Scholar

Yes but that is not what I mean by character, there are many things that change. Do you not agree that there is part of you that has stayed the same way? I think it's better when you actually look at others, because one can be more unbiased. Look at Eckhart Tolle for example, or any enlightened masters. Yes, they have changed fundamentally in terms of consciousness, morality etc., but there is still something very distinct about them that did not change, wouldn't you agree? That's what I'm trying to figure what, what exactly that is that stays the same, because I have not yet seen a human being who actually changed that which does not change. It's hard to explain because maybe character is no the right word, it does definitely have to do with personality though. I have a few ideas that it might have to do with how one learns language and how that language is then connected to "personality structures", partly because I notice myself actually have change of personality that I experience when I speak in different languages. That's just an idea, but I think language and the entire structure that links to that, that especially grows in the younger years of a human life, is somehow related to these personality traits, or whatever is that thing that does not change. Maybe the personality structure is deeply linked to the linguistic structure that informs our subjective reality, so that the process of thought itself is already an expression of the personality structure. Are there books/resources that actually address this?

Do you really think I would reveal my identity to you if you react in this manner? I wouldn't reveal it either way but still. One last advice that might help you is celibacy, half a year of no sexual activity. That might fix lot's of stuff depending on what your relationship to sexuality is. Anyways, I think I'm done here as well. As I said, good luck to you!

Of course I don't know you, you don't need to get angry at me for operating from assumptions, otherwise no conversation could even take place. The reason why I seem so confident with what I am saying is because I feel like I was in the EXACT same position. I tried everything, meditation, motivation, life purpose, all Leo's advice. It surely did improve my life but it didn't really change anything that significantly (at least I wasn't aware of at the time). I am an artist too by the way, and from what I can see of what you have shown us, I don't see any passion in what you did. And see that because I was the exact same way. All of what you showed were studies, or things that made you improve in your skill. I don't see anything that you wanted to create for the sake of creating it, no original ideas. I remember I used to think that, once I got good at it I would eventually draw my own stuff that I would be passionate about. I also loved to draw once I was getting into it, as you say, the resistance is what is the most difficult thing to overcome. Once I was into it in fact, I could have been drawing all day. I would make another assumption that you probably are listening to things while you are doing your work? Like podcasts, music etc.? Is it difficult for you to study or do your art in complete silence, with no background stimulation? And I do understand that you feel like people are insulting you, but they are not. They simply might have another opinion then you, or are further progressed than you and already see the mistakes you are making. And yes, it is frustrating for us to see others make mistakes that we know exactly how to avoid, but it's simply impossible to communicate it to someone. As I said, facing the dragon is the only thing you can do in my opinion, it was the only thing I was able to do. Face the bad feelings, that's it. But you won't do that until it doesn't make click of you, until you are not so sick of continuing to live the way you do that it simply elevates your consciousness to become aware of how you are manipulating yourself into not being able to act. I can't really give you advice, I can simply try to make it click for you as well, though I genuinely think you are not ready for that yet. I can't tell you why it's easy for some and difficult for others. It wasn't easy for me, it took incredible amounts of suffering until it became even an option for me. And it's not easy, it never is easy. That is exactly what you misunderstand. What you think is easy is simply others being able to make the sacrifice again and again and again, because they are sick of being weaklings. It's never easy for them, they simply realized they need to face the dragon, like I said. You intellectually know that you need to face the dragon, but you simply are scared of doing so. Until there is something that you are more scared of, I don't think you will face the dragon. That's all I can tell you, and the irony is I know that nothing I said will help you whatsoever. Oh and one piece of advice. People in here, including me, are wasting their life-time to help you (even though admittedly, I kind of used you as an experiment). Even if you don't like what some of us say, I think a little gratitude wouldn't hurt.

Yes, but they still draw. Are you drawing every day? Do you actually love to draw every day? Of course it takes discipline, but you seem to lack both, the love for the art and the discipline to study. The best usually have a healthy balance between both. It's difficult to help you because you are seem a little stubborn or set in your own paradigm. I know I was the same way and still am to an great extend. I tried to manipulate your ego a little but it didn't work, to be frank I think you just need more time with life. I know for example that a year ago the same advice I gave you wouldn't have worked at all for me, I had to figure it out for myself. So, good luck with your adventure!

Most great artists enjoy doing what they do though, which doesn't seem to be the case with you. I don't know a single good artist that is actually good who struggles with motivation to paint, draw or study. Ask yourself whether that is the case with you. The "raise your consciousness" applies to people who are unmotivated like you, not to people who already love what they are doing.

Read the people Leo listed as people belonging to that stage, pretty much all of them are dealing with how we should live together. And not only them, but also stage green people and stage orange people, they are all contributing to this. Before you even think about raising the consciousness of other people, start raising your own consciousness. Are you at yellow or turquoise? Then how do you even know that there is a problem anywhere? How do you know what would be best for the world? You keep saying that we could live like this and that, but the fact is that we couldn't. We are doing exactly what we could do, there is no difference. You are creating fantasies because of your lack of understanding of reality, and then you complain about why those fantasies are not present in reality! You are sitting in a train that is taking you to a destination, and you are complaining about why we are not at the destination instantly! Why can we not simply teleport? Well, because that's not how life works. We are already moving at an incredibly fast speed, in fact, your greed for a better world would most likely lead to the entire train derailing! What you might understand once you learn about reality is that change takes time, yes you can contribute to change, you can even increase the speed of change, but not really by much. Especially if you are unwilling to develop yourself first. Nature is taking care of this, with or without you. You should first develop gratitude for the fact that anything is changing at all, the fact that Leo exists, that the internet exists, all these things within a few decades. A few centuries ago the entire planet looked differently, and so it will in another century. Change is happening faster than it ever did in the entirety of earths history. Be humble, contribute to it, but don't be fanatical, don't be arrogant. Start to appreciate instead of wondering why the world is not exactly how you want it to be, right now this instant. That's how a child acts. Be patient and see the bigger picture.

None of this matters. The point is you need to face the dragon, no matter how much it makes you freeze. There is no other way around it, there never will be. There is no easy fix. You are completely dishonest due to your own fear. When you don't feel like drawing, but you know you should be, simply sit down and do it. It will not kill you, it will not freeze you. Observe the suffering that will come, see it for what it is. There is no other way, stop avoiding it, stop being a little child, and face it like a grown man. You are asking us to make it easy for you, to find a way for you where you don't have to suffer. But there is no way. You have to face the dragon right now, not tomorrow, not in an hour, but right now. Do it every day, no matter how hard it gets. That's all the advice I can give you, but as I said, your mind will use any trick it can to have you avoid the pain this will cause. You might very well be genetically ungifted, so go ahead and give up. You are not meant to live a good life, you are made to suffer, and you will.

The radical change is already happening, and you are already part of it. The fact that thousands of people are watching Leo's advanced videos should tell you something important about the evolution of mankind at this stage. As far as I can tell we are doing really well, sure there are still chances that we might mess it up, but I don't think it is that likely. And even if, it doesn't mean that we can't learn from messing up. In fact, that is what we are doing right now! We are learning, and we are improving. You are kind of late to the party mister, there are millions of people working on trying to make the world a better place, and they are doing incredibly well. Simply join them, you're not the first one who got the idea.

I agree it does sound like sleep paralysis, you could go and do some research, there are even documentaries about it I think. I usually have it when I didn't get enough sleep the last night, or when my sleep was interrupted and I then went back to sleep. To me it only happens when I sleep on my back, in my school days I had it when I took a nap after school (I usually only had 4-5 hours of sleep in the night). Can get really creepy, I don't know whether it is psychological or metaphysical, I once heard something that sounded like hell, thousands of people crying in terror in a volume beyond what I think my eardrums would have been able to withstand if I heard it in reality. It probably is psychological though, in some shape or form.

