remains the same.
These systems help you expand within your current stage but don’t push you to evolve to a higher level of consciousness.
Horizontal systems focus on differences between types of people (e.g., introversion vs. extraversion), but they don’t map out a hierarchy or evolution toward higher, more integrated perspectives.
 
Why Vertical Development Matters:
Vertical development is crucial for transcendence because it’s not just about expanding what you know or can do—it’s about transforming how you see the world and yourself. Each step up the developmental ladder involves integrating more complexity, leading to greater self-awareness, wisdom, and the ability to operate from a place of interconnectedness rather than ego.
For instance, moving from an egocentric stage (where survival and personal achievement are key) to a world-centric stage (where you consider the well-being of others and the planet) represents a major vertical leap. Eventually, this can lead to cosmic-centric stages (seeing yourself as part of a universal whole).
 
Metaguide to Frameworks of Vertical Development:
1. Ego Development Theory (Jane Loevinger, Susanne Cook-Greuter):
Maps how individuals evolve through stages of ego awareness, from conformist to self-transforming.
Focuses on how our ability to make sense of ourselves and others matures.
Stages: Impulsive → Self-Protective → Conformist → Self-Aware → Conscientious → Autonomous → Integrated (Cook-Greuter adds further levels).
2. STAGES (Terri O’Fallon):
Builds on Ego Development Theory but integrates spiritual development as well.
Focuses on how individuals develop through stages from concrete operational thinking to transpersonal and transrational levels.
Recognizes the integration of both individual and collective growth, with a focus on how people move through tiers of development.
3. Spiral Dynamics (Don Beck, Chris Cowan):
A model of value systems that evolves through levels, reflecting both individual and societal development.
Each level, or “value meme” (vMEME), represents a more complex worldview. It tracks how societies and individuals evolve from survival-based thinking (Beige) to global and holistic (Turquoise).
Focuses on both individual development and collective transformation.
4. Robert Kegan’s Theory of Adult Development:
Describes how individuals evolve through different stages of meaning-making.
Kegan’s later stages focus on how we can become self-transforming, capable of holding multiple perspectives and understanding reality with fluid complexity.
 
Vertical vs. Horizontal Summary:
Vertical Development (e.g., STAGES, Spiral Dynamics, Ego Development): Moves upward through stages of complexity, evolving consciousness and worldview.
Horizontal Development (e.g., Myers-Briggs, Enneagram): Expands outward within the same stage, developing more skills or awareness within the current level of consciousness.
In short, vertical systems like Adult Developmental Psychology focus on how individuals evolve and transcend their current perspective, while horizontal systems help individuals expand and refine their understanding within their current stage. To achieve true transcendence, vertical growth is the essential path,as it transforms not just what you know but how you know and experience reality.


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
These reflection prompts are not just exercises in self-examination; they are pathways to profound personal transformation. By engaging deeply with these questions, you actively participate in the dismantling of limiting beliefs, the integration of diverse aspects of your being, and the expansion of your consciousness. This intentional introspection and self-alignment are essential for achieving transcendence
Self-Perception and Identity:
How do I define myself beyond my roles (e.g., parent, professional)?
What core values guide my decisions and actions?
In what ways have my beliefs about myself changed over the past few years?
Worldview and Perspective:
How do I perceive challenges and setbacks in my life?
Do I see myself as part of a larger community or system? How so?
How do my perspectives on societal issues reflect my current stage of development?
Relationships and Interconnectedness:
How do I relate to others when there is a disagreement or conflict?
In what ways do I support the growth and well-being of those around me?
How do my relationships contribute to my personal growth?
Purpose and Meaning:
What gives my life meaning beyond personal achievements?
How do I contribute to something greater than myself?
In what ways do I seek fulfillment and purpose in my daily activities?
Emotional Regulation and Resilience:
How do I cope with stress and emotional turmoil?
What strategies do I use to maintain emotional balance?
How have my responses to difficult emotions evolved over time?
Learning and Adaptability:
How open am I to changing my opinions or beliefs based on new information?
In what areas of my life am I actively seeking growth and learning?
How do I adapt to unexpected changes or challenges?
Interdependence vs. Independence:
To what extent do I rely on others for support, and how does this impact my sense of self?
How do I balance my independence with my need for connection?
In what ways do I contribute to the well-being of my community or environment?
Ethics and Integrity:
How do my actions align with my personal ethics and morals?
Have there been instances where I compromised my integrity? What did I learn from them?
How do I handle situations that challenge my ethical beliefs?
Vision for the Future:
What are my long-term goals, and how do they reflect my current stage of development?
How do I envision my personal growth over the next five years?
What legacy do I want to leave behind, and how am I working towards it?
Spiritual and Transpersonal Awareness:
Do I engage in practices that connect me to something larger than myself (e.g., meditation, prayer, nature)?
How does my spirituality (if applicable) influence my developmental journey?
In what ways do I seek transcendence or a deeper understanding of existence?

