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(Something to keep in mind, this video came out in April 2015. In Leo's blog on Dec 2017 he wrote: “I was wrong about some of my earliest characterizations of enlightenment as the ultimate fix for unhappiness and all your psychological neuroses. That is a half-truth. In reality, enlightenment, strictly-speaking, will not fix all your neuroses. Although it is usually a big leap in the right direction.”) ? 199. Summary: Enlightenment FAQ - Part 2 This is the second part to Enlightenment FAQ - Part 1. Summary is here. 1) “What are the benefits of enlightenment?” -Breaking free from your mental prison. You stop being a slave to your thoughts and to your emotions and you get a deep, meaningful tranquility in your life, which is something you’ve been searching for your whole life without realizing it. You can experience tranquility, regardless of external circumstances (breakups, getting fired, losing loved ones, poverty, rejection, etc.) How cool would it be if you could keep your cool throughout that without getting crazy agitated? -A deeper understanding of reality and truth. Understanding how your consciousness works is the key that unlocks it all. -You’ll still have moments of sadness, loneliness, frustration, anger and annoyance. However, your relationship to these emotions changes completely. These upsetting emotions no longer become a source of suffering. They just become another experience, not really any worse or any better that any other experience. That’s freedom. -Relief from your self-image problems, like shyness, lack of confidence, low self-esteem, worrying about how you look, trying to live up to certain people’s expectations. You get rid of that by getting rid of the self. -There’s a whole video that answers this question. (ep: Benefits Of Enlightenment.) Summary is here. 2) ”Does this mean I’ll have complete control over my emotions once I’m enlightened?” -The truth here is there’s no self. There is no you. So, who’s going to have complete control over his or her emotions? Nobody. If you think that's going to happen, here's some bad news: you have zero control over your emotions because you do not exist. Paradoxically and counter-intuitively, once you surrender yourself to this fact, you get complete peace and calm with your emotions. You get pseudo-control, you get the appearance of control. It’s as though you have total control but, in fact, you have zero control. -The biggest reason you need control is you’re a slave to your emotions. Once you realize that there is no “you” who’s experiencing emotions and no “you” to control emotions, you get calm and cool with whatever emotion is happening. -Enlightenment doesn’t make you emotionless. There will be plenty of emotions, but your relationship to them will change completely. So, you will appear to have complete control over your emotions or a lot more control than the average person. -The reason other people suffer from emotions is because they believe there’s a “them” inside who’s being threatened by the external world. Once that notion is removed, life flows very, very smoothly. 3) “Why pursue enlightenment? What if I’m already happy in my life?” -Well, another bitter pill for you to swallow is, you’re not actually happy. You’re lying to yourself and saying you’re happy, but you’re not. -Currently, your happiness is contingent upon external circumstances. So, even if you’re happy right now, in this moment — maybe your career, relationship and fitness are going great. If we remove any of that, you’re going to be very, very miserable. So, your happiness is extremely contingent. You got to be very careful about saying that you’re “happy.” -It’s not possible to be truly happy without being enlightened. So, unless you’re enlightened, you can’t be happy. It’s psychologically impossible. Why? Because there's a falsehood that you’re living. You’re telling yourself you exist when, in fact, you don’t. -That’s reflected in your entire life. You’ve never been able to have consistent, true happiness. What you’ve had is this rollercoaster ride, because external circumstances change all the time. -Well, you’re happy right now, if we take one snapshot, but how happy are you going to be five minutes later? You’re not going to be very happy. That’s basically your current condition in life. 4) “But, Leo, why don’t I just earn millions of dollars and wait until everything is perfect? Won’t that sort everything out?” -That’s a delusion. Even if you get so much money and power that you’re “untouchable,” you’re still going to face disease, loneliness and death. In the end, your life is going to end in misery, no matter how happy you think you are right now. So, really, you’re not happy. -Even if you have a great relationship, career and great health, on a minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour basis, your mind is driving you nuts. You’re having insane thoughts. You’re sabotaging yourself, you’re getting angry, you’re jealous, you’re fearful. -It’s not possible for you to be happy because you actually believe if you lose these things you will be unhappy. You have a false paradigm in place. You must get aware of how your mind tricks you into a false sense of happiness. -Part of enlightenment work is to realize you’re lying to yourself all the time about how well this egoic paradigm is working for you. The ego keeps telling you it’s working and you should continue using this paradigm. If you look carefully, you can see this paradigm is rotten. It’s not working, if you’re very honest. 5) “Should I stop pursuing goals in my career, relationships, fitness and health and with my hobbies?” -Becoming enlightened doesn’t mean you no longer have any relationships, or hobbies, or an exercise routine. Enlightenment is an inner knowing and a realization, it’s not any lifestyle per se and it’s not any particular external situation. If you really, authentically want a relationship, be in a relationship. If you authentically want good health, go get good health. If you want to live in your house and be able to pay your electricity bill, then you should probably have a job. If you enjoy some particular hobby, like playing basketball on the weekend, or you like sailing or surfing or whatever, those are probably fine hobbies. -The problem is that a lot of people have egoic goals. You’re pursuing these goals because you think they will make you truly happy. So you’re like an addict. You’re a career addict, a relationship addict, a health & fitness addict, and you think that that’s going to be your salvation. Those are the wrong reasons, so you