Video Notes - 65 Core Principles Of Living The Good Life

[Cepzeu]

Hi everyone

I thought this video was very well done and plan to integrate these points into my life. Below I've copied the list as well as some bullet points regarding each list item for your convenience, in case you want to print these or put them in your commonplace book. 

(((((EDIT: I just realized that the forum won't let me keep the format of my OneNote entry so I've attached a Word document as well as adjusting the format here on this post)))))

 

65 Core Principles Of Living The Good Life

 

1. No ideology and no dogma of any kind

- Most teaching is filled with ideology and dogma - be wary of this

- Very easy to fall into some kind of ideology

- Work on undoing the ideologies you were imparted with

- You are after freedom of your mind. Ideology is anchoring

- Very ideological people can't change themselves

2. Big picture thinking is greater than technical knowledge

- Don't get lost in details, keep the big picture in mind

- People who are extremely focused on the details have dysfunctional lives

3. Direct experience is king

- Experience is the only thing that is real and exists

- Everything else is imaginary

- Ground yourself in present, direct experience

4. Self-experimentation

- Everyone is different so you have to figure out what works for you

- Get good at troubleshooting

5. Radical open-mindedness

- We enter this world not knowing anything

- We need to fully explore every nook of reality

- The ego mind prefers to be closed-minded

- Doesn’t mean you believe a bunch of ridiculous things but you are open to experiencing them and don't judge them prematurely

- You may need to deeply explore topics until they make sense

6. You do not judge things which you have not experience personally

- Don’t think you understand something that you haven't experienced

- e.g. judging someone without knowing their story or background

- Recognise when your mind is about to judge something

7. Question everything

- There is nothing too sacred to question

- Question and be mindful of underlying assumptions

- Look for assumptions being made

- Keep in mind that the burden of truth is on you, not on the other person

8. Care about philosophical and metaphysical matters

- These are more abstract but they do have practical applications

- There is more to life than the transactional/pragmatic business of everyday life

9. Genuine intent at Truth at whatever cost

- You've got to pay whatever cost it takes

- Without this you will keep falling into falsehood and delusion

- Worldly pleasures are pursued through falsehood

10. Genuine intent to understand every point of view

- Average person stays in their POV and judges other POVs

- Learn to jump into other people's POV

- The world IS the collection of people's POV

11. Integral thinking

- Every POV or perspective contains a kernel of truth, even the most atrocious POVs

- Combine all POVs, don't limit life to just your POV

- Discover what the kernel of truth is in every perspective. What is the other person passionate about in their POV

- Every point of view, even your own, is partial

12. Everything basically boils down to inner-game

- All problems and all suffering is self-created and self-inflicted

- We live in a reality of consciousness not material

- Be aware of the limits of your current paradigm

- To solve everything, master your mind

13. Life-long learning and self-education

- Take ownership of your education

- Learn about life proactively

- You have no information about the world when you are born

- 200 books over the next 5 years

- Books, online workshops, courses, in-person workshops

- Don't be cheap

- Develop a system for taking notes

14. Observation

- The key to learning anything

- The power of observation is enormous

- The antidote to being lost inside your own mind

- Observe everything to learn about yourself and the world

- Pure direct experience

15. Plan to meditate for one hour every day

- A cornerstone habit, you must install it

- It will take you a while to start enjoying it

- A form of observation

- You can't buy spiritual advancement, you have to do the work

16. Ego is the root of all evil or suffering

- The sense of you

- The story of how you were born and had all these problems and how you are sitting there as a material creature

17. Self-deception

- The biggest thing you need to be worried about in life

- You deceive others less than you deceive yourself

- Get good at seeing your own self-deceptions

- All your problems stem from self-deception

18. Self-bias

- Need to see how ego distorts perceptions for its survival

- Conflicts of interests and self-bias

- Everything is biased by your needs

- All of this is preventing your form accessing the truth

19. All fear all judgement all evil all anger all suffering are delusion

- Truth removes these and lets you enjoy life

20. Do not demonize anyone

- All demonization is delusion

21. Reality is perfect

- Can only appreciate this when you have good inner game and consciousness

- Your level of being bothered by external things is a good measure of your growth

