Joseph Maynor

You don’t want to obstain completely. What you want to do is start to build good habits and convince the Mind that healthy things are good for it. So, like I advised you before, don’t turn asceticism into an ideology. Get the Mind on board with cleaning up bad habits instead. When you proceed this way, you can slip without realizing you did, and you don’t get that guilt that comes from the Mind attaching to a stubbornly-linear ideology of asceticism. You’re like a fire-hose not a rifle. To put a fire out you need to point that fire-hose in the general location of the fire — don’t think you’re gonna solve the problem in one shot, such as adopting some ideology of asceticism. Without having the requisite habits in place, you’re just gonna be guilting yourself-out all the time which will cause you to seek comfort more — because you’ve caused the Mind to be at war with itself. So, instead of taking an ideological approach, just start to clean up bad habits in your life, and make sure the Mind understands why this must be done — and become mindful of how your happiness increases as you do this. The Mind likes happiness, and it will kill weaknesses for you in the moment if it senses happiness is at risk.

It’s normal. For me it happens without any precipating cause, usually in the beginning of a sit. I think it’s the Body-Mind becoming more integrated, that’s my working thesis. The Mind likes to treat the Body like cargo most of the time, but when you meditate, awareness spills out into the Body and the Mind in equal measure, which causes a kind of re-integration process. The Mind crowns itself and likes to break up reality into parts, but when you meditate the Mind has to adjust to the idea that it can’t slip that under you now the same way, because now you are watching everything keenly.

One of the insights I can add here is the proof of this is not some kind of intellectual proof. The best way to see this is to spend a lot of time just being aware. It’s tempting to get the Mind involved and start to analyze this thesis for validity. Just slow down for a week, be mindful, and contemplate this. Then the Mind might snap up and propose the kind of thesis I made, which is still thought mind you. Technically all meanings are false, but they can cause shifts in what theses the Mind prefers to attach to, which can dismantle the Ego for you slowly. The Mind is stubborn, but it will release when it is convinced very strongly it is wrong — at least for a while, sometimes permanently. Thoughts are very sticky — hold them all loosely. Put awareness ahead of thoughts. Thoughts always come from the Mind — they are reactions of the Mind. The life-long Enlightenment process is holding the Mind’s hand like a little kid and helping to guide the Mind to re-align its judgments with raw awareness.

Another one of my recent insights.

This is kind of a new insight I had.

This is kind of a new insight I’ve had.

Try to get in sync where you are sleeping when the Body wants to sleep not when the Mind wants the Body to sleep. Body awareness can be built where the Body will communicate very clear information about when and how much sleep it needs.

Your intellect will come back to you. I went through a stage like this myself. You can't rush this process. Just be patient. Intellectual interests will return for you.

How is the Mind projecting this concept of Law onto reality? Where does this word and concept called "law" come from? How exactly are you assuming that this "law" metaphor models or describes reality? Are laws part of reality or something that the Mind lays on top of reality?

Just keep an open mind and resign yourself to whatever happens. Relax and don't tense up your body.

I had a whole slough of things that I wanted to do in Personal Development that the Universe recently corrected me on. I feel kind of bad about it, but also I respect the decision. Make sure you are listening to the guidance of the Universe -- the closest word I can find that captures this idea is "intuition". Sometimes resistance is there for a reason! You gotta look for the source of the resistance to determine whether it should be heeded or busted-through.

I just bought this book. I look forward to reading it and applying it.

Nice insight. Language and the theories created using language are entirely metaphorical. Read this book to find out more:

What vitamins and supplements are you taking?

Yeah. It's a very high level. Watch this video to get a taste of Stage Turquoise: Background:

If it looks really good, smells really good, and tastes really good -- it's probably, but not always, bad. Use that as a good rule of thumb. When you develop Body mindfulness, your body will tell you want it wants and needs.

Since I use this face wash, I have no more problems with acne. Highly recommended. https://www.amazon.com/Clearasil-Daily-Clear-Hydra-Blast-Oil-Free/dp/B00HB0WYT2/ref=sr_1_sc_1_s_it?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1513664917&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=clearasl+daily+clear

When I ask: What is reality? Am I expecting you to give me a set of words in response? Should I put them in a bag and carry them around with me? What makes your words relevant or valuable to me? What am I asking for when I ask this question? Does that intention align with the "somewhat arbitrary" set of words that is given to me by a particular responder? What is this 'What is X?' game that we are playing, where X is a word? What's really going on in this word-association game? Here's a famous example from Plato: Knowledge is true, justified, belief. Is that a strange-loop? Contemplate it! What is really going on in this "definition"? Video on point to watch:

What’s your daily meditation habit like?

What if everything you just gave me here I regarded as just black and white markings?

It's good. I enjoyed it. I feel like the Now never changes. That's really the most important insight in Metaphysics. The Now does not change.

This is exactly what Leo's Life Purpose Course was designed to guide you through. Get that as soon as you can and start working it.

The only way to get a real answer to this question is to do Leo's Life Purpose Course. Invest in that now. It will be worth it to you.

You seem to have a high value for education, how come you aren't honoring that? OR maybe you don't really authentically value education, but the Shadow realizes that you should value it, so you are judging yourself for not doing something that you feel you should be doing.

Watch this video: