There is a potential problem with SD where it can feed into the (especially western) tendency to want to place humans on a hierarchy, which can be used to justify various forms of inequality and oppression/domination. I don't see this necessarily as an inherent quality of the model itself, but I see some real dangers in how it could be interpreted to feed into various ideologies. I think there is value in spiral dynamics and it shouldn't be demonized or dismissed outright, mostly the problems come when people start confusing the map for the territory. Even if someone says they are yellow/turquoise does not mean that they are in any way immune to this problem.
I also wonder, what is truly gained with the spiral dynamics model that can't be achieved through a non-hierarchical model like the Scwartz model of basic values?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_basic_human_values
 
Here is also a nuanced discussion on the potential shadow sides of stage theories like spiral dynamics:
Ps. I am not anti-spiral dynamics, I just want to bring another perspective to this discussion, which I haven't seen much on this forum. The point is not to say that spiral dynamics is bad or should be dismissed, but to poke at the model from many perspectives to see if it truly is the best way towards what we see as valuable in understanding reality.
 

I feel like the universe is grooming me to ground myself, then learn how to fight, then go training intensely with Peter Ralston and then becoming mma champion and then redirecting all religious dogmatic people towards higher consciousness ressources:
eckart tolle
adyashanti
mooji
jordan peterson
Sahdguru
Leo gura
peter Ralston 
brendan Lea
Am I becoming insane or that’s it ? I’ve already been 4times in psych ward. I’m certainly a little bit insane but I have reach very unrealistic states of consciousness through psychedelics and have a real taste for violence eventhough I hate it and want a peaceful world 

I know about meditations of marcus aurelius and seneca, but i thats about it. And when i read meditations, i understand some thoughts, and others make no sense to me. I want to learn about philosophy as a whole, any suggestion would be much appreciated  

Let me share my perspective as a MD who has worked in this field for the last 10 years. 

Like in any other occupational category, you will find dieticians/nutritionists all across the competence-spectrum. I have worked with almost genius level individuals who managed to change peoples diets to a lifechanging degree and with a success/repition-rate almost unheard of in the medical field. I have also witnessed blatant incompetence, lackluster cookie-cutter diet plans completely unfit for the specific needs of the patient and especially in the online communities, dangerously off-evidence approaches that will shorten someones lifespan in the long run.

I think that outstanding performances in the medical field or in general, humanistic sciences boil down to a few, very distinct common denominators. Above all stands the validity of your treatment approach. As Hippocrates said 2500 years ago - "Primum non nocere" - which translates to "first, do no harm"! Is the thing you are doing (the new diet, the drug..) actually improving the patients life, or are you doing him worse? It's really bioethics 101. The next question that naturally follows: How do I know? And right here we to enter into the domain of science & scientific evidence. If you want to be an outstanding practitioner, then you need to be up to date with the best available evidence to the problem you are trying to solve. This also includes where science falls short. I have so many colleagues that just blindly trust everything that stands in a scientific paper, without critically evaluating the data at hand. In fact, a shitload of doctors are just algorhytmically following treatment guidelines without ever reading first hand evidence at all - which is good, because it brings everything to a pretty high quality baseline - but lack's nuance when nuance is called for. 

The other extreme is what you see in the dietician-influencer sphere. The carnivore-nutritionist who tells people to not give a shit about their LDL-cholesterol is doing harm. Their approach is not based on a legit heuristic and it takes quite a lot of cognitive dissonance and avoidance mechanisms to keep up a completely ludicrous worldview. If you want to become a more heterodox dietician, then at least stay honest and engange with the arguments - have a strong "Why" for what you are doing. 

Now my next point speaks to compliance. If you want to reach your patient/the person you are working with - if you want him to follow through with a new diet plan, then there are ways to influence that which are inside of your control. We have known for years that the exact same drug will increase/decrease in effect depending on the person prescribing it. Placebo effects are an often ignored part of todays medical practice - but it's  everywhere and all the time (almost like conciousness is fundamental ... ). The way you engange with your patient, the words you use, your vibe, the way you carry yourself, the motivational aspects you build into the conversation - all that and much, much more infleunces the outcome on the other side of the equation. The best nutrionists I have worked with have one very succinct feature: They care! They give a shit! They listen - and they actually try to find the best way forward for the individual sitting across them. This is the art of medicine. This is where the good and the great practitioners part ways. This explains why one nutritionist might have an 80% compliance rate, while others are at 20%. 