- How am I creating the imperfection from the perfection that is already there

22. The purpose of life is to raise your consciousness

23. The purpose of life is to raise your capacity to love

24. The purpose of life is to take in the beauty of life

- Of everything including mundane things and the ugly things

- Don’t just go through the motions of life

- It's hard to see the beauty in things that are affecting your survival

25. The purpose of life is to feel alive everyday

- Be less robotic and mechanical

- These four help you orient yourself

26. Build your metaphysical connection to reality

- Pursue/be spiritual

- You are existence itself

27. Counter intuitiveness

- Often you have to do the opposite of what you thing will work initially, especially if you are inexperienced

- Do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. Most people get mediocre results in life

28. Non-duality is the ultimate truth

- All boundaries, categories and distinctions are relative and ultimately collapse

- Nothing will hold if you follow it all the way

- The mind constructs all these distinctions and they are all false

29. Absolute truth exist but it cannot be thought, believed, imagined, spoken, written proven or argued

- Absolute truth is unlimited

- Proof is limited

- Truth is broader than proof

- Can get there through spiritual practice, stop wasting time thinking about it, just stop it.

30. Reality is not material

- Reality is a giant mind

- Things that appear physical are all one mind. Imaginings within a mind-scape

- Psychedelics help with this

31. Life is a dream

- There is no external world beyond this dream

- Can awaken from the dream, and disidentify with your attachments to the dream

32. Reality is infinite and god is a real thing

- The word god points to infinity

33. You are god

- You created yourself, the entire universe, and everything, and you are everything

- Realising this will help you take responsibility for your life

34. God is the devil

- God and devil collapse into a unity

- Stop being bothered by evil, it is a part of infinity, and there is intelligence behind it

- You need to understand the illusion of reality/maya

- The dream is hypnotic and self-deceptive

- This is not something to ignore it is something to embrace

35. All identity is relative and fluid

- There is no absolute identity in reality

- Your identity has been changing all the time

- Same for collective identity - countries, companies, political parties

- You can change what you identify with

- Identify with the absolute and death is no longer a problem

36. 99.999% are deluded and asleep

- Don’t get lost in the delusions of other people

- You won't get a bunch of confirmation from others on this work

37. Society is still in the dark ages

- The 21st century is not some kind of advanced society

- We are still very dysfunctional as a species

- Don’t get seduced by the façade erected by society, we know very little

- Society won't just give you answers about how to live a good life

38. Development and awakening

- You want to awaken from the dream but you also need to master living in the dream

- Two core avenues of growth in your life

- To seriously awaken you need to also be developed to be in a position in life to seriously pursue awakening

39. Figure out who you are and what do you want out of life

- Hone in on your purpose

- As much clarity as possible, will take a lot of time

- Will help you make decisions

- A good life does not happen randomly

40. Authenticity

- Strive every day to be more authentic

- You get happiness and fulfilment from being authentic

- Inauthenticity is a survival strategy

- Strip away your fears, worries, and social conditioning

- Your relationships need to be authentic but you have to discover who you are and what you want

41. You need to develop a life purpose

- A sense of what you're doing in your life

- Merging your career with what you want out of life

42. Take 100% responsibility for your life

- Don’t blame anyone, observe yourself blaming people and stop

- Assume the burden of solving the problems that come your way

- Allows you to stop being a victim, gives you self esteem

43. Be a leader

- Lead yourself, be proactive, take risks

- Lead others around you

44. Be a creator

- There is so much stuff you can create

- Create things you enjoy

- Provide massive value to mankind

- People who lack life purpose are sucked into the life purpose of another person

45. Reason and rationality cannot be trusted

- Truth is transrational

- Every criminal, con artist, dictator etc. work through reason. The mind backwards rationalises what it does, self-deception to justify egoic agenda.