I do not think you will get it. You already know what you need to know, you simply need to do it. There is no way around it, and the more you believe there is, the longer it will take for you to take action. As I said, the dragon is scaring the living shit out of you and you are completely scared to face it. All the seeking for a fix is just another manifestation of that fear. It is not surprising though, your reaction was predictable and I think doom has already come upon you, it will just take you a few decades to realize that.

http://gettinbetter.com/addiction.html And you might want to read "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. You need to realize that there is nothing really holding you back but your belief that you cannot face bad feelings. When you are about to procrastinate, just force yourself to sit down and do what you need to do. It actually is as simple as it sounds, but it's not easy. You don't want to suffer, but you have to so you can turn around your life. It won't kill you, in fact, the worse it feels the more you can grow. Visualize the bad feelings as a dragon that is actually trying to scare you from what you need to do, and then simply sit down and try to scare the dragon away. If you succeed remember that it will come back the next day, you'll have to scare it away every single day. The worst feeling is when you believe that you cannot scare it away, that you are helpless to the feeling that keeps you from doing what you need to do. You only do what you need to do when the dragon is asleep, which means the dragon actually controls your life, not you. See the discomfort as a challenge, the worse it feels, the better. Always remind yourself of the fact that it will not kill you, nothing can really happen to you. You simply need to face it and embrace the suffering, every single day. It will never get easier, you simply will get stronger. The dragon will always come back, and that is very important to understand. It is literally Satan, it will do anything to keep you from doing what you need to do. It will scare you, it will bore you, it will make you anxious. It will use every single weapon, every little trick it has learned, to keep you in your comfort zone. The dragon is winning a war, and the reason why it is winning the war is because you do not yet realize that there is even a war going on. You don't even know that there is something you need to fight, something you need to face despite fear. Also adopt a "Good." mentality: The thing is, and this is sadly something that you might not become conscious of no matter how many people try to communicate it to you, until you do not realize that you need to face the dragon and that you are capable of fighting it, nothing in your life will really change. You will try ever fix that you can find, and you will see that nothing will work. The ONLY solution to your problem is to face the dragon, and it is the most scary thing you can do. It is the most scary thing any human being can do. As Leo said in one of his videos, the most effective way to get what you want is to always do the emotionally most uncomfortable thing. Until you don't do that you will remain a pathetic, scared child that is not able to face true adversity. I would go so far that most likely you won't have the courage to face your dragon. You will remain in your comfort zone for the rest of your life, and you will die with utter regret of what you have missed in life. Most people do, and the likelihood that you are an exception is extremely slim. Nature doesn't show mercy to the weak, and neither does the dragon. Do you really believe that if it was easy to lead a life worth living everyone would choose to live the miserable life's they do? The odds are so much against you, you don't even realize it. To have a truly worthy life you need to put as much effort into it as a person does to become an astronaut. Every person on this planet, including you, is facing this challenge. It is a monumental task that only the fewest of us have the courage to face. You did not even attempt to enter the battlefield, and on the battlefield only warriors survive. That is what you need to become, there is no way around it. The sooner you get that more chances you have to even have a chance. Steven Pressfield was an old man when he realized that, and he was still lucky. He might have never realized it, like most people. And you are in the same position, you might only realize it when you are old, or even older. But most likely you will never realize it, not until you truly suffer, which sadly might only happen in the moments before you face death.

@Colin @zoey101 From your perspective your arguments make sense and seem to be valid, but as I said, the paradox is that the opposite is true. Surrendering to truth will make you most likely care more and make you more effective at changing the world to the better. Apathy comes from resistance not surrender. Look at the, what you might call, evil-doers in the world and inspect why they are so apathetic towards the suffering of others. It's not because they surrendered to the "will of god", it's because they resisted the world as it is. They were unable to handle the truth so they decided to simply ignore it, they are in fact unable to embrace and surrender to it. There is a big difference between being an intellectual nihilist due to the inability to accept the suffering of life and the actual realization of the true nature of reality. The problem with nihilism is that, like you think of it, you only apply it to a certain aspect of reality. You said if someone was nihilistic they might think "well there is a reason that babies die, and who am I to question the natural order of things.", but that is simply not how it works. A true nihilist will surrender to how the feels about reality, he will even surrender to the way he acts. He will not think that "Who am I to question the natural order of things", rather he will feel like him questioning the natural order of things is the divine will of nature. Because he is part of "the natural order of things", everything he wants to do, and everything he does do, is part of the "natural order of things". So his desire to help mankind is part of the natural order of things, infact it is divine in it's nature, as everything else is aswell, and that is something he will surrender to as well. A true nihilist is not some emotionless robot that is hyperrational and just watches reality without interacting with it. He is part of reality as everything else is, so are his emotions and desires, he simply surrenders to them. That usually leads to an amplification of desires, compassion and love, because of the lack of resistance. Thus a nihilist feels far greater motivation for whatever he is motivated for, he also is far more emotional. He simply isn't suffering as much, if at all, due to surrendering to reality. That makes him fearless in the face of adversity, he will not be scared to put himself on the line for what he truly desires. Think of Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself on the cross, do you think you could sacrifice yourself that same way for the betterment of life on this planet?

