Joseph Maynor

There is no mind in the way that we think of that term in ordinary life. Mind is an artificial rope that’s used to corral types of experience that really aren’t a monolith. Ditto for the body. Experience that we label body is not a monolith either. Somehow we got tricked with these words, these nouns, into thinking unity exists where there’s only multiplicity.

What is the boundary of me?

What is it for something to change? What amounts to change? What amounts to no change? Is there some part of reality that doesn’t change? What is that? Can you spot that in your own reality? What could that be? You gotta look at your own reality very carefully. I call this self-observation work. For Enlightenment, you wanna love doing self-observation all the time. It’s the single best skill you can have.

Here's is the dirty little secret that almost nobody knows, and even if they did know this at one time they probably don't know it now. And that is a clean life is a much more pleasurable life than a dirty life. And you can only find this out by doing it. But it's a discovery, and then you'll see that the trap of living the dirty life is people don't realize it's a more painful life in every way -- including but not limited to energy levels. Sobriety in the widest sense is much more pleasurable than being doped up on all kinds of stuff, chemical and informational and otherwise.

What does this even mean?

But see that’s a thought-story though. Nothing actually seen in reality suggests that. That’s a thought-story laid on top of what’s actually seen. I don’t think non-duality is hurt by the fact that distinctions are seen. In fact, it’s a paradox; on the one hand there are distinctions and on the other hand everything is being picked up by my Awareness. And the latter can be seen, it’s not a thought-story. This idea that all distinctions need to or should collapse is a thought-story about what is actually seen. But everything is happening within one consciousness, one Awareness, which can be seen. That’s what non-duality is pointing to. Non-duality points to the fact that God Awareness is the only thing that actually exists permanently without changing, and God Awareness is aware of fluxing, changing actual Experience; and God Awareness is also aware of illusion. God Awareness is aware of the distinction between actual Experience and illusion. Be careful about conclusions about what non-duality should be. That's you trying to fit reality into a concept. That leads to clinging to thought-stories. On the one hand there are changing distinctions, but all changing distinctions are happening within one changeless Awareness. That’s what non-duality means from a seeing point of view. God Awareness is the only thing that actually exists. Changing actual Experience exists, but it’s not a thing. There’s only one true thing in reality, and that’s the one God Awareness.

Enlightenment is a removing of all the bullshit from your lens of reality.

Because fully discovering the true Self is what allows true liberation from the suffering caused by being plagued by ignorance. But a door has to close for the door to the true Self to open. God and the Devil can't exist in the same room at the same time. The only way the Devil can exist is when temporarily God forgets who He is. Of course, most people don't even know what God is, so they're trapped in Ego without even seeing the problem fully. God emerges on your Path and when He does, that flips your life around in a way that you wouldn't know until it happens to you. But for that to happen, something else must die -- namely, everything you care about in Experience -- all your Thoughts that Experience could be optimized to serve you. All those biases that come from looking at Experience and saying this is mine! Most people don't realize that Experience actually contains only a tiny fraction of what people think it contains. That's when Maya will emerge for you on the Path and you'll start saying the word "Maya" all the time. Maya is the illusions of Thought and Experience that go beyond what's actually there in Experience. Maya is actual Experience augmented by thought-stories. But you can pull the illusion out of Experience with careful observation and reduction of ignorance that's usually caused by clinging to thought-stories rather than looking and seeing what's actually there. So, Enlightenment Work is really a careful looking at reality to see what it actually is stripped of all thought-stories about it.

I think Leo might be right about distinctions. There are distinctions that are seen that don't require a Thought to exist. You can see all kinds of distinctions in your visual field, even without the word distinction or the Thought distinction. Experience is not of a piece but is broken up into shapes and parts. Experience is also always changing, which is a kind of distinction too. One can see that Experience changes while God Awareness stays the same. That's a distinction. Experience includes Thought as Thought is a type of Experience. Seeing the difference between what's actual vs. what's an illusion is a distinction. The distinction between God Awareness and actual Experience is also a distinction that can be seen. The difference between the changing and the changeless is also a distinction that can be noticed or seen.

That would be trying to control reality to your preference. It sounds good in theory, but it's unsustainable advice. It's one of those things were I'm likely to say, you go do that yourself first and then come tell us about how that worked out for you.

Because it's much easier to sit on our asses and shoot off at the mouth than it is to diligently exercise everyday. I do stair climbing, ride my exercise bike, and do pushups and situps daily (on alternate days). By the way, I include myself in the shooting off at the mouth category too. We all would much rather gossip than do any real work. I'm trying to nip this problem in the bud myself and it ain't easy. It has to be seen as a distraction and then dealt with as such.

Even if you have money you still wanna work on Life Purpose. You still wanna work on small picture and big picture Life Purpose Work. Small picture Life Purpose Work is you knowing what your actual problem situations in your own life are and actually addressing those. Big Picture Life Purpose Work is what you want to work on that you can share with the world. This can be a hobby or business you start to give something back to the world. Having money doesn't really do squat for your Life Purpose Work. Even if you have money, you're still going to be working on stuff with your time. You want to know what to work on with your time, and that's what Life Purpose Work guides you on.

I’ll investigate this this week in my own experience. It’s an interesting issue. Can I see a distinction without a thought being present saying there’s a distinction? That’s the issue.

Do you see distinction or do you think distinction? Does distinction require that a Thought be present? For example, if I look at my hand without any Thought being present, do I see distinction?

From my own perspective and experience, Turquoise is the first stage to require some degree of Enlightenment.