@What Am I Go create multiple accounts on X and don't follow anyone or tell it your interests, let us know what you see. You'll see Elon telling you democracy is at risk if you don't vote for Trump and you can earn $47 bucks if you go to his link and refer a friend to vote. I just signed up with X a few months back just to see what it was like, and Elon Musk was all over the feed. 
To be fair though, I saw much right wing propaganda and promotion when I created a new Google account and went to Youtube. The algorithms expect a male in my area to be interested in that stuff. But the difference between Youtube and X's algorithms is that Musk is tweaking his to serve him however he sees fit, whereas Google's is designed to get as much engagement as possible to increase ad revenue. They aren't intentionally trying to propagandize people like Musk is. 
It's public record that Thiel and Musk LOVE the idea of "memes" and "mimetic theory". Why? Why would the richest men in the world be interested in such things? 
Meme: units of cultural information—such as ideas, beliefs, practices, or symbols—that spread from person to person through imitation, similar to how genes propagate biological traits. 
Is it because they want to enrich humanity or enrich themselves?
Obviously, themselves, and this is why Musk bought Twitter.
If you have the resources (vehicles to distribute memes) and knowledge of memetic theory, you can apply it like this:
Influence Public Opinion: Shape societal beliefs by spreading desirable or strategic memes that drive public discourse. Amplify Divisions: Use memes to heighten tribalism and polarize groups, making them easier to control or manipulate. Create Social Movements: Spark or steer social movements by seeding viral ideas that align with specific political or economic agendas. Control Desires: Guide consumer behavior or political preferences by manipulating what people desire through imitative processes. Deflect Criticism: Distract from personal or business issues by flooding the discourse with memes that shift focus elsewhere. Rally Support: Build loyal followings by embedding identity-forming memes that create strong in-group cohesion. Scapegoating: Use memes to direct collective frustration or anger toward specific targets, reducing conflict toward powerholders. Manufacture Consent: Shape societal norms and legitimize authority by making certain ideas appear self-evident or widely accepted through imitation.  

Steps from most fundamental and metaphysical to concrete and practical:

 
Being (connect with reality):
Tell the truth Accept yourself Contemplate Meditate Meaning (what should be happening in reality?): pursue what is meaningful.
Abstract principles and virtues (what is meaningful?): goal-oriented movement functionality health balance holism integration
  Concrete domains (what is meaningful?): Systemic: commit to long-term goals and daily habits; write lists, plans, journals; do yearly, biyearly, monthly evaluations of progress. Bio - psycho - social (Engel); also, id - ego - superego (Freud); reptilian brain - neocortex - limbic system (MacLean); competence - autonomy - belonging (Deci & Ryan); monster - man - lion (Plato). Bio: diet, exercise, pleasures, hobbies. Psycho: knowledge, wisdom, self-insight, values, self-esteem. Social: friends, family, partner, community.  
Summarized, you should connect with reality and pursue what is meaningful in reality; in alignment with abstract principles and virtues; using systemic techniques, habits, goals and practices; while covering all of the three bio-psycho-social domains.
To illustrate with one example of each (not at all exhaustive): you should meditate, balance all aspects of your life, work for a set period every day, while going to the gym, expanding your knowledge base and hanging out with your friends.
Another version: you should tell the truth, pursue health, write down everything your mind tells you is important to do or remember, engage in some short-term pleasures if you so desire, act in accordance with your inner values and keep up with your family members.

