Joseph Maynor

It is interesting how we are trained to talk this way in University.

No self is a tricky teaching and needs some caveats.

Okay. Then I am glad I had this conversation with you because you don't understand what I am pointing to yet.

What I said is that the I Am is not going to mean much without Self-realization.

I did not intend what I said to be taken that way. No problem.

They are doing this to create a business and to make money.

To be honest, without work with psychedelics it is going to be very difficult to awaken.

There is intelligence in the Absolute or I Am.

I was trying to give you a pointer as to why the I is not always ego. You seemed to be a bit waffly about it. No condescension.

The Self is Absolute. But saying this is not going to do much without the realization.

This is what a tomato is.

My Top 3 Clips from 101-150 116 Spiritual Teachers Are Wasting Your Time 122 What Is Requisite Variety 143 Things You Can't Trust Anyone With

No I prefer to play live. I have made videos that were tutorials but I took them down because I realize my approach to playing Jazz is so different from what is commonly taught that they might even be harmful to Jazz students who are trying to make a career out of being a Jazz musician. This is one of the performances of me playing live on YouTube. It is very old.

But this begs the question as to what deliberate practice means. I never wanted to play music to please anyone else. I decided early on that I would only play what I enjoyed and I took the attitude that if others like it, that is a bonus. I play music for myself, so this is the difference between doing something for yourself primarily or doing it to make money -- where you are doing it to impress or please others because you are trying to make money doing it. However, I still want to improve even if I am doing it for myself because I hear myself and I listen to a lot of music, so I want to sound better for me. But that is a different motivation and not the same sort of pressure of trying to make money or a career as a Jazz musician. For me deliberate practice is whatever I want to do, but I do see how if you want to improve, it is good to find a way to attain another level: otherwise you're not really pushing yourself, you are just looping on what you always do. That is not really practicing. Practicing is when you are isolating something to try to become better at mastering an artform.

This video is tough to watch.

I would say the overarching I Am is not ego.

Yes. This is the most important thing. To keep playing. Practicing depresses me because even when I am practicing I like to be playing. I don't have a strict duality between practicing and playing. When I am practicing, I am still performing for myself. It is always about the sound and performing IMO.

Anyone running a business must elevate their brand and themselves, unless you want to rely completely on donations.

This is the elephant in the room. This is why arguing about spirituality never ends.

I think the I Am goes beyond ego. Ego is a very loaded term so I don't like to use it in this context. But there is an I that is not part of ego to use your word.

I agree with this with the exception that the center is not synonymous with the ego IMO.

I've had close friends that have schizophrenia, so I do know how they differ from me. I try not to be judgmental.

My experience suggests otherwise. I've seen situations where people behave in not very nice ways because they do not think morality exists.

Doesn't assuming everything is a hallucination seem like a schizophrenic take?