emind

@aurum Makes sense. Thanks Austin, not to stray off topic but I just checked your Youtube channel and loved it! Just subscribed and currently binge watching.

@aurum Can I ask you something though. How do I keep myself from drawing my motivation to do consciousness work solely from attracting women? Shouldnt meditation be done for the pursuit of truth, because its a good in itself? I feel like its a hidden motive that creeps up in my psyche. Has this happened to you? Like... you start meditation just to see results in your social interactions and stuff?

@kieranperez I feel exactly the same way. I still have some remnants of Orange in me. I still struggle to be open minded about unscientific things, and find it hard to get out of a competitive mentality. Overall though, Ive been having some decent progress. For me, the main thing Ive been wanting to tackle is my vehemency with materialism, I need to let go of it, and I will, slowly but surely. When it comes to making friends, I think that as long as youre open minded and youre able to communicate to them that you are open to the ideas that come along with spirituality, nonduality, and so on, they will be willing to hang out with you, share, and raise your vibration along with them. I, for instance, probably 80% Green 20% Orange, have two close people that are at least 100% Green, if not 50% Yellow and 50% Green.

Dude, I used to have a massive problem with it, I would smoke 3-4 times a week and used it as a crutch to calm my anxiety. I eventually gave it up and its been 5 months since, its as harmful if not worse than cigarettes. I know you love that feeling of lightheadedness that you get after the first couple of inhales, but I would say, think about how you feel an hour later, two hours later, the next day, do you really feel better? What I found for myself is that it not only made me more anxious in the long run, but I also felt guilty that I was depending on something to calm my state. The relaxation effect is very shortlasting and ephemeral, you need to realize that you could feel relaxed most of the time with no substances whatsoever! I know its really hard, but you need to stop if you want to take care of your health. Let it be known to your family and friends so that they can support you. What I did is I gave it to a family member and told him to lock it and never give it back to me not even if Im begging for it. The desire goes away after a month or so. Also, you could try running or doing some exercise, it will motivate you to stay in a healthy state and avoid pernicious substances.

@lmfao Yeah, absolutely. If I may ask, how have you resisted from be tempted into lower levels of consciousness? As I write this I feel so petty talking about "low levels of consciousness vs high", but theres truly no other way to refer to it in language I guess.

@Leo Gura Yes, makes a lot of sense. I feel like this Orange tendency to think as opposed to be has a very toxic and heavy energy to it. I was thinking whenever they start arguing I should just take a step back and not engage.

So I remember a few months ago, Leo put out a video about actually learning things vs merely theorizing about them (I cant recall the video's title). Anyways, in it, I remember him saying something along the lines of "Yeah yeah, everyone says that they dont care about what others think, but they dont really live like it, because they dont really understand why they shouldnt care, they havent contemplated it properly and given it its due dilligence." Well, first of all, guilty as charged. As a people pleaser myself, I can tell I fall prey to this kind of behavior (and hypocrisy really) all the time. Despite the fact that I say shouldnt care, I dont act as if I dont care. And after giving it some thought, I think I know why. This is the statement Im going to make: Unless one is going to go massively hardcore on spirituality and retire entirely from the physical world, one has every reason to care about what others think. If you want to live a balanced life, and by that I mean having relationships, making money, having a career youre passionate about, and other things of the like that are typically considered outside the scope of true spirituality (as in meditation, self inquiry, Yoga, etc), then you will have to care about what others think. So, my ability to have a satisfactory dating life hinges strongly on what members of the opposite sex think of me. My ability to build a successful business, relies heavily on what my clients and business partners will think, my ability to cultivate friendships will require me to be aware of what my friends think of me, and so on... So, I dont understand, I really dont, when people say "you shouldnt care what people think", I honestly just dont get it. I mean, I know it is the source of much suffering and neurosis, and that it might even have a net negative effect... but how can we live without doing it?

@ajasatya I completely agree that it is a poor way to live. But, I just dont quite understand how exactly it is possible to live otherwise?

This video is a perfect example of what Leo talks about in his "Successful People Are Not Happy" video. Listening to this just makes me cringe. Not to dismiss Brandon Carter nor RSD completely though, they have valuable advice to give.

@Saumaya there is much truth in what you said

@zunnyman I think you put it quite succinctly, it is a trepidatious loss of boundaries, nothing like the blissful experiences described by masters. I even remember, the last time I had it, it was on new years eve, I was at a friend's house speaking with his family in the kitchen. There was one specific family member who was speaking directly to me, and everything was going normal, when suddenly I felt like she was speaking to no one, like she obviously continued to utter words but it was like they were not landing anywhere, there was no locus. I thereafter started panicking but was able to manage it to some extent and save face by trying to act normal, but there was nothing normal about this experience. Oh and one other thing, whenever I spoke with someone during the episode, I managed to give short automatic responses, but it didnt feel as if I was giving the responses, it was like I had long ago exited my body and it had somehow been programmed to respond and navigate in the world, but in the end, it really wasnt ME.

@zunnyman Exactly! I was surprised as well that Leo would suggest that, trying psychedellics is one of the things which I am most interested in, but also one of the things I fear the most. I havent tried Yoga yet but Leo's recommended book is shipping to me atm so I will probably start in the next few weeks. Is the type of Yoga you recommended in it? I feel like meditation and presence can provide you with so much bliss and so many beautiful moments, but the bad ones make me reconsider it. Although, in the end, I tend to think that the suffering that comes along with having a strong ego (or any ego at all) outweighs any potential difficulties I might have in my spiritual journey. I guess, what I mean is, do I really have a choice? I could not live with myself knowing that there is an ultimate spiritual truth out there to be found by embarking on a lifelong journey, and that I am hesitating to follow it. I just couldnt.