As a side note, this map shows what happens when things work as they should. It's not a given that things will work as they should, and in those cases, you need to fix yourself. Often, fixing yourself is not a matter of knowledge or will, but of untangling unconscious mechanisms and trauma. For that, conventional therapy, energy work and even psychedelics might be useful. In other cases, it may boil down to medical problems, which require medical solutions. Even though the map will fall short of addressing certain pathology, it does lay the foundation of health (in my opinion), and it's therefore relevant to everybody.

(This is a really good video about using your life purpose to maximize goodness in the world.)
Summary of Blog Video: Extra Insights About Good Intentions
     -Some people have misunderstood the episode: “Everyone Acts From Good Intentions”
“But Leo, aren’t 'good' intentions pretty shallow compared to destructive consequences…?   Are you saying that destruction is actually ‘good’ as long as you have good intentions?  That evil people rationalizing their evil as good is the same as actually being good?”
     -What Leo says in this episode is pretty radical.  He’s not saying that evil people use 'goodness' to justify evil.  He’s saying that…
       Everything is an incarnation of Absolute Goodness.  It’s just an extremely biased, unholistic, twisted, finite, selfish form of goodness.  God acts through everyone and everything.  All people are literally good!!  Even when your mind is rationalizing destruction and murder, it’s actually good.  Actual Good, not just evil trying to rationalize evil as good.  Hate and evil are just twisted forms of love, because...
       Absolute Good is all encompassing.  It embraces everything.  Finite good is not like Absolute Good.  People define “good” based on their level of consciousness.  So, relative bad exists alongside Absolute Good, but relative bad (and relative good) are still finite, selfish points of view.
 
“But Leo, how can something like caring about the planet be selfish?”
     -Well, what about the trillions of other planets in the galaxy?  You don’t seem to care about them?  (You’re also probably overestimating how much you really care about the planet.)
      Notice that the good you do is always a finite good, not the Absolute Good (10:40).
eg: Let's say you donated to a charity for tigers.  That’s good and selfless, right?  Well, how much did you donate?  Why didn't you donate more?  Why not donate your whole life savings?  That’s finite good, not infinite good.  You don’t love tigers infinitely.  So, your love for tigers is finite, you monster .  
Survival and Goodness
     -Basically, you have survival needs that limit your capacity to be infinitely good.  Your capacity for goodness is limited by your empathy, your level of consciousness and especially your survival needs.
     -Notice that you can’t help others in an infinite way, unlike God.  Your physical form puts you in a survival bind.  After all, you can’t be loving and helpful if you’re dead.
     -This doesn’t mean you should stop doing good things because they're finite good.  You also shouldn't become a doormat.  This is just about understanding your limits as a human.
     -In enlightenment work, we experience peak states of love and still have to survive (16:40).  We realize that our day to day level of consciousness isn’t as high as it is in a peak mystical state.  That can make you feel less loving and worthy than someone who’s actually less conscious than you!
      You’re trying to live up to these impossible ideals of love.  Thing is you’re always going to fall short because of your survival needs.  Your love will always be finite and corrupted, but finite good is still a corrupted form of love and it's not "evil." (18:38)
     -The finite domain is the material domain.  It’s not fair to expect yourself to embody infinite love in the finite, material domain.
eg: For Leo to film videos for us 🥳, he can’t be infinitely loving.  He has to be loving in a finite, corrupted way and keep certain attachments.  Otherwise he’d neglect his survival needs, give all his money away to charity, end up homeless and die 😭.  Then there’d be no more Actualized.org.         -Notice that when you express love it’s still finite, conditional and corrupted by survival.  That’s okay because you’re stuck in a human state of consciousness.
     -The Godhead is infinite and formless, so it can love infinitely and without fear of “losing” its formless form.
     -However, none of this is an excuse to be hurtful and unloving, or to not try to love more.
     -You can increase your capacity to love by raising your consciousness and empathy and recognize the holism and unity of everything.  Psychedelics is the most direct way.  Raise your baseline level of consciousness through meditation, yoga, mystical experiences.
     -Also, removing obstacles to love will make you more loving.  You can do shadow work, release fear, trauma, anxiety, anger, releasing limiting beliefs and judgments about others (sexism, racism, ableism, etc.)
      Reading more books can open your mind and heart.  Same with educating and exposing yourself to more cultures, people and experiences, so you’re not afraid of “foreigners.”
 