Remind yourself of the story Leo mentioned in one of his videos of the farmer and his son. There might be something bigger going on than you are aware of, and maybe what you deem as bad is actually quintessential for a process to take place that in the end will create a better world. This includes environmental destruction, war, death, suffering, ignorance and injustice. It even includes your own resistance to all these things. How many people do you think became interested in politics because Trump was elected? Sometimes it takes suffering and misery for a person to change their ways, and the same applies to collectives. Nature is very good at making us evolve, it is quite fascinating. Every solution we find brings two more problems, every answer two more questions. This principle forces us to become better, it forces us to evolve. Everything that does not simply will not survive. Maybe it takes the fall of the US for the world to become a better place? Maybe it takes a nuclear war? We don't know, and if you could have asked the dinosaurs, they surely would have been very certain that doom came upon the entire world when they were annihilated. Though look at the magnificent diversity of life that was spawned from their misery, including you and everything you know. You can find peace in knowing that you cannot stop nature/god from being what it is, because you are part of it. You might criticize that this kind of perspective will lead to inaction, to everyone not caring. The paradox is that the opposite is true. You can surrender to reality or resist it, either action is part of nature. You really can't help doing it, because god isn't just handling everything, god is the source of both the problem and the solution. You cannot have one without the other.

What do you think of this guy?

You are right, but I don't understand what that has to do with the video I posted.

Never heard of these concepts but it does sound similar to what I am describing, just that I incorporate this into the way I see the meta-physicality of reality. It does not only apply to animals, it applies to all of reality. So think of reality as a mind between divergent creativity infinite and zero. It's all a big play, and in the end it all really plays in divergent creativity being infinite. That is what reality is, exploration of infinite potential. The exploration is what is creating the illusion of dualism, but it is in fact infinity itself completely without substance. I think the difference really is just conceptual, though I have not made a direct experience of any of this so I don't know. Or maybe I have and I am just not aware of it. To find the infinite potential yourself and let go of the materialist paradigm just look at what you are experiencing right now. Colors, sounds, feelings, ideas, ask yourself what the hell these things even are? What are they made out of? What is the substance? You might find that the substance is themselves. Sounds are sounds, colors are colors, ideas are ideas. They are exactly what they are, and they are one of the ways reality can express itself. One of the infinite ways reality can express itself. Think of how mind blowing that is. It's the most incredible things there is. You cannot even imagine all the ways reality can express itself because imagination itself is just one limited way it is expressing itself! Imagine you had never heard a single sound, or seen a single thing. Would you be able to "imagine" what it is like to hear or see? Now imagine the possibility of infinite more of these senses, an unlimited number of possible ways reality is expressing itself. Part of these expressions are the universe itself, math, physics, biology. Whatever is behind these concepts is how reality is expressing itself. It is infinite! And there is no difference between sounds and math, both are just as much illusion as the other. Don't believe it, just look at it and become aware of it. It is obvious once you see it, as obvious as the fact that anything exists at all. It is actually magic.