should probably stop. Why? Because they are not going to make you happy and they are an opportunity cost. They are taking time away from your ability to do inner mental development and find what would truly make you happy. -Everyone will have to judge for themselves which goals are authentic and which are not. This is a very tricky process. You don’t really know! eg: You might tell yourself that going to the gym is an authentic goal of yours, but you might discover the only reason you’re going is to uphold a self-image as a hot ripped dude. Authentically, if you weren’t trying to uphold that self-image you probably wouldn’t need to go to the gym as much. 6) “Isn’t enlightenment dangerous? Couldn’t it be eroding the foundations of a happy, healthy, normal life?” -The only danger, really, is the current egoic paradigm that you’re living under. All the evils in the world don’t come from enlightened people, they come from selfish people. If you think you can be above the egoic paradigm while still living from the egoic paradigm, you’re kidding yourself. If you think you’re not capable of evil (crime, theft, rape, murder, genocide, bigotry, racism, getting angry at people, and violence of all sorts), it’s only because you’re sitting in a cushy position in life where you’re not being threatened. -You would commit all those evils under the right circumstances. As soon as your ego is threatened sufficiently, you will resort to all those evils. Why? Because, fundamentally, you think you exist and that you need to be protected and defended. How do we overcome this? By removing the notion that you exist. In fact, there’s nothing that needs defending. -This can seem dangerous and threatening to talk about because it goes against a lot of your worldviews and cultural assumptions. It can seem like a negative process. Destroying the mental concepts in your mind can feel like you’re eroding the moral fabric of your being, that it’ll lead to nihilism, insanity or make you anti-social. (clip: Nihilism and Confusion [9 mins]. ep: Nihilism) In fact, all those bad things are just the ego paradigm run amok. That’s who you presently are, but you’re just masking it. The enlightenment paradigm frees you up from all that. This makes you the least dangerous person to yourself, to society and to everyone around you. When you have nothing to defend and protect, you have no need to go out and hurt people, or commit suicide or do anything dangerous. -Insane people, criminals and serial killers have monkey chatter in their mind all the time. This is the exact opposite of enlightenment. Enlightenment is the silencing of the monkey chatter. When you’re perfectly calm, present and happy in the moment, who are you going to bother? What’s the danger? You can easily discover this in meditation. When you’re meditating and very focused, you’re in a totally peaceful, innocent, innocuous state. It’s the ego that tells you this is dangerous. It’s how the ego defends itself. This is a defense mechanism. Watch out for that trap. 7) Is Enlightenment really for everyone? Isn’t it only for a very small segment of the population? -No! Enlightenment is one of the most universal things that people ought to pursue. Things like marriage, kids, a six-figure income, scuba-diving, marmite, cheese and mayo on fries, a Chris Evans film festival, are all particular things that some people might like and some might not. If you want to live to your full potential, if you want to be happy and peaceful, if you want to experience the truth of your being on a profound level, then this is for you. This is not just for monks or hard-core self-help junkies. -Leo feels very comfortable saying: You should become enlightened. No matter who you are, no matter what culture, location, religion, scientific background, age, income, family situation you come from. Why? Because this is one of the most fundamental truths of your existence — understanding your true nature. Your true nature is not what you’ve been told by society. It’s not this entity, this body or this mind. Your true nature is, actually, nothingness, but you need to discover this. Anyone with normal mental health can discover this. If everyone discovered this, society would be completely transformed. It would be the biggest shift that human civilization could experience, bigger than anything we have invented. -This would be more powerful because it would change the whole world’s orientation towards life. This would give you the happiness and peace that you really, really want. So, this is not for radical people. -One thing you can find universally, across all cultures and peoples, is that they have monkey chatter and drive themselves crazy with it. They have emotional, neurotic problems and can’t be happy. Because happiness is the objective of life, this is for everyone. The only reason you do anything, that anyone does anything, is they believe it will make them happy. The problem is that most people do things that will not make them happy, but they don’t realize it yet and they don’t want to admit this fact. 8) ”Won’t spirituality make me a tree-hugging, hippie slacker? How do I stay on the right track and avoid bongo drumming, singing Kumbaya and smelling like patchouli oil?” -This is a stereotype. In fact, hippie tree-huggers are not enlightened. Slackers are not enlightened. Leo’s doesn’t identify as a hippie, New Age thinker. He doesn’t like that sub-culture. He’s not a slacker. He’s very productive and wants to achieve stuff in his life. If you actually go and meet a real, enlightened person, you’ll see that they are not a tree-hugging hippie slacker. These people are productive when they want to be. This hippie sub-culture seems spiritual, but it’s actually a false spirituality. They live their lives incongruently. It’s one of the things Leo doesn’t like about hippies. -If a hippie was really living congruently, they would become enlightened and then counter-intuitively, they would drop a lot of their hippie ways. Hippies are reacting against a certain element of society, and this creates another element, a philosophy, a mind-set, belief systems, and a world-view. Enlightenment is about wiping that slate clean, emptying yourself of those cultural reactions and world-views. It’s just a calm, peaceful neutral. So, don’t worry about becoming a hippie slacker. 