This explains why some dieticians are highly respected by colleagues, doctors and patients, while others are deemed delusional or supbar.

Alright, and lastly - because you mentioned it. I don't know where this myth of doctors and pharmaceutical companies comes from. Very, very few doctors actually make money from selling big pharma drugs. You don't get money from that - at least not where I live. I have not recieved a single euro in my life from a pharma company. In fact, most of my colleagues are highly annoyed by pharmaceutical representatives who constantly come to the hospital and you need to sit through their boring presentation about their "!new wonder drug!". But hey, at least I can stock up on ballpens that way. Drugs just work. They do. It's fine to criticise our current medical paradigm that too often relies on drugs where real changes could be achieved through simple lifestyle changes - but then do that without enganging with conspiratorial arguments. 

Books continuation
51. Road since structure - thomas kuhn
52. Methodology of scientific research programme - Imre lakatos
53. Proofs and refutations - imre lakatos
54. Mathematics, science, epistemology- imre lakatos
55. Against method - paul feyerabend
56. Problems of empiricism- paul feyerabend
57. Knowledge,science and relativism- paul feyerabend.
58. Conjectures and refutations - karl popper
59. Realism and aim of science - karl popper
60. Science, faith and society - Michael polanyi
61. Philosophy of natural science- carl hempel
62. Many faces of realism - hilary putnam
63. Mind, language and reality - hilary putnam
64. Representation and reality - hilary putnam 
65. Models and analogies in science- Mary hesse
66. Structure of scientific inference- Mary hesse
67. Models and metaphors - Max black
68. Concepts and role of models in mathematics, natural and social sciences - Hans freudenthal
69. Studies in methodology and foundation of science - patrick suppes
70. Representation and invariance of scientific structures- patrick suppes
71. Models and methods in philosophy of science - patrick suppes
72. Structure of science - Ernest nagel
73. Introduction to logic and scientific method - Ernest nagel
74. Observation and theory in science - Ernest nagel
75. Inquiry as inquiry: logic of scientific discovery - Jaakko hintikka
76. Logic of epistemology and epistemology of logic - Jaakko hintikka
77. Science and partial truth - Newton da costa
78. Semantic conception of theories and scientific realism - Frederick suppe
79. Structure of scientific theories - frederick suppe
80. How laws of physics lie - nancy cartright
81. The Dappled world - nancy cartright 
82. Models as mediators - Mary s morgan, Margaret morrison
83. Models and theories - Roman frigg
84. Fictions in science: philosophical essay on modelling and idealization - Mauricio suarez 
85. Aspects of scientific explanation- carl hempel 
86. Scientific explanation- Richard braithwate
87. Nature of explanation - peter achinstein 
88. Four decades of scientific explanation - wesley salmon 
89. Statistical explanation and statistical relevance - wesley salmon 
90. Logic of statistical inference - ian hacking 
91. Logical foundations of scientific inference - Henry kyburg 
92. Theory and evidence - clark glymour 
93. Foundations of measurement-  suppes, tversky, krantz, luce
94. Extending ourselves - paul humphreys
95. The world observed, the world conceived - hans radder 
96. Material realization of science- hans radder 
97. Philosophy of scientific experimentation - hans radder
98. Thing knowledge, philosophy of scientific instrumentation - Davis baird 
99. Objectivity - lorraine daston and peter galison
100. Image and logic - peter galison
 