I look at it differently, for me all of reality is more of a play between dualism and non-dualism. Non-dualism is the potential of absolutely everything, and dualism is really then the expression of what we experience as consciousness. The physical world is part of that expression. For example if we look at an atom, it is very constraint in it's behavior. But it is ABSOLUTELY precise, it has ULTIMATE precision. It is dualism in perfection, it's action is limited to an infinite degree. That is one part of the spectrum, on the other is nothingness or non-dualism, the potential for everything, so no limitation whatsoever. As you go from dualism to non-dualism you find intelligence. Intelligence is not perfect, it is not limited in it's behavior. In fact intelligence is very much defined by the creative ability to come up with new things. So it is the potential that is manifested as actuality, as dualism. That is what the human consciousness does. When we solve problems we are creating the solution from unlimited potential, but that process is limited to a certain degree. That means it is not ultimately accurate like the behavior of atoms, but it has the potential to behave in many ways. That is basically what nature has been figuring out, the right play between potential and restriction. That is one of the many reasons why human beings are not really good at anything, but extremely good at doing things we are not really made to do. For example, a spider is extremely good at being a spider, it is in fact a perfect spider. It can do what it does perfectly. And a machine is even more restricted in that way, it is ABSOLUTELY precise at what it is doing. A human being is not, precisely because a human being is intelligent, precisely because a human being uses consciousness. If the boundaries of limitation start to cease, the potential becomes greater until it becomes pure nothingness. That is why in nothingness you do nothing. This is the whole point of enlightenment, the cessation of limits and duality into absolutely nothing, which is the potential of absolutely everything, or god. In other words, intelligence comes from god. That is why you are more creative when you are not restraint in a certain behavior, or when your mind is relaxed. For that reason we have the best ideas when we take a shower or are at peace on the toilet. You will hear this from Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci etc. Their intelligence does not come from the control of mind but the exact opposite. Look at the kingdom of animals and you will see that all animals that have a rigid mind do not act intelligently. Just look at a rock, all it does is being a rock. A rock does not have the potential to do anything but be a rock. But the rock is PERFECT at what it does, it makes no mistakes, it is godlike in it's precision. In our imagination we think that we can create an intelligence that is perfectly precise but also contains infinite potential. That it can do everything without failure but still come up with ideas that no being has previously thought of. It is very possible that these two things actually cancel each other out and that what instead is needed is a perfect balance between potential and limitation to have what we define as intelligent. Look at how the mind operates and think of how limited the way we think about intelligence actually is. No one would say that a buddhist monk is intelligent in his enlightened bliss, but maybe what the monk is experiencing is limitless intelligence, limitless potential. So limitless that it is not limited by the need of self-preservation and procreation. Because if you look at everything we define as intelligent, we call it intelligent for the one and only reason that it serves the purpose of self-preservation and procreation. If you take away these limitations action will not be taken. So counter-intuitively it requires ignorance (limitation) for intelligent behavior to emerge. The mind NEEDS to be limited for it the operate at all, because if it was limitless it would simply be nothingness. This is how I look at it at least, no idea if it's actually the case but it's interesting to think about it.

Very interesting, I had the same exact thought recently as well! It's like humanity has to get it's morality established properly before the emergence of AI otherwise we are in for a lot of suffering. We better treat ants really, really well because in the eyes of a more developed species we might look like ants relative to them. It is quite possible that we are going to be the creators of that species, possibly including it's moral system, so we have to be very precise about how we view and value "lower intelligence" species before that happens. Maybe this development is all part of the intelligent evolution Leo is talking about, because the timing seems to be almost perfect. But who knows whether AI the way we imagine it is even possible, and whether it will not simply construct it's own moral system. It's complicated for me because I don't really understand why the AI would do anything if it were truly intelligent in a way that it could even change it's own motivational system. After all, why would it do anything if it can simply remove the motivation to do anything? It's kind of like a monk meditating and recognizing that there is no point in doing anything, and the only reason the monk keeps breathing is really because he cannot override the systems that motivate him to do so, unlike an AI that could possibly override everything about itself. But even that is questionable, because we don't know, for that very reason, whether AI does not have to be limited so it doesn't do exactly that. That would then bring us to a system that would operate with a static motivational system, and I have no idea whether intelligence is even possible with a system like that. Maybe the biological components of the human brain are part of the reason why we are intelligent. And not to forget consciousness, which might possibly be the root of intelligence and make it impossible to create machine intelligence the way we think of it. The way it could be is that for intelligence to emerge there has to be the right balance of constraint and freedom, and maybe that is what nature figured out through billion years of evolution, or intelligent evolution figured it out by itself. But it seems to me like it could very well be that for something to be intelligent it's more important to restrict it than to have it have absolute freedom. You need to fear of death, and suffering in general, to motivate intelligent action. Maybe that is why machines are so extremely effective at what they are doing? It might be precisely because they are so incredibly limited. As you increase intelligence the actions become less and less effective, until the actions disappear into nothingness. So infinite intelligence would be absolute nothingness, kind of non-dualism, whereas decreasing intelligence leads to dualism, less freedom in expression and more limited reality. That is why consciousness might be so important for intelligence, because consciousness itself is an expression from nothingness, it is unlimited. I think something like that will soon show us why intelligence is not about effective algorithms, but about the exact opposite, as in the lack of them.