9) “I enjoy my vices (sex, alcohol, drugs, food). Sometimes I like to combine them in unique and interesting ways. I also enjoy my career. If I have to give that up why would I want to become enlightened?” -Enlightenment is not a particular lifestyle. It’s an understanding, a realization. Vices aren’t in and of themselves wrong, bad, evil, or even anti-spiritual. They’re not compatible with enlightenment. In fact your sex will become more amazing after enlightenment, if you choose to have it. You’ll appreciate alcohol, drugs and food more. You’re also less likely to get addicted to them. Why? Because you’re able to stay focused and in the moment, and you’re able to get rid of the monkey-chatter. You can perform amazingly well at work, because you no longer worry, doubt or have to protect your ego. You won’t need to look after your self image or be fearful about money. You could just focus on doing great work and be more creative too. So, none of these things need to be given up. -Enlightenment unhooks you from needing these things. So, if you do these things you’ll do it consciously, deliberately, because you want to. Your capacity to appreciate it will be much more expanded than it ever was in the past. Right now, you’re a drug addict. You’re probably going to give up addictions if you become enlightened because you’ll feel less pain all around. -So, you don’t really need to give up sex, good food, money or a great career. Although, Leo doesn’t recommend alcohol and non-psychedelic drugs because they aren’t healthy. 10) “My vices are immoral (sex, alcohol and drugs). Isn’t making money bad and evil too? If I become spiritually enlightened will I have to stop these activities? -Why are you so attached to engaging in these activities? It’s probably for egoic reasons. Even if you think these things are evil, you still probably have a hidden urge to do them. Maybe you guilt yourself for having sex, drugs, or cheating people out of money. The fact is that none of these vices are bad in and of themselves. In fact, this is a really blanket, outrageous statement, but…there’s nothing wrong with any action that you choose to do at all. The question is: why are you doing it? What’s the motivation behind it? It’s always about the motivation. -When you get the motivation right, when you remove the ego and act selflessly, without addiction and clinginess, then you can engage in these things and they will be of value in your life. They won’t have all the negative repercussions that these things generally have. -You can use drugs and alcohol in moderation after enlightenment. You can have amazing, enlightened sex and lots of money if you feel that’s something worth doing. So, don’t worry about losing that stuff, you just won’t cling to it. 11) ”I’ve already had an enlightenment experience using drugs or meditation. Isn’t that enough (mushrooms, DMT, meditation retreats, etc)? That’s the truth of no-self, right?” -Enlightenment is tricky. When you start on this journey you get little moments of enlightenment. Like on a very cloudy day, and the sun starts beaming. All of a sudden, the clouds open up and there’s little beam of light breaking through. But then, quickly, the clouds come back and close up and the light beam goes away. You’ll have mini, brief, tiny moments of no-self, maybe for five seconds here, for a whole hour here, maybe for a whole day, but you’re not going to be able to hold on to them. It’s frustrating. -This is like an expansion of consciousness. Your consciousness dilates like the lens on a camera, it zooms in and out. When the lens dilates up, you get this expansion, but then it closes back down and falls into its default state. So, what I’m really interested in here is not in a temporary expansion of your consciousness. I’m more interested in the permanent removing of the clouds. What I really mean when I say “enlightenment” is: the clouds are completely gone and you’ve just got light shinning all the time. You’re not trying, or holding on or struggling to make it work. You don’t even have to meditate anymore. You’re permanently enlightened. This is possible. This is a real state. Thousands of people have achieved this state, so it can be done. Any normal human being, as far as we know, can do it with enough work, but it takes quite a bit of work. A thousand hours of work is a ballpark figure. -Generally speaking, a drug will never give you permanent enlightenment. I don’t really know of any people who have become permanently enlightened off drugs. It can only give you a couple hours of enlightenment-like experience. -Meditation is more helpful. I recommend you start doing a lot of meditation. If you’re starting to experience enlightenment-like experiences with meditation, that’s great — but don’t just stop because you think you’ve “made it.” You haven’t made it yet. Keep meditating until you get the real, permanent deal. -Don’t assume that because you’ve had a little experience with drugs, you know what enlightenment will be like. In the end, enlightenment will probably turn out very different than you expect it to. 12) “What about my friends and family? Will I stop caring about them after enlightenment because I’m so detached from everything?” -It depends. A lot of people have very dysfunctional families and friends. So, if you’re hanging around in a gang or some horrible friends and you become enlightened, you’ll probably abandon those friends. They weren’t very healthy and now you don’t have much in common. -There’s nothing inherently wrong with family or with friends. If you have a good family and friends who bring you authentic joy, you’ll probably keep them. In fact, your relationships with them will improve. -You keep dysfunctional relationships because you have buttons that those people push. Your ego is involved in those relationships. When you take the ego out, it’s not going to bother you anymore. You’ll be capable of having compassion for them. You won’t need to be mean to them. -Also, if you’re in a romantic relationship with someone, enlightenment will make you independent of that relationship. So, if the relationship serves you, you will stay. If the relationship stops serving you, or becomes toxic, won’t have any hesitation walking away. That is what neediness does — it produces a toxic attachment. Having healthy boundaries doesn’t make you a monster or a bitch. -Living with toxic attachments is very unhealthy. Cutting them out is a good thing, not a bad thing. In general, your friendships and relationships with the right people will be significantly amplified and improved with enlightenment. 