Books ( for introduction and valuable insights)
1. Aim and structure of physical theory- Pieere Duhem.
2. Philosophy of mathematics and natural science- Hermann weyl
3. Analysis of sensations- ernst mach
4. Science of mechanics - ernst mach
5. Knowledge and error - ernst mach
6. Nature of physical reality - Henry margenau
7. Foundations of physics - Henry margenau 
8. Analysis of matter - Bertrand russell
9. Human knowledge- Bertrand russell
10. Scientific image - Bas Van Frassen 
11. Laws and symmetry - Bas van fraassen 
12. Empirical stance - Bas van fraassen 
13. Scientific representation- Bas van fraassen. 
14. Philosophical foundations of physics - Rudolf carnap.
15. Fundamentals of concept formation in empirical sciences- Carl hempel
16. Foundations of physics- philip frank
17. Logical structure of world - Rudolf carnap.
18. Problems of philosophy in their interconnection - Moritz schlick
19. Epistemological writings - hermann von helmholtz
20. Popular lectures on scientific subjects - hermann von helmholtz
21. Popular scientific lectures - ernst mach
22. Theoretical physics and philosophical problems- ludwig boltzmaan 
23. Common sense of exact sciences - william kingdon clifford
24. Where is science going - max planck
25. Experience and prediction - Hans recheinbach
26. Rise of scientific philosophy- Hans recheinbach 
27. Empiricism, logic, mathematics - Hans hahn 
28. Principles of mathematics( part 7 only) -  Bertrand russell 
29. An enquiry concerning principles of natural knowledge- Alfred north whitehead.
30.  Nature of physical world - Arthur Eddington.
31. To save the phenomenon- Pieere duhem.
32.  Philosophy of physics - Mario bunge
33. Foundations of physics - Mario bunge
34. Philosophy of science vol 1 and vol 2 - Mario bunge
35. Explaining science, a cognitive approach - Ronald giere
36. Scientific perspectivsim- Ronald giere
37. Mathematical epistemology- E.W beth and jean piaget
38. Understanding causality- jean piaget
39. Language of modern physics - E.H hutten
40. Concepts of modern physics - john stallo
41. Ways of world making - Nelson goodman
42. Structure and appearance- Nelson goodman
43. Fact fiction forecast - Nelson goodman
45. Logic of modern physics - Percy Bridgman
46. Nature of physical theory - Percy Bridgman 
47. Foundations of scientific inference - wesley salmon
48. Representing and intervening - ian hacking 
49. Phenomenology of perception - maurice merleau ponty
50. The essential tension - Thomas kuhn
 

Ziewe has a legit Full Enlightenment experience description in his book "The Ten Minute Moment" which is very very hard to just make up in the form he describes.
Shhhh, or else the metaphysical Love=Absolute aficionados could get a challenge that suddenly a legit nondual realizer has had the Godhead-Absolute Reality-Love-Light realization as foundation of Reality/Absolute also, but on a more stable basis and not only a temporary state - and also values and emphasizes its importance a lot! Seen from that perspective, the only thing that is missing a bit is that Szyper starts talking about some advanced Alien-level-stuff, but you never know... ( :
By the way, Ziewe has some literal Aliens, and also some more metaphysical Alien-Level-realizations descriptions in his books (Multidimensional Man mainly).
Selling Love Light by the River

If it is assumed that the side of the spectrum you mention is possible concerning reincarnation/other dreams (the bad ones), why not contemplate the other side of the spectrum (the good ones)? 
Jürgen Ziewe, Multidimensional Man Jürgen Ziewe, Vistas of Infinity Jürgen Ziewe, Elysium Unveiled (breathtakingly beautiful) Robert Monroes books David Spandler, Subtle Worlds. An Explorer’s Field Note William Buhlman, all books Grof, Books of the Dead Manuals for Living and Dying Grof,Beyond Death.The Gates of Consciousness More on request Seriously, don't destroy your life with this horror-line of thinking and going down that rabbit-hole.
Consider especially taking a look at Jürgen Ziewes Elysium Unveiled. There are a few horror-scenarios inside (as with the other books also), but the rest is of breathtaking beauty.
If the possibility of other dreams in Infinite Consciousness/reincarnation is maintained, why not let the beautiful geenie (video above) also out of the bottle?
Of course, none of that has to be believed for realizing what Reality really is. The nature of Reality/Infinite Consciousness is always right here right now, covered by clouds of illusory separation/ignorance.
And what You really are can never be harmed (no moving parts).
Selling Water by the River

Here is his take from a Q & A on his newsletter;
 
Question; Peter, Thank you for your answer! It's clear. I love it. Charles Berner would be very happy to see the purity of your transmission. I have another question: You say love is not an enlightenment question, because it is a human invention. Yes, what we call love is a psychological construction, BUT, isn't it a prefiguration of the reality of what we truly are? ("prefiguration" is not the good word, sorry, but it is near to what I want to say). Do you think love is only from and in the dimension of illusion and has nothing to do with the Absolute, our absolute nature? All the things you enunciate, I totally agree (mind, emotion, language), but love (I don't speak about emotion), isn't it what we really are, finally? The direct experiences I had were love. At least, I recognize this state of perfection, of union as love. Is it only my definition? If we take love as an object of enlightenment, what happens?   Thank you Reine
 