Idiot Compassion (31:50)
     -Idiot compassion means being compassionate in impractical ways that diminish your ability to contribute to the world.  Idiot compassion distracts from your life purpose.  It drains your ability to be compassionate in an effective way.   
     -Compassion is a delicate balancing act to find the point where you are serving the highest good, given your finite form and your strengths, weaknesses, problems and finite state of consciousness.  (33:00)
     (Reminds me of the episode where Leo talked about Obama’s drone strikes, and why it’s facile and unproductive to demonize complicated situations as “evil war crimes.”)   
 
Realistic Practical Love  
There’s a realistic, grounded practical version of love.  There are also two extreme traps people fall into:
The love is some "silly hippie notion" group.  The atheistic rationalists fall into this trap.  They’re so disconnected from love they don’t understand that love is the metaphysical foundation of reality.   The ungrounded new age hippies who think you should always apply Absolute love without considering the implications of living in a relative, material world.  They talk about love and peace in an idiot compassion way.        The idiot compassion group assumes that you just need to be lovey-dovey towards everyone and that solves everything.  They’re confused about the difference between Absolute truth and Relative truth.
       Having an intention to be lovey-dovey and good isn’t good enough.  You’re a finite being with survival needs.  You don’t have infinite money, time or resources.  No one has that, not even Batman.
 
Be Honest About Your Limits
     -You need to be honest with yourself about your limits.  You have to be selective with how you invest your energy.  You’re not unlimited in the material domain.  You can’t drink a glass of poison and survive.  You can’t jump out of a plane without a parachute and drop kick a coven of warlocks. 
     -To do good in the material, relative domain requires that you allocate a significant portion of your time and energy to taking care of your body.  So, love cannot only flow outwards from you.
     -Women have this problem because they tend to be more compassionate and fill more of a caretaker role in society.  They can become too giving and self sacrificing.  Leo’s mom is like this!  This ends up backfiring and leads to a lack of capacity to do good in the world.
     -When you’re serving others too much, you don’t take care of your needs and your body deteriorates.  You compromise your mental health and get drained.  You have to be smart and practical about how you express your love in the world. (37:23)
 
Effective Goodness Requires Exquisite Balance
     -If you really care about maximizing your output of love into the world, it requires exquisite balance and intelligence, there’s no algorithm for it (37:50).  To be good and giving, you need to maintain your poise, groundedness and connection to spirit itself.
      If you’re showering others with love but you have no love for yourself, you will create problems for yourself.  You have to find your unique balancing point.
     -To do good in the world, you have to be selective with your time, money, energy and resources.  You can’t help all the children in the world equally, there’s too many of them.  You have to choose which children in the world to help.  You can’t give money to every charity.  You have to make a choice.   You have to be wise about how you give your time, money and resources.
“How would the world be best served by the time and money I’m going to give?”
     -These are difficult questions with no obvious answers.  The whole point of you being alive, conscious and intelligent is to make these decisions for yourself.  That’s the hell and joy of life!
     -Material life is a finite experience.  That means you have to make difficult decisions.  You can’t go to every university, or date every lovely, eligible person, or fulfill every interesting life purpose.  Even one is too much for a lot of people.
     -So which life purpose is the best for you?  Which on is going to maximize your output of love?  Leo’s Life Purpose course can help you with this, but you have to make those decisions yourself.
     -It’s important to see the profound tradeoffs and interconnections between the finite and the infinite.  It’s a dynamic dance between the two.  That’s what reality is.
     -Intelligence is your capacity to see and maximize goodness, love and how it's expressed (41:50).  That’s the true definition of intelligence, not IQ.  The ultimate puzzle that intelligence is trying to solve is how to maximize love and goodness.  That’s the puzzle of your life.
     -All the decisions you make in life can be framed with this question: “How do I maximize love and my expression of love?”  Find wise ways to maximize love in the finite domain.  It’s very different than how a fool expresses love.
 