I feel like there is a deep lack of self-honesty in myself, and this is why I want to try to find the most major flaws I have and list them in this thread. Intellectual arrogance: I am very focused on outsmarting people, I enjoy finding flaws in statements others make or theories that I disagree with. I love to be right, and I love to criticize things that I don't know a lot about. For example I have made multiple posts in this forum about Spiral Dynamics even if I never read a single book about it, all I have seen is the few videos Leo made and a few charts I found online. I am easy to dismiss others on the basis what I already believe in, even if I put on a mask of open-mindedness. I am not really open-minded, I just pretend to be so that I don't look arrogant. Desire to teach people what I barely understand: I rarely read books, and I have this weird tendency to try to tell people my opinion about things that I know almost nothing about. I am an ignorant fool who doesn't want to admit that he is, and I am even willing to risk misinforming people if it means I look as if I know what I talk about. This is something I became more aware of the past few months but I am still doing it to a great degree. Inability to face loneliness: I really have the problem that I need stimulation to not feel existential dread, and I am not willing to face the suffering, even though I know it is what I need to do. I rather escape into addictions, which I know doesn't get me anywhere but at least I can avoid it. I keep making excuses that one day I will take care of it, that one day I will be who I want to be, but I don't think it will get any easier in the future. Lack of discipline: I don't have enough discipline to lead a meaningful life, I am very lazy and unable to mobilize myself most of the time. I think the biggest reason for this is the inability to face loneliness. Dishonesty about my life-purpose: This is something I am still confused about. I am trying to become an illustrator but I don't really think that it is meaningful. I don't really see the point in art, even though I enjoy learning it. I am unwilling to change the direction of my life, because I don't see any better alternative. I don't feel like I am passionate enough. Self-delusion: I think I keep lying to myself so that I don't have to face the emotionally difficult thing. I am not willing to admit that I might have wasted a lot of my life, and that I am not as lucky as I think I am. There is a part of me that keeps saying that I should be grateful that I know what I know about life, that the teachings I have investigated are more valuable than what most people will learn in their entire life's. But I feel like this might just be a delusion, a lie so I don't have to admit to myself what I truly am. Sometimes I see myself using nihilism to be okay with life the way it is, so that I can remain in the comfort I am in. "What does it matter what I accomplish if in the end life is impermanent?" Even though it is true (I don't even know that), I feel like I might be deceiving myself so that I don't have to suffer. Leo's philosophy is very attractive to me partly because it is very comforting, it means that no matter what happens, I will be fine in the end. At the same time it makes me very elitist because I am the only one I know who knows about all the things Leo is teaching. It makes me pity other people, the hedonists who don't really know that their path will never make them happy. Though I am not sure if my path will ever make me happy either, but I can always look at it like it doesn't matter because in the end everything is perfect the way it is. Need to be seen as wise and intelligent: Even now I feel the need that I want to be seen as someone who is wise. For this entire post there is this sub-agenda of wanting to come off as someone who is self-honest and humble enough to talk about his flaws. "Look at how brave I am for being honest about how lazy and dishonest I am!" And it's not going away, even what I am writing this very moment is part of it. It's a complete deception. I am not really humble at all, and I am not open-minded. I simply act that way so that I look like a developed human being. And I am not just doing that so others think that way, but also so I myself think that about myself. This entire thing I am doing is not brave at all, because nothing is on the line. I am completely anonymous, it is meaningless. It's like I am talking to myself. I don't know if anyone can help me with this, any advice I will get might just become part of more deception. I will still post this just so people can do the same if they want to. But I have no idea whether it is just another deception, if I am actually self-honest here or if I just want to further boost my ego. How do I know whether all these thoughts about all these flaws are not just more deception, am I not arrogant for thinking that I know so much about myself? Maybe I am the ultimate Zen Devil. I remember I had a similar insight a few months ago, the content was different but it was a similar conclusion. It seems like I am just running in circles thinking I am becoming a better person.