 
Answer: Reine, You can call it whatever you want, but it is necessary to know it is not what you call it. Why choose the word love? You must have some beliefs or predisposition to think that way. If you are talking about a love that isn’t love, again, why call it love? If you recognize a state of perfection or unity or being one with everything, etc., this is still a state, it is not consciousness. People so often confuse the state that arises when they have an enlightenment with the consciousness itself. This is not a deceitful attempt on their part, it is just a mistaken one. The mind will do its best at that moment to make sense of this consciousness breakthrough and form some idea or state that matches the influence this breakthrough has had on the mind. But it cannot actually match the consciousness because there is nothing there and no state at all that is this consciousness. If you ask what is love, you have to focus on whatever you experience as love, yes? Is that universal? Is it an experience? Does it ultimately transcend experience? You have to tell the truth, but most people who ask such a question already want it to be a universal state, they already want it to turn out to be some particular way, don’t they? This is not open from the beginning and so isn’t really honest. You say you got this after your breakthrough, if your consciousness was real and it was YOU, your true nature, than what you say is rather irrelevant. If you came to me and said you got you are love, I would have a hard time with that if there wasn't a clear consciousness there that was beyond love or anything else. If there was, then it doesn't matter that you call it love, but I might ask you at that time, why? And then listen to your response. If you are conscious you will know and can say why, if it is a conclusion or a state you were overwhelmed by then you won't be able to say or you will resort to your mind or beliefs and start making an argument or explanation. This then shows you aren't really conscious of the truth.
 
It is so hard for people to get beyond overwhelming states that occupy the bodymind and sweep them away in unprecedented ways. Such states as feeling one with everything, universal love, getting the perfection of everything, not finding a location to self and feeling free of limitation, getting a hit on infinity, and so on. When they have such experiences arise, people conclude these must be enlightenment because they never had anything like it before and they sound very spiritual and transcendent, and might fit with some belief system they've heard about. It does suggest a great deal of focus and contemplation where the mind has let go and opened up, creating a completely new perspective and experience. But it is not enlightenment. This is not to say that beliefs in a spiritual system and images of what enlightenment should look like can't also deny the truth when it is presented. Once I was teaching in France, and a woman, the wife of an ex-apprentice of mine, made dinner for us and sat next to me as we ate. I didn't know her, and was just having fun chatting normally with people at the table, when she began asking me questions about consciousness. I would respond and then return to the meaningless chatter with others. I have no recollection what I said really, just that I responded honestly to her questions as best I could. Later, she told me she had been living in a Buddhist community in India for something like 8 years but when she had a conscious breakthrough the community and teacher denied it, because she wasn't "ready" or "advanced" of some such. In other words, it didn't fit with their belief system and hierarchy. She saw their limitation and ignorance and so left them to become a mother and give up such pursuits. Until, she says, she met a man at dinner that give her a new perspective on it and so began working on consciousness once again. She went on to later translate The Book of Not Knowing into French. I recommend you take a look at that book. Has tons in it that might assist in your work. It's in French and is being translated into German right now, but I’d suggest you read it in the original English if you can, translations are always a little off. Good luck 

I used to be very cheap (still am), so I understand this situation well.
First, you have to understand his POV. If someone is that cheap it's probably for good reason. He probably has trauma around money in his past. Or he's being very cheap to save that money for some important higher goal, like starting a business or taking care of his parents. So it's good to ask him where his cheapness comes from and what positive function it serves in his mind. Try to understand the deep psychological reasons why he's cheap by talking about it with him.
Second, in order to get him to change, you have to get him to see how being cheap can be positive but also negative when taken too far. He needs to see how cheapness backfires on him. Specific examples are necessary here. For example, cheapness could cost him his girlfriend. Cheapness can actually cost him more money in the long-term. Cheapness could strain his relationships. Cheapness could ruin his reputation. Etc. If he truly becomes aware of this, then he will be motivated to change his behavior.
Thirdly, it's important for a man especially to see that part of what it means to be a good man is to be generous with your resources. A good man is generous and not too fearful about resources because he is confident he can earn more. So actually, cheapness detracts from being a strong man. This is a deep point which he is missing. Saving $4 on chocolate is not worth the hit he takes to his manhood. If he can see this, he will start to change. Something a man should aspire to is to become so abundant in resources that he never again has to worry about sharing them freely with loved ones.
You can discuss all these things with him and see his reactions. If he has a lot of trauma around money he might be stubborn about seeing these deeper points I made, and he might need some years to see the light and start making corrections.
The key thing for him to understand on this point is that it's not about money, it's about generosity. Generosity is worth more than money.
The bottom line is that your BF is not conscious of all these subtle points, thus his cheapness continues.