13) “How does love play into all this?” -What you call love right now, is not true love. It’s egoic love. That’s another bitter pill to swallow. You don’t really have an experience of true love. What you call love now, even in your most sacred relationships, is still egoic love. You love those people, but only on your terms. It’s a selfish love that serves you in some sneaky, underhanded way that you don’t like to admit. You try to change them, manipulate them in subtle ways, to make sure you’re getting the love you want. -If you want real, true love, all you have to do is break down the ego. Without the ego, you can love everything as much as you, right now, love yourself. Imagine how kind you would be to your family, friends, partner, and even people in general if you honestly believed that your body was not separate from their body. That you and them are literally one and the same. That’s the true meaning of the Golden rule. The Golden rule says: do onto others as you would do onto yourself. You can’t do that when you actually believe that you are here and everyone is separate and out there. If you really care about true love, you should definitely want to become enlightened. -You can only live the Golden rule when you truly believe there’s no separation between you and everything. So, you’re kind, compassionate, and loving towards everything. You’re here, there and everywhere, so you treat everything as though it’s you, which enlightenment shows to be true. That’s what real love is. Almost no one knows this practically because of their unenlightened state. 14) “Doing regular personal development has filled me with doubt. It’s created a lot of confusion about my life, my ambitions, my relationships and my business.” -In a sense, that’s exactly what we’re doing here. Because enlightenment is not about building up more of your ego, it’s about cutting out the ego. And this is going to feel scary, threatening and emotionally disturbing. It’s not going to be pleasant. That’s why so few people are enlightened. -Your mind wants clarity and certainty at all times. Your mind hates being confused and doubting itself. You need to get comfortable with uncertainty, because enlightenment is not ultimate certainty. It’s actually getting comfortable with ultimate uncertainty. It’s about realizing that there’s nothing to cling to and that there is no truth. The truth of no truth. Again, very paradoxical and fascinating how this works. -The problem with most people is that they are too certain and too afraid of getting confused once in a while. They’re also too afraid of questioning their world-view. If you’re doubting yourself, good. Stop trying to be certain all the time. This is what an intelligent, open-minded, intellectually honest human beings do- purposefully put themselves into situations where they doubts themselves. This is healthy, this is building you up, not tearing you down. 15) “Isn’t it better to hold off on this enlightenment until I’m older (50s, 60s) or retired? Isn’t it better to spend the first half of my life partying, running a business and traveling the world?” -No! Your ego’s procrastinating! The longer you put it off, the more suffering you will have in your life. Why would you delay happiness? You’re asking, “wouldn’t it be better to spend the next twenty years suffering and then finally be happy when I retire?” -In fact, many people who become enlightened report that it’s the most positive experience they’ve ever had. They wish they’d had it earlier in their life. -Some people become enlightened in their forties and their fifties, but then they have very bad experiences in their twenties and thirties, because they are just emotionally all over the place. There’s monkey chatter going around. This goes back to the earlier question of: Are you truly happy? The answer is that you’re not. -Realize that you’re closing your mind down. You don’t want to do a self-honest inquiry. You don’t really want to put the effort into this process. -Realize that your life is going to end in a very bitter way no matter how successful you are. You're going to die, you're going to have disease, and you're going to have bad relationships. All this stuff is going to disturb you a lot. -What you’re really saying is you’re at the lower stages of your development and you haven’t gone to the higher stages yet. -Normal is a very bad standard. The normal life is really a crazy, dysfunctional life. It might be necessary for you to do some stupid stuff, waste ten, twenty years, and suffer. Hopefully, you have the wisdom to short-circuit all that nonsense. 16) “But, Leo, what if you’re wrong? Are you enlightened? And if you’re not, how can you be talking about enlightenment? Aren’t you being a hypocrite?” -Leo isn’t enlightened, but he feels he can offer valuable information. He’s gone through the initial, early stages: the fight, the resistance to this idea of enlightenment. (This video came out more than 6 years ago). Enlightenment is a long journey. Leo can point out the traps. A lot of these questions in the FAQ are issues he had to struggle through. -Leo’s a normal person you can identify with, not some hippie or spiritual guru or Indian yogi who meditates in the woods for ten hours a day, everyday. He’s not a Buddhist monk, or the Dalai Lama. Those people might be more knowledgeable about this stuff, but those monks live very differently than you. Their lifestyle is probably very incongruent with the way you live your life. You probably live a much more normal social existence. -With personal development, once you move to the next level all the other levels suddenly make so much more sense. It’s so clear when you look backwards on your life and the lives of people around you who haven’t advanced yet, why they’re stuck. -If you’re very advanced, then maybe you want to go to some very advanced teacher. If you’re starting off and you like a very no-nonsense, non-mystical, non-religious, somewhat logical and scientific approach to enlightenment, that’s Leo. That’s his bias and perspective he’s bringing to you, which can be rare to find in a teacher. -As for the objection that he might be wrong: an intelligent person always has to leave room for the possibility that he might be wrong. Smart people are always revising their worldview and growing. Also, the same is true with everyone that you listen to. Whether it’s a scientist, a religious person, the Dalai Lama or the Buddha himself — they could always be wrong. That’s just a fact of life and a fact of communication. Even after enlightenment there’s still more to discover about consciousness. -Don’t believe this on blind faith. Verify it for yourself. Use your intelligence, your rational faculties, think critically but also self-honestly. Not with monkey chatter and ego defenses. Prove it to yourself. That’s how you know what’s real, through direct experience (clip: Validate Absolute Truth For Yourself [10 mins]).