I stopped playing video games around 14 years of age. My roommate in college used to play video games from the moment he came home from class until way into the early morning every day. Dude was super into it. One of those hunt and shoot games. Thank God I never had that problem. I like games more like Zelda myself. But then I don’t know squat about video games from like 1994 to the present.

Truth isn’t a lens, it’s what’s actually literally there.

Ok. Lemme try to give an answer here. I might do another one of these later too just to see if I can get at a different angle on each Spiral Stage. Red -- look at Donald Trump and how he talks. Is that subtle and nuanced thinking? Red is into manipulation, so the extent to which they will be subtle and nuanced is the extent that they get something from doing it. They're not gonna be subtle and nuanced as a value held for some higher purpose. Blue -- Blue can be subtle and nuanced. Look at how subtle and nuanced religions can be and how subtle and nuanced law is. What Blue lacks is a kind of nuance that comes from skepticism and from considering other perspectives from an impartial point of view. Blue will rarely qualify their beliefs with nuance and usually prefers black and white thinking. Orange -- Orange can be subtle and nuanced. Orange has a skepticism that Blue lacks which enables Orange to admit that they might be wrong and to want to cross-reference information in order to get a sanity check on their own beliefs. Orange doesn't really see the value in Philosophical questioning though. Consideration of other people's perspectives is also tough for Orange. Green -- Green can be subtle and nuanced. Green is where you start to get a certain modesty emerging about beliefs and knowing. Green appreciates Philosophical questioning and also values and considers other perspectives. Green can be subtle and nuanced, but tends to have a weak spot for their own moral ideology. Green is not subtle and nuanced on issues they think are "wrong" or "evil". Yellow -- Yellow can be subtle and nuanced. Yellow loses the morality of Green and sees the world as a set of competing systems that all have their own unique view of reality and that all have an Egoic interest in preserving that view of reality. Yellow will often talk about problems in terms of different affects that change will have on the network of systems being impacted by that input. Turquoise -- Turquoise can be subtle and nuanced. Turquoise realizes that all perspectives are one, yet different at the same time. Turquoise realizes that problems only make sense when tailored to a particular perspective. So, Turquoise is very subtle and nuanced with what they say because they realize that one-sized-fits-all advice doesn't cut it. Coral -- Coral can be subtle and nuanced. Coral realizes that sloppiness with Metaphysics is what causes ignorance and Ego. Coral is very subtle and nuanced about identifying the actual vs. the illusion in reality. Most people don't do this, but Coral is engaged with this. Coral is breaking down the illusion of reality like a keen observer breaks down the illusion of a magic trick.

Orange Green Yellow Turquoise Coral Please give reasons to support your conclusion. Preferably your own take that comes from your own life experience.

In what sense? Can you give us an example?

JP is not alone in being trapped in his mind. He's just the scapegoat for other people who are trapped in their minds as well.

The best way to raise your self-esteem paradoxically is through Enlightenment. God Awareness doesn't need anything or desire anything from Maya. Once you realize that Ego is an illusion, that gives you incredible self-esteem. In fact, you're the only thing that actually exists! Self-esteem is actually a non-issue because it depends on Others existing. If you're all that actually exists, then self-esteem is a non-issue.

I think Leo said something about this in one of his videos where he said that because men can't have children we need to give birth through our work. I recall Billy Joel saying that his songs are like his kids, and that each song was birthed into the world much like his kids were. Men need to find a way to birth their ideas into the world. I think that's why men outnumber women in the arts and sciences. That said, women are just as talented as men, they just direct their energies into their own families. Now, obviously there are exceptions to this. But in general, I think men need to give something back to the wider-world much more so than women do. It's a need in men. Men need the wider-world to acknowledge to us that we were here and did something great while we were here. Every man that you've known thinks he's special and wants to contribute something back to the wider-world. This is in-built in men. I think this might come from the fact that men are more focused "out there", whether that's making money, or excelling in some art, or contributing to the sciences. Men seek to do their work and make their mark outside the home, whereas women seek to do their work and make their mark inside the home. So, women are just as talented as men, but they see less need to push their talents on the wider-world than men do. Now, obviously there are exceptions to this. Even boys identify with super-heroes that do extraordinary things in the wider-world, the outer world -- think of Spiderman. That speaks volumes. Every man thinks of himself on some level as a super-hero -- now, he may not be appreciated yet by the wider-world, but that's a different issue. Girls fantasize about totally different things when they're children. Little boys want to be Power Gods basically, which is the spirituality of Stage Red. Red wants to be the strongest person in the world that controls the world and has everything he wants. Think of He-Man. Think of Donald Trump! Donald Trump took Stage Red spirituality to its pinnacle -- even becoming president of the United States. Don't mistake thinking Stage Red is immoral, that's a trap. Nobody thinks of themselves as immoral. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He-Man

Where in Brazil do you live?

Here's the crazy thing guys -- I was thinking about this too this week and I can't really decide between Orange, Green, and Yellow. I'm still thinking about it and considering different angles about it. When I come to some kind of settled land, I will post my answer on here too. I think there might be facets in the sense that Orange develops a certain facet of subtle and nuanced thinking; and then Green, and then Yellow introduce their own facets so it kind of builds. Or maybe, alternatively, the answer is more solidly one color like Yellow. But see the question is how does Yellow's nuanced thinking compare and contrast with Green's? How does Green's nuanced thinking compare and contrast with Orange's? How does Yellow's nuanced thinking compare and contrast with Orange's? This requires a lot of gathering together all of your experiences of people at these stages. That's why it's taking me a while to come to some kind of a conclusion that isn't just some off the cuff conclusory statement, but rather has some meat behind it, at least on my end. And I actually think the best kind of analysis here would be to trace this issue from Red to Coral. That's what I'm going to try to do in my answer.