Modern society contains various things that are at an evolutionary mismatch with our bodies and minds. For example, porn, hyper-palatable foods (soft, high sugar, fat, salt, etc.) and social media are not things we've evolved to consume at all, let alone on a regular basis.
And why are they so bad? Because they're hyper-salient (highly stimulating) sources of things that are considered rare or valueable resources from an evolutionary perspective. When you get accustomed to consuming these highly stimulating things, your brain downregulates your ability to get reward from less stimulating things that are healthy and build resilience (make you stronger), like exercise, real social relationships and real foods. You're essentially numbing yourself to the things that you're supposed to do as a healthy organism, and you're making it harder for yourself to be motivated to do those things. And as you become less motivated and do less of the things that make you resilient, you become weaker and experience progressively less pleasure and more pain, and then you keep going to the hyper-salient sources of pleasure, because those are the only things that can give you pleasure, which creates an evil spiral which is hard to get out of (in other words: addiction).
Another factor is the lack of some kinds of evolutionarily matching stimuli, like natural environments (trees, green hills, skies, mountains), natural lighting (direct sunlight), large social networks (we evolved to live in tribes with upto 150 people), regular physical activity, etc. The artificial environments that modern society exposes us to are "hypo-salient" and make us more prone to addiction, as we have to compensate for the lack of stimulation we otherwise get from the natural environment.

I bought read the book Subtle art of not giving a ____ and I want to live out it's values :
The values are :
Radical responsibility: I am responsible for everything that happens in my life regardless of who is at fault
Uncertainty and not knowing: Questioning beliefs,thoughts,assumptions
Failure : willing to see one's mistakes and flaws
Rejection through commitment to a particular career, place or person
Contemplation of mortality
Thank you 

It's pretty much the same. Besides the main differantiation is ego development and spiral dynamics focuses on values. In my eyes. I've read the paper and studied it a bit not in great depth, it's practically for me how others relate to themselves and it's as far as Wilber explains a taking of perspective. 

IIRC the unitive stage let's say is 11+ cognitively and can hold into awareness 11 peoples point of view etc. Then the whole thing down & up.

Most sages/wise beigns  are beyond the unitive like: 

Sadghuru
Peter Ralston
Shinzen Young
Mingyur Ringpoche
Ken Wilber
Daniel Ingram 
Guru Viking 
Deepak Chopra (I'd say he's beyond this)
Eventually even Sam Harris
(Other more unkown teachers etc.)

I'd recommend reading the religion of tomorrow for a deeper view on stages, as far as I know unitive is either the stage of ego development conflated with still beign in ego, yet stages beyond ego. I dunno I find it hard to give concrete examples. 

Strategist Stage = Yellow -> I liked Eban Pagan when I did the online-dating course from him, my last professor was high in yellow and I find people interested in geo science have high strategies level qualties, Boulder Colerado, Switzerland possibly, highly ethical scientists I've meet have these qualties. 

Construct Aware Turqouise -> Possibly educated and/or integral infromed, also at times random people who practice a lot of meditation&yoga, yet are still bound of ego, meaning creation aware, usage of highly complex language. It's the need to complexity at strategist levels etc. It's rare I am not very active in spiritual communities, I found myself in the dynamics of beign construct aware very often, and presented the paper to a psychologist, she could not make intutive sense out of this and forced a rule/role mind and this expert type of thinking. Aware of story-telling and meaning creation, not only context of a language etc. It's rare to meet such individuals although there are some and cognitive capacity of it should be available after a university degree.