I now am being put in the position of surviving the suicide of someone I love. Loved? Love. I got the message last Sunday. I felt nothing. The Monday after is when it hit me. I played her favorite Spotify playlists, and scrolled through pictures and videos of her, on her Facebook profile.

I learned a lot from watching this video. First, I felt empathy for this guy. Some people have a genetic polymorphism that makes the methylation process of the body harder. Thus, it makes it harder for these individuals with this polymorphism to detox heavy metals as the body's detoxification process depends upon methylation. What is Methylation and Why Should You Care About it

I have been on the edge of insanity and suicide. If one says death is imaginary, they should have no problem showing me there is nothing to fear.

I can see how this may apply to the majority of men who start the initial interactions with a sexual intent, but trust me when I say if a man doesn't establish a romantic intent with a woman they're interested in from the get go, there are two huge issues. 1) The likelihood of a woman placing you into the friendzone is exponentially higher. There are ways with slowly ramping up attraction without starting out as friends. A first date is going to have A LOT of opportunity for platonic development, it would be attraction suicide if a man came in to a first date raging with sexual intent, constantly trying to physically escalate, etc. While it is possible for a man to build the attraction of someone they've established platonic relationships with, the odds are VERY unlikely. 2) This is even more important - If a man is physically attracted to a woman and isn't honest about that attraction, this is extremely beta. Your strategy seems to be geared towards attracting a man. This issue is that men know within the first couple of minutes, for sure within the first interaction/hangout whether they're attracted to a woman. So if you, as a woman, are going after a man who you've established a platonic relationship with, either a) He's basically been lying about not having any attraction for you which is a huge red flag; you want a man who is HONEST, authentic, vulnerable, and un-apologetic about their attraction and sexuality. b) He wasn't very attracted to you in the first place, otherwise he wouldn't have let things play out as "friends." A man with a strong masculine presence won't accept the friendzone if he's attracted to a woman. If she's not into him sexually, s'all good, but friendship is not an option. To comprise into friendship would be dis-owning one's sexual interest and would be a direct lack of congruency. If that man is only in it for sex, possibly yes. But as a man who is high value, not dangerous, and not only interested in meaningless sex, a woman would be losing out with me if she followed this advice, and to her detriment. That may sound quite conceded, but it is what it is. "I am the prize" afterall. Besides, there are plenty of high value woman who would not only NOT have an issue with things starting out romantically, but would appreciate the fact that the man isn't going to hide their attraction. It's quite attractive for women for a man to not hide their intent. The masculine purser mode is more about chasing after goals, their life purpose. Feminine energy is more about the pursuit and creation of relationships, family, and all of that jazz. A man who is overly concerned with this type of pursuit I would argue is more in their feminine which is very unattractive. A woman will start dropping signs when she's ready to move into a formal relationship. A man should pursue of course, but I would vehemently disagree with the idea that 1) woman like men to chase them (every woman I've "chased" has either strung me along, or it's killed the polarity and therefore attraction. Many many many anecdotes confirm this is not just me) 2) it's a masculine role to chase/pursue after relationships. Just because a woman is doing the same amount or even a higher percentage of the pursuing does not mean she'll automatically question the man's interest. Giving a high quality man this amount of space is a recipe for letting him go, because for better or worse, there is an abundance of women out there who have no issues actively pursuing men who reciprocate that pursuit with facilitating dates, romance, and a love story. A high quality man living in an abundance of woman, looking for that high quality woman, will not be tripping out over the aloof woman. He'll be too busy living his life purpose and getting hit up by enthusiastic high quality women to keep up that level of effort. Or he'll move on and find a woman who's more enthusiastic.

Of course, hindsight is 20-20, but I would say this is far from 'jumbled' and infact shows clearly that he was entertaining dangerous concepts. Of course at that point, there was no protocol for dealing with users who express such leanings so it can be forgiven that it wasn't dealt with appropriately. I've seen you make reference to these 'edited comments' a few times and I wonder, do you have any evidence to suggest that any meaningful edits were actually made to these comments, and not simply cleaning up spelling errors and such? The insinuation I get from your claim is that any reference to contemplating suicide was added in much later, so you couldn't have been expected to notice any warning signs. It seems to me however that the entirety of this comment relates to the question of "if I die, will I respawn?" which is something Leo has clumsily claimed to be true before.

@OneHandClap It didn’t offend me. I’m trying not to let you make it out that’s it’s just my opinion when these I’m saying things that have factually cause problems. It’s not like shouting in the middle of a political rally because it’s not just my views. He really influenced a suicide and really influenced my friend to go homeless. That’s not just my opinion.

@OneHandClap Okay this is another problem. You’re saying this is just what I believe. It’s not. My friend went homeless and he’s factually influenced a suicide. And other people have come out saying he’s ruined their life. It’s a problem and all he does is smart off about it.

@OneHandClap Well I feel like you get understand me then. The thing is me saying something can help, even though it isn’t going to stop him. If that person that committed suicide would’ve seen someone questioning Leo, it may have helped him reconsider.

@johnlocke18 You agree that you see teachings giving recklessly which this whole thread is about. He never adjusts Or takes criticism, them even after a suicide, like making a dude feel like he has to choose 5meo over his family. It’s a problem and saying “that’s just the way it is” And letting the same things continue is why so many horrible things happen in the world. Even another person posted not too long ago about considering suicide, and instead of suggesting a psychiatrist, Leo just gave his unprofessional opinion knowing he influenced a suicide just recently.