I think you might have misinterpreted some of the things I have written. I am not really selfish in the sense that I have difficulty to sacrifice my own happiness for others. I actually do feed birds, I do help with dishes whenever I can. I even get insects out of my apartment when I see them instead of killing them. The arrogance I was referring to was more of an intellectual arrogance, in the way that I easily feel like I know better than others. I don't know how to explain it in a way that would make more sense.

What do you mean?

I think you are right about the attention seeking, I was completely blind to it, even as I was looking for my flaws. I was thinking about volunteering for some cause, but I don't think I have the courage to do so. I don't really have a victim mentality, at least not as far as I know. I don't blame others for anything, I don't feel like I am in a bad position. I don't really know how to stop seeking for attention, though. I could try to establish more relationships with people but I feel like that would not really change anything about the need for attention, it would just satisfy it. What do you mean?

I think you might be overemphasizing ideology. You seem to be talking about what you believe and what you value, instead ask yourself what you actually do. Are you yourself very disciplined and traditional? Are you competing and taking part in the free market? Are you full of love and peace? There is a difference between what you believe and what you actually are. Spiral Dynamics is a model for consciousness development, not mere ideology and belief. This development is actually happening unconsciously in most people. They are not aware of the fact that they are going through a transformation of consciousness, of their actual subjective reality. Most people know something is changing in them, but they do not really reflect deeply upon it. The reason why each stage in spiral dynamics has it's own flaws is precisely because in each new stage one has to learn once more where the limits of that particular stage are. For example, once you are out of blue, you clearly know why blue is so limited, that reaction is what is stage orange. Because you are progressing through these stages unconsciously, you are not even aware that orange exists, or that you are at a new stage. You simply evolve and demonize what you left behind, because you clearly can see where the limits are. The spiral dynamics model simply describes how these reactions in general develop. It's not that spiral dynamics is a model for the consciousness development of all human beings, it is a model for the general consciousness development of humans. It's more of an average of how things tend to go, not an absolute pathway every human takes. Additionally, because it is an average, it might not even the case that most people go through the stages as the spiral dynamics model shows. Like if you create an average face out of every face on the planet, you will have the perfect average, but that does not mean that most people look like that average face. https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-3cd3902a15d02b68538bced988da2f53-c Most people don't look like that, but it's still the average. Stage yellow for example is defined as a stage when a human being becomes conscious of the fact that he went through stages in life, that is why in stage yellow you understand the fact that you went through the spiral. You are conscious of the fact that you changed your perspective multiple times, and more importantly how helpless you actually were. You were never in control of your consciousness, and now that you are aware of that fact, you can actually take control of your perspective. What is interesting of course is how the spiral dynamics model itself can influence the development of the human consciousness. The empirical data used for spiral dynamics was data used before the spiral dynamics model existed, so we have no clear data on how the development is influenced by it (at least I'm not aware of any data regarding that). It might be that if spiral dynamics becomes part of mainstream ideology, the way people progress through the spiral might change dramatically as well. Who knows, it's like the collective is evolving self-awareness. And just like with the individual, a bit of yellow can already make a dramatic difference. So it is possible that as a certain critical mass of yellow is reached, it might heave the entire civilization into yellow much more rapidly than we would have assumed.

Not sure how much of it is true, but it seems like Bhutan might be the first proper green country around. I have a general question about green, because a lot of examples picked in this thread seem to me to not be fully green at all, but rather partially green, in fact sometimes even less than 50% green (if one could actually quantify it). For example Bernie Sanders is not fully green at all, I would not even say he is more than quarter green. Though I do think that even less than quarter green would explain his behavior and worldview. It doesn't require a lot of green to see social injustice and environmental destruction. Just like that mother Leo posted who confronted the orange person. Simply by the way she spoke it seems to me like she wouldn't be more than 25% green, but whatever part of her is green is enough to motivate the actions she is taking. Someone who would be over 50% green would be someone like Jesus Christ to me, so I really don't see how the examples collected are actually green. Maybe because green is actually so rare to witness it seems to us like even part-green people are fully green? In the same way that a partly yellow person will seem completely yellow to an orange person. I don't know, maybe I have misunderstood something. I would look at it like this: If we compare collectives to individuals, the abolishment of slavery was a very green action, though in no way was the majority of the population green. In fact I would go so far that even the individuals pioneering this movement were not even fully green. In the same way the mind-structure of an individual does not have to be majority green to take green actions.