As far as I can understand you can be a construct-aware stage red nazi, that is how "bonkers" integral theory can get imo. 

Like I said I did not study it deeply I watched the videos and studied it to various levels of depth at times, as I just find myself in the spectrum.

The wikipedia page also might help to dispell disambiguation. Leo's video is also pretty good. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loevinger's_stages_of_ego_development
https://integrallife.com/introduction-ego-development/
https://integrallife.com/stages-leadership-maturity/

Can't give more direct sources besides the papers which I can. I bet even on this forum there are people who transcend this model already, not many a handful just to give some perspective!

As far as I know the research is stuck as there are such few examples, it would be not be very significant to conduct studies on such a small number of people even for unitive/strategist it's hard to find humans/beigns/people for this, it's practically the "conscious elite" of society etc. Depending on how'd you few it integral would also include the emotional line ( total mystery to me) and moral line to fully include an itnegral development etc. 
 

So, I watched the series on abiogenesis by James Tour, which Leo also shared on his blog. After watching it, I watched Prof Dave's response and their live debate.
Let me clarify: I don't like Prof Dave, and his video on quantum mechanics (in which he criticized Leo) wasn't good, in my opinion. I don't like the guy nor think he's right on everything; he's also biased.
 
But his response to James Tour's video is rock solid. It's clear to me now that James Tour is not a reliable source on evolution/abiogenesis, and even though he claims his religious beliefs don't factor into his opinions, they do.
 
1. Prof Dave responds to James Tour Series
2. Response to James Tour Response
3. Live Debate
Also, I watched this video of James Tour being invited to Harvard to speak with scientists on abiogenesis; look and observe: Are the ivory tower Harvard scientists the ones who are close-minded? Are they the ones who are so shackled and tied to their dogma? Are they the ones refusing to accept a new paradigm? Or is it James Tour? Watch and decide for yourself.. for me the answer is clear. Science needs to evolve, science needs someone to challenge its dogma and assumptions, but James Tour is no the man for the job.
 
 
Again: Prof Dave is annoying. I don't like his style nor do I think he's right on everything. But in this case he is.

Hey, ya'll, I need your help!
I want to create a comprehensive list of video examples of prototypical stage Yellow thinking.
This is not meant to humiliate or demonize stage Yellow. It's meant to be an educational tool for people learning about Spiral Dynamics.
So towards that end, scour Youtube and find all the videos you can which exhibit stage Yellow thinking. Try to find videos which are short and sweet. The more diversity we can display here, the better. Try to find examples from various cultures: Europe, Middle East, Asia, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Africa, South America, etc.
We will create a mega-thread like this for every stage in the Spiral, from Red to Turquoise. But here, let's just focus on Yellow. Each week I will start a new mega-thread topic for the next stage.
Do not start a political debate in this thread! It is not our goal here to defend our personal political positions or to judge any stage, but simply to compile examples.
Thanks for your help! I'm excited to see what kind of juicy stuff you dig up. Try to be selective with your choices.
This can turn into a really cool list.
Stage Yellow Values:
Nuance & complexity Openmindedness Perspective Novel concepts & POVs Generating fresh insights Understanding Systems thinking Nonlinear dynamics Sustainability, long time frames Going meta Big picture vs technical analysis Holistic analysis Synthesis Connecting the dots Penetrating to the core of an issue Identifying & solving root problems A multi-disciplinary approach Mixing hard & soft sciences Creativity, outside-the-box solutions Ecology Responsible ways of being Studying models Spiral Dynamics Natural hierarchies Education, knowledge, research, reading Reading lots of diverse books Clean content, concentrated information Life-long learning Expertise, competence, experience Context, learning from history Developing skills to become an instrument for the greater whole Independent thinking Neutrality: Being objective/impartial Designing solutions for the entire Spiral Meeting people where they are at Building bridges Social engineering Ecological designs Reducing the suffering of living systems Pulling ideas from many sources Combining different ideas, models, theories Left-brained Vision & purpose, being a visionary Requisite variety, mental flexibility Self-actualization Paradox Uncertainty Responsibility, independence, autonomy Being a lone-wolf Stage Yellow Examples:
Abraham Maslow, Eben Pagan, Noam Chomsky, Fritjof Capra, Carl Sagan, quantum mechanics, fathers of quantum mechanics, David Bohm, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrodinger, Arthur Eddington, Richard Feynman, Freeman Dyson, John Archibald Wheeler, Paul Feyerabend, Kurt Godel, Obama, George Soros, Joseph Campbell, Erich Fromm, Clare Graves, Don Beck, Spiral Dynamics, Ilya Prigogine, chaos theory, cybernetics, biomimetics, NLP, Alfred Korzybski, the leading edge of academia, futurists, StarTrek humans & Vulcans, Prime Directive, sustainable living, ecology, eco cities, conflict resolution, Shinzen Young’s mindfulness system, Wikipedia, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jacques Derrida, Buckminster Fuller, W.V.O. Quine, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Steve Jobs, Paul Allen, Elon Musk, Joe Rogan

