Real vs. Fake Spirituality Video Notes

[r0ckyreed]

My own personal notes from video. I only put in the useful info. I omitted redundancy.

Real Vs. Fake Spirituality

 

“Real spirituality is about annihilation of the self. Fake spirituality is about survival as a spiritual-flavored self.” - Leo Gura

 

Make the distinction between fake and real spirituality. This one distinction will make a big difference in my life.

 

Recognize that there are wrong ways of doing spirituality. Contemplate for myself “are there wrong ways of doing spirituality?” Find examples and find out what makes them wrong.

 

We live in postmodern relative times. Spiritual people think spirituality is relative and we can all do it our own way. This is partially true but partially deluded.

 

Spirituality isn’t anything goes. Relativists have a problem with saying Nazi spirituality is legitimate if they hold spiritual relativism. 

 

There is a core to spirituality and there is a lot of variability within the core of spirituality. 

 

What is spirituality really about when we get rid of all tradition, beliefs, rituals, groupthink, etc.? 

 

Spirituality is about realizing that your mind imagines all of reality.

 

Real spirituality is about seeing through the illusions of all human games and realizing truth.

 

The default condition of the human mind is ignorance.

 

People live based off of their belief systems and become attached to them and confuse it for spirituality.

 

Spirituality is a deeper perception into the nature of reality.

 

My mind is always making stuff up. Always constructing things in the same way when I was a kid. Adults and kids imagination is no different. 

 

Relationships work the same way of imagining the partner better than they actually are.

 

Human are imagining things and making this up for enhancing survival. 

 

Spirituality is following a truth-seeking process in using my mind in a truthful way.

 

Truth-seeking is a personal existential inquiry, figuring out what is reality, self, mind, truth.

 

Nobody can do my pushups for me.

 

Spirituality is about questioning everything in reality.

 

Distinguish concept from actuality.

 

All of science and religion is a concept.

 

Be unbiased in my skeptical.

 

Spirituality is about deconstructing the self - my entire life story and future.

 

Why deconstructing the self? The center of all my drive is all about the self, self-survival.

 

The mind is making up myself. 

 

The self is the filter through which I make sense of and see through all of reality.

 

Truth will cause me a lot of suffering if I have a lot of illusions.

 

All of therapy is about the client to confront the truth Psychological problems come from an avoidance of truth.

 

Self-reflective people are spiritual and philosophical. 

 

Why deconstruct the self? Best possible outcome is connecting with Infinite Self. Being free of illusion. Finding inner-happiness.

 

I got my wife, mansion and I am still miserable. Why? Illusion. Illusion from society. Reality has disillusioned me.

 

Majority of problems in life are related to how I constructed my self, others, and the world. I need to question these because culture has influenced my constructions.

 

The problem of doing spirituality to escape suffering is already selfish. 

 

Spirituality is about transcending survival. 

 

I am an illusion and am trying to survive as an illusion. 

 

Unconscious survival is being an animal.

 

Humans are lost in survival. There is a higher way to live than survival.

 

Fools gold is drugs, sex, fame, status, etc. 

 

True gold is to live for metaphysical reality. Live in appreciation for the beauty of reality itself. 

 

I am deeply satisfied with existence itself without needing fancy things like drugs, sex, fame, vacations, mansions, etc.

 

I can be happier being conscious of existence than I would sex.

 

A sign of true spirituality is sitting alone at home and being satisfied with doing nothing.

 

How connected am I to the magic of the present moment right now? Do I need fancy houses and sex to be happy?

 

People turn spirituality into a survival pursuit. People think they need to go to church or go to the Pyramids or go to a yoga retreat or fancy vacations or party with friends to be happy. This is fake spirituality. There is no direct consciousness of reality.

 

Expecting to feel loved all the time is fake spirituality. 

 

Different types of illusions. Secular illusions and spiritual illusions.

 

 

I am a slave inside my own dream. Spirituality is about breaking free from mental slavery. I am slave by my own emotional attachments. I am a slave to culture. I would rather be a spiritual slave with others than be free and alone. What is required to be free of mental slavery? That’s real spirituality.

 

Real spirituality is about achieving a sovereignty of mind. Develop autonomy of mind. I will be able to think in creative ways and find solutions to emotional traps.

 

God is complete sovereignty of mind. My mind is God’s mind, imagining the universe. 

 

Everything is my own hallucination. The more truth-seeking I do, the more I see that to be true.

 

People don’t want to take responsibility for imagining the whole universe.

 

 

The whole universe is my mind, so psychology is the study of everything. Take psychology to an existential level not a personal level.

 

Religion makes it impossible to help me achieve sovereignty of mind.

 

Direct experience with the present moment.

 

Hand exercise - compare image of hand vs actual hand. All of science and religion is like the hand in my mind not direct experience.

 

People want spirituality to be magical and mystical and direct experience and looking at my hand is boring.

 

God is not in the clouds. God is the present moment.

 

 

I have finite time. I could spend the next 3 years to build a church or I could spend the next 3 years meditating. The church was an illusion because it did not raise my consciousness. The church was an obstacle to me raising my consciousness. I could’ve spent 3 years meditating. 

 

What does God want? Does God want anything? 

 

 

Real spirituality: What are all the things I am doing in my life that are obstructing my consciousness? 

Addiction

Sex

Shopping

Materialism

Preoccupied at work

Chasing money

 

How is what I am doing increasing my consciousness? How can I raise my consciousness?

 

List activities that raise my consciousness. Try out an activity for a week and see if it raises my consciousness.

 

See which activity raises my consciousness. Don’t trust any teachers or google. 

 

 

It is important to have a deep desire for truth.

 

What distinguishes real vs fake spirituality?

Why do spirituality at all?

What is the core of spirituality?

What is real spirituality?

What are distractions from spiritual work?

Why are there so many distractions from spiritual work?

Why is spirituality corrupted?

 

 

Before all human ideas, there was reality, which means the human ideas are not truth.

 

Spirituality is about not-knowing. Be able to contemplate and let go of all ideas to the point where I don’t know I’m human. 

 

Let go of belief of round earth. Sit in not-knowing.

 

 

Almost nobody teaches real spirituality. 

 

Real spirituality is about annihilation of the self.

 

Nobody wants to do the work of self-transcendence. But everyone wants to have the self-image of being good and selfless.

 

People want the fruits but not labor of spiritual work.

 

Nobody will deceive me as much as I deceive myself. 

 

Is my spiritual process making me more conscious? Is it helping me deconstruct illusion and making me more selfless?

 

 

Spirituality is not:

survival 

ego

scheming

defending constructs

tradition

authority

worship

money

romance

social media

marketing/business

Fame

 

Break free from social media influencer vortex. It is another dream. That is a distraction from real work.

 

Serious work is sitting alone in a closet for a week. 

 

It is important to generate my own love.

 

Real spirituality is being stuck on a deserted island being full of love.

 

Truth and feelings are different. Am I prioritizing truth or my feelings?

 

Spirituality is not about alleviating suffering. It is not a coping mechanism.

 

 

Fake spirituality prays for survival. Real spirituality prays to let me stop caring about survival. Pray to confront and face truth/reality.

 

The real work is sitting alone in a room dying of boredom. Get so bored that my ego dies of boredom.

 

It is like voluntary solitary confinement on myself. 

 

Real spirituality is inquiry. Fake spirituality is everything that distracts from inquiry.

 

Mother of all traps is conflating collective survival with spirituality.

 

 

How to do real spirituality:

complete not-knowing. 

epistemology and inquiry

deep desire for truth

direct experience

question everything

identify and deconstruct my worldview

contemplate reality and what am i

study how my mind works

identify principles of proper truthful living and align my life with that

work is done solo

deconstruct everything

surrender all mental attachments to all my beliefs

Mindfulness - apply consciousness to everything I can 24/7 mindfulness

face boredom, face the mundane. Die of boredom. 

See the magic and beauty of God in the Present Moment.

Hardcore meditation retreats

Cut out all addictions and distractions

Create time and space for sitting and doing nothing

Let go of ambition to be famous

Take responsibility for being a sovereign mind

 

Do I feel spiritual when I am by myself, when I am sitting alone. If I am spiritual on the cushion, then I can be spiritual in life.

 

Why do we call it spiritual work? Because I am going against survival habits.

 

If the work is easy, it wouldn’t be as valuable. Everyone would realize God and have good mental health.

 

Have a high standard for pure spirituality.

 

Do the work to have insights.

 

Don’t turn my spiritual process into an illusion.

 

Fall in love with reality. We want pure reality. The purest connection to reality as possible. 

 

It is fun to deconstruct reality. I can appreciate the intelligence of the illusion. There is a genius behind the dream. Fall in love with the illusion. Not the same thing as being lost in maya. Reality is an infinite hallucination. There is a payoff for the spiritual work. I am not doing it for a negative purpose. I am doing it for a positive purpose.

 

Live in infinite beauty and intelligence of God. A mind that hallucinates a universe out of nothing. Realize beauty of infinity.

[r0ckyreed]

Practical takeaways from video:

1. Create a daily meditation and contemplation habit.

2. Go on retreats where the goal is to fall in love with reality as it is.

3. Die from boredom.

4. Reframe spiritual work as meaningful pursuit.

5. Distinguish real vs fake spirituality. The ultimate test is if I am able to be satisfied alone and if I can let go of all attachments.

[Someone here]

@r0ckyreed hi .you always post high quality stuff brother .

12 hours ago, r0ckyreed said:

There is a core to spirituality and there is a lot of variability within the core of spirituality. 

Like there is only one God but a trillion religions .or the parable of the six blind men and the elephant. One elephant but different perspectives. 

12 hours ago, r0ckyreed said:

What is spirituality really about when we get rid of all tradition, beliefs, rituals, groupthink, etc.? 

Deep question. It's about experiencing the ultimate happiness. And discovering the ultimate truth .

12 hours ago, r0ckyreed said:

Spirituality is about realizing that your mind imagines all of reality.

No.

12 hours ago, r0ckyreed said:

Real spirituality is about seeing through the illusions of all human games and realizing truth.

 

Aaah man talking about seeing through people's BS. I can see through anyone's BS a mile away .😂. 

[r0ckyreed]

Thanks.

Your mind hallucinates all of reality. Religion is a hallucination, so is science. If you go deeper, you realize that your mind is hallucinating all distinctions - self/other, reality/fantasy, etc. 

If you get really present in this moment, you will realize how your mind is constructing the entire universe and how your mind is constructing gravity this instant. Look at a chair. Notice how your mind is constructing your entire experience and sensations of what you call a chair. Notice that it is also constructing gravity, time, external reality, other minds, and much more. This is obvious stuff.
 

Spirituality is about connecting deeply to what is most true in this present moment. 

Edited July 28 by r0ckyreed