@Leo Gura I am extremely surprised that you would suggest that in all honesty. I feel like that could really fuck me up, the massive benefits that COULD come along with them notwithstanding.

@Leo Gura Problem solved! Thanks!

Whenever I try to buy the booklist, after inputting my account and password in the checkout phase, the site proceeds to say that my password is wrong. Thats clearly not the case since I can log into the forum all the time, it only happens when I proceed to buy the booklist. What can I do? Im really eager to buy the Yoga book.

I dont live in the US, so the plane ticket would be an additional cost, hence my desire to find something as cheap as possible and that lasts at least 10 days.

So I never really smoke weed, I have done so probably a maximum of 10 times in my entire life. Usually I have the normal experience of just feeling relaxed, and giggly. However, the other day while I was smoking, I experienced something truly horrible, and did not know how to explain it. My friends were laughing at me, and I kept saying that I felt like I was "out of my body", it was the most frightening experience Ive ever had. So a couple of months passed by, and then I had that same experience again, out of the blue, while sober. To try to describe it precisely, I felt like what was around me wasnt real in any physical sense, and that the "I" on which I rely upon to navigate through the world, abrubtly dissipated. I truly felt like I was just, empty space. My heart started pounding really heavily, and I panicked, I was almost crying, and kept asking myself "am I going crazy? Where am I? I dont exist!". I then googled the symptoms and found depersonalization disorder, not that Im wanting to self-diagnose, but that was what most accurately described my experience to be honest. Now, with that said, I am an avid meditator, do like 30 minutes of "do nothing" around 5 times a week. And while meditating I have had this sense of emptiness before, but unlike the "depersonalization episodes", they have been extremely pleasant. So Im wondering, how the hell does this relate to enlightenement? I certainly dont think Im 1% enlightened, but I truly felt like I did not exist, and it was extremely scary, so whats the difference between this and enlightenent? P.S. The last episode happened a couple of days ago and I havent meditated since because I feel I could have another panick attack.

Ive been chasing this girl for over a year now, and everytime she shows some interest and baits me into asking her out, only to later reject me. Now, Im pretty familiar with all the typical PUA stuff of "go out and meet 10 other girls and you'll forget her", and theres a time and place for that, but here Im looking for an internal, spiritual solution. I feel like I need to let go off her, but just cant, Ive tried meditating on it, and deep inside I feel this weird kind of lack.It is strange, but this thing is consuming half my mental energy during the day, I really need to just let it go. What can I do?

I was meditating a few hours ago, and after a few minutes in, I entered into a state of utter perceptual clarity, What strikes me as wondrous however, was how much pleasure I felt in being present. I have been meditating on and off for a couple of years, so I am no stranger to the feeling of "being present", but in previous times, I had merely felt a sense of peace and calm. This time, not only did I feel peace, but a great deal of pleasure as well. Then I thought to myself, "well, it isnt intuitively obvious that being present and thoughtless brings to one such a pleasant subjective experience, I mean, if I had never experienced this personally, and were asked if I would rather be able to have my mind filled with positive thoughts on the one hand, or have the experience of having no thoughts at all and being present on the other hand, I would pick the former anytime." Of course, once you actually get a taste of being in the moment, you will pick that over having positive thoughts. So what the hell is it, scientifically speaking that makes this possible? It just seems extremely weird and mysterious to me.

It has been widely and thoroughly proven that intelligence (as in general intelligence constrained to logic, math, and verbal reasoning) does not change throughout ones lifetime. I have always been a very intellectual person in the sense that I enjoy deep discussions about science, philosophy, etc. I read a lot, and am always updated with whats going on around the world. However, being informed, and knowing many things youve read in books is NOT equivalent to intelligence. I have never measured my intelligence, and deeply fear doing so, for fear of not being as smart as I thought I was. I dont care if you somehow define intelligence differently (as creativity, emotional, etc.) this does not concern me. My goal has always been to excede academically at the highest levels, and having a high IQ is necessary for that. So, for people who will try to sell me fairytales, please dont deny the science, and dont give me a different definition of intelligence because even if it exists, it does not concern me here. Im sorry if I sound a bit harsh, but, what is the best way to deal with this? What if Im just not that smart, and Im not meant to succeed in academia? I dont see myself enjoying any other purpose than a rigorously logical one. Advice?

I dont know my exact plans yet, but I want to do something intellectual/rational. Ill take a look at it right now, thanks!

Throughout highschool I was a straight A's student, Im currently undertaking my undergrad in a non scientific field and also have good grades. But having good grades is not necessarily representative of a keen intellect, and this is my fear. The reason why I feel like I need to be smart is because I want to contribute whatever field I end up working in with new and thought provoking ideas. However, if my judgement is not sober, and Im not sharper than the average joe, my contributions will not be worth anything, and wont bring anything new to the table. My fear is ending up being an average professor at an average unversity.

I have always been a very curious and academic person, but have been interested in so many topics that I find myself changing "life purpose" every two days. I read a lot every day about science, politics, philosophy,history, etc. I have all these small bits of knowledge in such a wide range of areas that it is difficult for me to contribute in any significant way. Im in my early twenties, halfway through a major of which Im not passionate about (changing major is not possible, I have changed 4 times). I just feel this inner craving for working my ass off towards something meaningful that helps the world, this intense desire to go all out in one particular domain. I just cant find which specific domain, and havent been able to for years, all I know is that I want to be the best in something (and that something ought to be a logical or mental discipline, not artistic or creative). What should I do? I would consider buying the life purpose course, but cant afford it yet, any advice with what Ive got?