Uh yeah it is his fault if he advocates it multiple times with very few warnings and smarts off when multiple people tell him to be more careful. He literally said you have to physically die to awaken fully and even Said it again after influencing a suicide. This is why people stay in abusive relationships, because they are constantly told it’s their fault that their partner is getting angry or whatever. Leo’s careless wording to an audience with a heavy amount of vulnerable people, which he constantly gets evidence of, is no different. You are responsible when you know you have influence.

So one guy in my past relationships was someone who scammed me financially. I mean he would cry to me that he was in big trouble financially. And I would help him by paying his way out. I always had this instinct where I would jump to help people if they were in need. With this guy I had a long term relationship and at the end I discovered that he was lying to me and he was living well with absolutely no problems. In fact he was using me and exploiting me financially to get stuff for himself. And I was naively believing his lies. In the end I found out that literally everything he ever told me was a complete fabrication. I felt duped and scammed. I felt hurt, betrayed, exploited. I lost quite a lot of money and he disappeared from the scene so I could never get money back The money is really not the issue. It's the hurt and betrayal and all the long list of lies that hurts a lot. I felt like my feelings of compassion were being misused. I wasn't good at spotting his lies He would even give me suicide threats. So that's when I began to get suspicious of him. What are ways to avoid getting scammed when you want to believe what your lover says but at the same time you don't wish your trust in your lover to be taken advantage of ? How to know if your lover lying to you ? Especially being in love makes it harder to not trust.

What's up people, I thought I'd share something that may provide a tiny bit of relief to others aswell as it has for me. I've come in contact with a spiritual teacher (Artem Boytsov and his works on https://true-freedom.net/) who really acknowledges the issue of (sometimes obsessive) suicidal ideation on the spiritual path. He went through it himself and states that it's not uncommon, since the crazy ego mind deep down just wants to die. I'll link some of his stances on this here directly: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-position-of-Vedanta-regarding-suicide https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-biggest-mistake-you-have-ever-seen-caused-by-ego/answer/Artem-Boytsov I also got to talk to him live in a yt broadcast about this and some issues, I'm on for the first 20 minutes or so: So, the bottom line I want to bring across is: If you happen to be dealing with suicidal ideation on the spiritual path, know you haven't necessarily "fucked up" or are necessarily heading in a totally wrong direction. It's all going on in the mind, the body has nothing to do with it. If you don't do anything about these thoughts, you'll be fine, sooner or alter.

About Genders Perceptual Discrepancies: Difficulties of Men Very high expectations from society. It creates unnecessary pressure and backfires. Low emotional support. Weaknesses are badly perceived. Not being interested in sports or other physical activities is badly perceived. A man's value is based on results and men who aren't able to achieve results get low support and are shamed. A lot of competition to be seen as the best result maker which causes health issues. Much more chances to die at the workplace because many men have more dangerous jobs compared to women: being a police officer, being a firefighter, etc. Higher suicide rates. Lower life expectancies. Lack of services for male victims of domestic violence and rape. They are much more man in jail than women. Also, men spend more time in prison compared to women for the same crime. Dealing with enormous rejections from women. Approaching women can cause suspicions even when its genuine. I'm sure that they are more issues, but I don't have the time to dive deep.

This was inspiring I'm gonna share some of my personal life and what has happened to me this week, and what I've learned/noticed about it. Doing this (partly for my own sanity) and in hopes of reminding those who are feeling stuck in a rut spinning their wheels in this work of "personal development", that it's not all pointless and how you could actually be making progress in ways that you don't even know. So to recap without too much detail -> - My car broke down at the start of the week. In a dangerous intersection! Then my pre-paid towing service literally HUNG UP on me lol. Too much to be worth fixing. So forced to shop for new vehicle unexpectedly. - One lifelong friend is ignoring me after I tried to engage with them again. Another friend informed me they don't want to talk anymore, and cut contact cold. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - Later that night to help digest things I went for a ride, I got in an accident on my bike and smashed my ribs and chest. Had to go to hospital. They basically couldn't do anything for me and didn't give me any painkillers either. - Missed work all week because of my incapacitating injury. In severe pain so can't accomplish anything at home. I work at somewhat of a ruthless corporate environment so anxiety hovering in my mind if they'd fire me. - While relying on my bike for transportation, found out I have a flat tire the MOMENT I need to get to a mandatory training for my volunteer firefighter position. Got zero responses for a potential ride. So missed out on all that..... - To top off all that's happened this week, I was informed today I tested positive and am in for a lifetime of a certain virus. But you know what? After all this I realized. I'm alright. Many things will happen to you in life, that are completely out of your control. They will suck too. What matters is how you react to them and what responsibility you take for it, regardless if it's your fault or not. Radical responsibility. Although I don't feel I've made a lot of preferred progress in my personal development goals. These events have given me quite a contrast to how far I've really come. Had I not done any of this work or been committed to it these circumstances would have been absolutely devastating, my alternative default self probably would be considering suicide at this moment. But to be honest I've actually been kind of laughing at it all! All the emotions that have come up have been tempered. I feel I'm in total control of them. I know I will be able to handle each thing - one at a time. It surprises me actually, because there are so many moments I'm doubting if I'm just jerking off my ego mind doing "personal development" and that it's all a game. I hope this goes to show anyone who may be doubting themselves, PLEASE don't give up! You are probably much farther along your path than you think you are, maybe you just haven't been shown it yet. Trust that this work is worth it! If you don't see me on this forum after this perhaps my luck reached the end of the rope and I get hit by a car tomorrow xD. After all the week ain't over yet! Cheers

@OneHandClap Which is why I’m speaking up. It’s a really big problem that he doesn’t put enough emphasis on it if it influenced even on suicide.

@Andyforreal And you say whining on here won’t help anyone. Yeah if people on his forum consider and actually commit suicide it can help them think twice about him being an unquestionable authority. Which is what you believe saying you have no right to speak out against him or “command” him. Yet he can say whatever he wants and you take it in without question. You say he’s not your guru but you’re literally on his forum following him. So, yes, he is in a way.

@Thought Art @Andyforreal @OBEler @Dayo @Thought Art You guys are just justifying Leo making mistakes that aren’t okay to make, multiple times. Influencing ruined lives and a suicide. It’s like back when there were slaves the justification was just “that’s just how it is” which is what you guys are doing. You can’t change your views on Leo after he’s become corrupt, because you think highly of him, and then you project that closed mindedness on anyone that questions him. Then, you just try to make it out that they’re deluded and make assumptions.

OK, let me chime in here and hopefully straighten a few things out. Firstly let me clarify my motivation for making this video and also the previous one about staying grounded, and its to and put the brakes on the kind of mentality that lead to the recent suicide of one of the members here on Actualized. I think a strong grounded foundation is critical for any kind of serious psychedelic exploration, and I would say that when that is not the case then we end up with Conor Murphys and tragic cases like Sunni. I would hope that this would be something that we can all agree on - that (regardless of what else is going on) we have bodies, and that we interacting with a physical plane of existence. No matter how much of it we PERCEIVE, it is REAL (the definition reality was in the video). Actions have consequences, and its happening independent of you - now if we cannot agree on that then you leave the door wide open to future Sunni's, and needless to say THAT WOULD BE BAD. Even Leo has said similar things in the light of these events (look after your bodies, actions have consequences, don't hurt your physical form) so I really don't think there is a whole lot of daylight between me and him here (Leo feel free to correct me). We need to look after our physical bodies, because they are (at the very least) occupying a physical plane, and the shit going around you (while not being the totality of reality) is real. I notice a lot of the usual silliness here and most of it has fuck all to do with the point at hand. The plane of reality I discuss within this video has ZERO impact on what you might want to believe about God, consciousness, religion, or whatever else - so calm your tits. I'm also seeing a lot of the same "everything is imaginary" waffle which is what led to the recent tragedy, I guess some things never change... ho hum. Now the argument I presented within this video is specifically to debunk the case put forth by Deepak within the documentary. You might argue that there are other additional factors that I didn't take into account, but that's not what I was debunking. Deepak put forward his case with some very specific examples in a mainstream documentary, and there were BAD easily debunkable examples. I used the full clip quoting Deepak, and included dictionary definitions of the words at hand, so he was not in any way misrepresented. I will say that I think Deepak Chopra is pretty notorious for his word salad bullshit and that I don't think there is much value in anything he says (most of which he just regurgitates from other more useful sources). So in summary all I would say is that if this (the case Deepak makes here) was the foundation you were using to understand reality then you probably should go back to the drawing board, because its an extremely flimsy basis which might make for a quirky soundbite but doesn't hold up to much scrutiny.

I have no idea when my mental health began to decline. It happened somewhere in mid 2018 This was the time I was having a lot of fights with Joseph. I also had began fighting with my family at the same time. It was really bad I didn't want my family back then. The whole 2019 I avoided my family. I was upset. By January 2020, I was contacting my ex because I felt he really cared about me. I was lonely. I didn't want Joseph I was losing trust in Joseph. My ex wasn't giving a positive response. So I gave up That year I thought I needed money to move out But the news of Corona hit in March. And there was no chance of moving out because it was a tense lockdown I was even banned from going out This was throughout 2020. It was a tense period I broke up with Joseph finally in late 2020 around November My mental health took a stab in December,I wasn't able to cope with the thought that Joseph had cheated on me. It was the most terrible feeling of betrayal. I tried to gather myself by January and February. That was my last attempt at piecing my bits together In March and April I began to feel better but the forum was a huge headache starting March 19, I remember the last week of March I was trying to socialize and the first week of April I had made some friends and for some time I was feeling better. I don't remember the last week of April I guess I was upset and I was ill for some time. I guess this is the time when the ex girlfriend of Joseph contacted me. The last week of April , I still don't remember, I guess I was stressed out for some reason. Yea I remember the last week now. I was attacked on the forum on April 25 and I distinctly remember coming very close to a seizure I was about to have a seizure that day I was too stressed out.. I really wanted someone to talk to. Then came more harassment. Some forum member was constantly sending me abusive messages non stop from different accounts and this went on for 4 days and it had created tremendous stress because I was constantly blocking the member. Then came the first week of May.. I was dealing with family issues again regarding rent payment. I was falling short on payments and my financial situation was getting worse from that point Then came May 19 when I came across the news of the suicide of Soonhei. I became despondent after hearing the news. It shook me and left me completely depressed. I couldn't believe what had happened. I was crying and I had turned into a mess. Then came the whole YouTube Adeptus thing and a huge fight followed. Some members came after me after that incident. That was the whole last week of May. I remember being extremely upset not knowing what was going on It was June and I had decided to leave the forum.. It was clear in my mind that it wasn't a good place to be Thats when I decided to connect online dating online An old friend contacted me. He was SKB I felt a sudden sense of joy This was June 11. I began writing about him extensively. The last week of June was a happy one and I posted the thread that he called me stupid. That probably was the last week of June. I was happy for a while. And I don't remember much after that. I guess I was more interested in religion after that point. I was interested in Islam at that point. I was learning about Islam in the last week of June and the beginning of July And the last 6 days were an utter nightmare. I guess that's when I Turned to religion for peace

@Roy I don't plan on hurting myself, only the neurotic mind craves suicide. I do intend to drown it in being though.

You do not need nor deserve to create more suffering for yourself through ultimatums. Is this a limit you feel exists and is true? Why can you not serve others and yourself at the same time? And can you honestly think of ways to serve yourself where you don't need to suffer, but rather feel good? What could that look like? Perhaps that is why you fail to be happy. Setting standards where there needs to be none. Happiness is simply radical contentment. No time conjuring up conditions needs to be wasted. I'm really sorry for what you're going through @Onecirrus, but it doesn't need to be the end of the road. There is nowhere that is written. Please don't feel the need to hurt yourself. If you feel unwell take time to rest and consider talking to someone, people will always be here to help you. https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

I can't do it anymore, I just can't fucking do it anymore. It's exhausting, it's nauseating, it doesn't make any sense, and I am too conscious of its limits to continue. A life serving the self and the mind is an arduous, empty, infuriating, unfulfilling endeavor where the only certainty is suffering. My failures are catastrophic and my victories are hollow, bringing only a few minutes of satisfaction before I feel inadequate again. I no longer posses the energy to judge others or my self anymore, I'm tired of hating, complaining, and suffering. My limited conditions for happiness are never met and are guaranteed to fail in a universe where the destiny of all forms is annihilation. My mind has driven me to the brink of suicide and back over and over and over and over and over and over- Enough!!! I don't care anymore!!! I'm done... I'm done... my only desire right now is to empty myself of myself until only God remains. I just want to rest in peace. I've wandered off of this path dozens of times, wandered unconsciously back into hell, I can't do it anymore. It's just too painful. Absolutely nothing brings happiness except spirituality, everything else hypnotizes you back into hell.

You really think so? How would you explain terrorists, rapists, pedophiles, etc then? Are they just doing all those things for the hell of it? No. They have absorbed that abuse and trauma and made an identity of it, and now they act it out because that's what makes up their reality, and is unfortunately all they know in some cases. I can't remember where I read it but there was a study that showed that more than 65+% of incarcerated males were the victims of some form of abuse in their formative years. A regular functioning person simply does not strap an explosive vest to themselves and suicide bomb a market. Regardless of what they've been told you can almost assume with 100% certainty they had something terrible happen to them growing up. Of course this is an extreme example. Depending on the degree of abuse ones reaction could be from doing nothing at all to doing everything in their power to shell out what they got.

Yes. And his work is bigger than any one of us because he serves 100,000+ people. We need to recognize and respect this. I think after Connor Murphy, and the recent suicide I am sure he feels a lot of fear around people misusing his teachings. This WILL continue to happen and is likely unavoidable. I know from doing my accounting program for example how many mistakes I make doing math etc... This is also happening all the time you are listening and creating a map of reality. So, it is a really tough situation where we need to take care of each other. I love all you guys. Let's keep each other safe. Ultimately though we need to just keep our bodies, minds, relationships, social status and finances secure and use common sense. You were God living in your own reality before awakening and you will after awakening. No amount of awakening or God realization is going to change the rules of reality. Videos like "God Realization" Speaking about ultimate power for example is very dangerous and likely to be easily misinterpreted by egos. Leo has said for everyone one of us that awakens and self actualizes 1000 will become zen devils and fuck up theirs and other peoples lives. BE CAREFUL. We need you sober, clear, grounded and healthy with a high level of honesty, integrity and ability to self reflect and own up to your own mistakes and misunderstandings. If you are tripping be grounded and don't go over board. Doing a lot of psyches will not turn you into some kind of super human guru and will likely do the opposite. Go slow, use them responsibility and you will discover some amazing stuff and grow enormously if you do it carefully. But, even if you think you are being careful there are risks. That doesn't mean you are a fucking idiot or a bad person. You simply need to take more responsbility and learn. The problem with psyches with that before you do them you go into it with all kinds of concepts, ego constructs etc.. and while you are tripping and in an altered state theres no knowing what you will say or think or conclude. This is why reading, journaling, meditation, and using low doses rarely is important. It will hurt, but don't give up. So, be really careful and don't expect the 'external' world to change because of your spirituality. Expect to change to meet reality and to serve what is already, and has already been here from a higher state of embodied understanding and wisdom. Sure, there are lots of things about reality that you have to discover and it can be recontextualized a lot but... Be safe out there and be grounded. When seeing the foolishness of others around you, in the world etc. It's easy to see there is no 'common sense'... and as you open your mind up and question the foundations of reality be sure to keep your rope tied to a tree. If you lose your mind, hurt others and destroy your life that would be a shame and a very rude awakening I would prefer we all avoid here. And I need you folks here to help me when I inevitably fall and make mistakes as well. I got you, and I know you got me. All said with healthy boundaries.