Meditation books:
The Mind Illuminated by Upasaka Culadasa Seeing That Frees by Rob Burbea Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Daniel Ingram Our Pristine Mind by Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche Right Concentration by Leigh Brasington
Kriya Yoga Books:
Kriya secrets revealed by J.C Stevens Kriya Yoga Exposed by SantataGamana 

blog post from april 2023:
"The evolution and maturation of my work is not going to be a straight upward line from my audience's POV. Sometimes the way I act or things I say will seem like regression. That's because serious stuff is being worked out internally. I care about the internal much more than the external. Repressed, emotional stuff is getting worked out. I am going through a process of becoming radically independent, authentic, and truthful — which requires shedding old layers of thought, belief, and habit. I'm just letting you know so you don't freak out from the turbulence. It just so happens that the destination we're flying to has lots of choppy clouds and there will be turbulence. Don't worry, I got a solid handle on it, but there may be more turbulence over the next year or two as I metamorphosize and settle into my final form. Everything up to this point was just my cocoon stage.
As I've said in my videos, if you want to build high you must lay your foundation deep. So that's what I've been doing. At times it may look selfish from your POV because I am focusing more on me than on serving you. But that is so that I can serve mankind a much more profound way in the future. Don't take it too personally."

By not making a choice, you've made a choice.

Great interview w/ Robert Greene
 
 

@Rishabh R
I asked ChatGPT. I’ve been studying this lately and can confirm is a decent list.
 
Having a high Adversity Quotient (AQ) involves several principles that contribute to one's ability to navigate and thrive in the face of challenges. Some key principles include:
1. **Resilience:** Developing resilience is essential. It involves bouncing back from setbacks, adapting to change, and persisting in the face of adversity.
2. **Problem-Solving Skills:** Cultivating effective problem-solving skills helps in finding solutions and navigating through challenging situations.
3. **Emotional Intelligence:** Understanding and managing emotions is crucial. Emotional intelligence helps in handling stress, maintaining composure, and making sound decisions during difficult times.
4. **Adaptability:** Being flexible and adaptable enables individuals to adjust to new circumstances and changing environments more effectively.
5. **Optimism and Positive Mindset:** Maintaining a positive outlook and optimism, even in difficult situations, can help in finding opportunities within challenges.
6. **Resourcefulness:** Being resourceful involves utilizing available resources creatively and efficiently to address problems and overcome obstacles.
7. **Mindfulness and Self-awareness:** Developing mindfulness and self-awareness helps in understanding personal reactions to adversity and making more conscious choices in response.
8. **Continuous Learning:** Embracing a growth mindset and continuously seeking to learn and grow from experiences enhances one's ability to face adversity with newfound knowledge and skills.
9. **Support Network:** Having a strong support network of friends, family, mentors, or colleagues can provide valuable assistance and encouragement during tough times.
10. **Proactive Approach:** Taking a proactive approach to challenges involves anticipating potential difficulties and preparing oneself to handle them effectively.
These principles collectively contribute to a high Adversity Quotient, enabling individuals to navigate challenges, grow from experiences, and emerge stronger and more resilient.

“Know that a sudden comprehension comes when the mind has been purged of all the clutter of conceptual and discriminatory thought-activity.”

“Discard all you have acquired as being no better than a bed spread for you when you were sick.”

“In these days people only seek to stuff themselves with knowledge… All you can call them is people who suffer from indigestion… All the concepts you have formed in the past must be discarded and replaced by void.”