Wise vs Foolish Love
     -A fool tries to maximize love in foolish ways, like injecting heroin, or eating greasy cheeseburgers, or robbing someone’s life savings to spend it on a Maserati, or promoting toxic forms of picking up women.
       A fool may discover, eventually, that none of those ways are very effective.  They come with side effects and terrible consequences.  They don’t produce love consistently, and they don’t produce the highest levels of love either.  There are also costs that you pay, for the rest of your life, that outweigh the little bit of love you get in the short term.
 
     -The wise person wises up to the foolish ways he’s been trying to maximize love.  The cheeseburger drains your health, so the wise person will sacrifice taste for energy so he can funnel that into his life purpose.  He trades the love he would have gotten from the cheeseburger for a higher quality of love from his life purpose and the meaningful impact he’ll have on others.
      You could trade drugs like heroin for psychedelics.   That could lead to Kriya yoga or meditation.  You can bootstrap your capacity to love this way, inching your way up bit by bit.  You’re solving the puzzle of love.
     It takes a high degree of intelligence not to eat that cheeseburger, or give into vices and instead work on your life purpose (45:23).
 
Solving the Puzzle of Love
     -As you solve the puzzle of love, you become more loving and happy.  Love is all you want.  It’s what really makes you happy.
     -There are also different gradations of love.  If you’re a low consciousness person, you’re satisfied with low forms of love.  If you’re a high consciousness person the low forms of love no longer satisfy you.
eg: If you’re a low consciousness person with no interest in growing, you might be happy with just going to bars and hooking up everyday for the rest of your life. If you’re mature, you’ll realize that’s not fulfilling anymore and you want a deeper form of love.  Maybe you’ll get married, and have children.  After a while you might take up psychedelics and yoga.  
Stuck at a Level of Consciousness
     -A lot of people are stuck at a certain level of consciousness and they don’t want to raise it.  If you give them a high level of love it will freak them out and plunge them into an existential crisis.
     -To experience the higher forms of love requires maturity, wisdom and intelligence and very little fear.  There’s a trade-off between love and fear.  You have to be willing to surrender a lot of attachments.
       To a dogmatic, close-minded religious person, the highest forms of love will feel like hell.  They’re super attached to love looking like their religion or to a finite form of God.
     -Bad psychedelic trips can happen if you’re scared, close-minded and resistant to love.  Hell is being disconnected from love.  That’s why you need to do prep work to make the best use of psychedelics.  The infinite love will still be shocking and scare your pants off, but it won’t be hellish.  (ep: Dangers of Psychedelics.  Summary is here.)
     -If you have twisted understandings of the world and of people, you won’t open yourself to love.  Dense minds with big egos, traumas, fears and toxic ideologies will need a gradual process of development.  However, if you’re really advanced you may not need a long, drawn out process and can get straight to the love.
     -Actualized.org is all about raising your consciousness, opening your mind, and growing your capacity for love.  It’s about experiencing infinite love without recoiling in horror.  Even the episodes that seem dry, philosophical or technical are about that. (50:18)
 
     -So, good intentions aren’t just rationalizations.  They come from Absolute Good and ARE good.  They're just finite, partial and biased.
     -If you want the unadulterated, impartial, unbiased, Absolute kind of Love, you must become formless.  If you realize that you are the Godhead, you’ll have the best of both worlds.  You can bring the Godhead back into the finite, material world.  It’s all about how much love you can handle, and how you want to manifest that love.
 
Finite Doesn’t Mean Inferior
     -Finite manifestations of love are not inferior (53:50).  They’re less total, but “inferior” is a judgement you’re putting on it from your finite human self.  One doesn’t have less value than another.  The finger isn’t less valuable than the hand.  It’s smaller, it’s different, but not inferior.
     -From the Relative perspective, certain forms of love are “inferior” because they interfere with a larger purpose, which is to create a peaceful society.  So terrorism is an inferior form of love compared to charity work.
       It’s inferior from the Relative perspective, from the goal of constructing a good, happy thriving society.  From the Absolute perspective, terrorism isn't inferior to charity work or anything else for that matter.
       To the Godhead, everything in the universe is of equal value, because all parts are necessary.  No one part is more important or above any other part.  
      You need to know the difference between Relative and Absolute Truth.  Know how to distinguish them properly, but also know how to collapse them when necessary. (ep: Relative vs Absolute Truth)
___________________________________________________
@asifarahim You're very welcome 
@somegirl  Glad you find this helpful