“The Way is not something which can be studied. Study leads to retention of concepts and so the Way is entirely misunderstood… The first step is to refrain from knowledge-based concepts.”

“The foolish reject what they see and not what they think; the wise reject what they think and not what they see.”

“Here it is—right now. Start thinking about it and you miss it.”

“People are afraid to empty their minds fearing that they will be engulfed by the void. What they don't realize is that their own mind is the void.”

“Your true nature is something never lost to you even in moments of delusion, nor is it gained at the moment of Enlightenment.”

"The enlightened ones are neither attached to nor detached from their senses and thoughts."

"A perception, sudden as blinking, that subject and object are one, will lead to a deeply mysterious understanding; and by this understanding you will awaken to the truth." 

"Words used to attract the dull of wit are not to be relied on."

"Those who seek the truth by means of intellect and learning only get further and further away from it. Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone will you be on the right road to the Gate."

"Our original Buddha-Nature is, in highest truth, devoid of any trace of objectivity. It is void, omnipresent, silent, pure; it is glorious and mysterious peaceful joy-and that is all. Enter deeply in it by awakening to it yourself. That which is before you is it, in all its fullness, utterly complete. There is naught besides. Even if you go through all the stages of a Bodhisattva's progress toward Buddhahood, one by one, when at last, in a single flash, you attain to full realization, you will only be realizing the Buddha-Nature that has been with you all the time; and by all the foregoing stages you will have added to it nothing at all. You will come to look upon those aeons of work and achievement as no better than unreal actions performed in a dream. That is why the Tathagata [the Buddha] said: I truly attained nothing from complete, unexcelled Enlightenment."

“The real Buddha has no mouth and preaches no Dharma... real hearing requires no ears”

I was just reading a review of one of Blavatsky's book "the land of the gods" and somebody left key takeaways in the comments. That I thought are relevant to this discussion. 
"My takeaways:

• Concentration strengthens the soul.
• Before becoming spiritual, be natural.
• With proper spiritual retreats, you would bring the greatest possible benefit to the world.
• The Adepts say, “Give us people who desire nothing but the truth, and we will take care of their needs.”
• The spirit gains strength when it finds nourishment in lower principles and is guided by wisdom to choose what it needs.
• Let those who desire to develop spiritually attempt to think with their hearts, instead of continually studying with their brains.
• Consistently aim to transcend animalistic tendencies, and you'll be among those who've thrown off their animal elements to live a spiritual existence.
• Your will is strongest if you have no will of your own, but remain in all things obedient to the Law. In an unrelated out-of-body experience that happened in 2016, an intelligent voice spoke to a pilot named Jim Bruton, saying: “All the force of will you will ever need is found in the art of letting go.”
• Many desire spiritual growth and immortality, but they feel trapped by external circumstances they're afraid to challenge. Instead of focusing on what truly matters, they spend their time and energy on meaningless pursuits. Countless lack the courage to break free from societal norms, even if they disagree with them, fearing social backlash. As a result, they forsake their spiritual potential for the fleeting trends of fashion."

Remember that we only have to think about things like eating healthy or working out because of modern society. Modern society severely complicates things, mainly because our environment is no longer in alignment with our biological makeup: urban environments, office environments, sitting still all day, not being in the sun, fast food, social media, living alone or with only a small number of people. It's a miracle we are able to get out of bed at all.
The people you see who are healthy and go to the gym are more conscientious and have higher IQs on average. They have better executive functioning and impulse control: they know how to organize their goals and stay on course. They're more able to firstly recognize what is healthy and unhealthy and also to navigate through the challenges of living in an unhealthy environment. Most people simply go by society's standards for determining how to act, so they will be unhealthy by default.
In short, when you construct a society where health requires brains to maintain, many people will not be healthy.

And that right there is kind of the problem. 
How would you know if what Dr. Fung is saying isn't, at least to some degree, complete nonsense? At some point, you have two possitibilites - you either spend hundreds of hours learning about scientific epistemiology, the current state of resarch and his particular claims about nutrition & physiology - or you kind of have to BELIEVE him. It's really easy to shape someones worldview with a MD and some flashy diagrams - even if it's based on no substance at all.
Fung is a cholesterol/sat.fat-denialist and this makes me particularly fuming, because it's one of my main areas of research. 

Ectomorph vs mesomorph vs endomorph body types.