- Any time you hear appeals to reason, be suspicious. Same as any person trying to be extra moral

46. Embrace paradox confusion and not knowing

- The person who thinks he has everything figured out perfectly is deluded. Models are finite, reality is infinite.

- Truth is larger than proof

47. Emotional mastery

- Observe and figure out how they work

- This does not mean being hyper-rational and suppressing emotions or outbursts of negative emotions

- You experience emotions deeper and are more conscious of what they are

- Emotions drive reasoning and are more powerful than reason for your motivations

48. Integrate the masculine and the feminine

- Go deep into your masculinity but don't create a shadow of the feminine. Dive deep into feminine as well and integrate it.

- Doesn't mean you need to be 50/50, be what you feel life but don't polarise yourself extremely

49. Non-manipulation

- Ego manipulates everything

- The less manipulative you are as a person the better your life will be

50. Everything is relative

- Anything except the absolute is known in relation to something else

- All conventional experience you have is relative

- All truth claims are relative

- All morality is relative

- Science is relative to the human mind. Change the mind and science flies out the window

- Changing context changes your outlook

51. Context over facts

- Facts are dependent on context and are relative

52. Pull from hundreds of diverse sources

- Diversify your portfolio of knowledge

- In order to avoid getting trapped in a paradigm and get locked in it

- By learning a lot of things you learn about the traps as well

- Can't take Leo as your only source either

53. Satisfy your base needs so that you stopped craving

- Use Maslow's hierarchy of needs

- Handle the needs stuff so you're not craving it

54. Master your basic survival and livelihood

- Figure out how to survive in the real world

- Learn how to hunt before you dive into enlightenment

- Learn how business and money work

- May need to forget about enlightenment for now and learn to make a living

- Learn the skills needed to survive

- Become independent and self-sufficient

- This will break the cycle of fear and let you do the higher stuff

- Try to get this sorted by 30

55. Mastery

- Need to be a master in at least one thing

- Stop dabbling

- Doesn't mean you don't have hobbies

- Enjoyment in work comes from mastery

- Takes 5-10 years to become a master

- Millennials don't pursue mastery

- Start by mastering one thing that you enjoy

- The older you get the harder it is to master things

56. Beware of distractions

- Distraction is the ego's favourite tool

- Watch the distraction video

57. Systems thinking

- See systems at work everywhere

- There is an ecological connection between everything

- Problems are not black and white, everything is interconnected

- Feedback loops

58. Be a good citizen and be conscious of your ecological footprint

- You are an ant in a colony and have an impact on the colony

- Think about what you are contributing to

- Be conscious about how your actions impact the world

- e.g. eating meat, buying stuff made in sweatshops, polluting etc

59. Be strategic

- Think 5-10 years down the road and plan how you will get there

- Go through multiple stepping stones to reach goals

60. Happiness is only possible with enlightenment

61. No material possession will ever make you happy

- This is like a law of physics

- Includes relationships, family, knowledge, travel

- Accept it and work towards enlightenment

62. Be happy all by yourself

- Train yourself to be happy sitting doing nothing

- Doesn’t mean you shouldn't socialise and have fun with friends

- Most titillation is distraction

63. Keep your life simple and spartan

- Be mindful of filling up free time with distractions and social obligations

- Have several hours every day to work on spirituality

- Focus on the inner game

64. Without practice, exercises and techniques there will be no results

- Theory is important but alone it will produce 1% of results

- Go beyond theory and do the work

- Psychedelics, meditation, meditative yoga, journaling, contemplation, visualisation, solo retreats are powerful

65. Do not turn Actualized.org into an ideology

- Don’t violate principle 1

- Don't turn it into another religion

 

Be intelligent about how you implement the above, be strategic.

 

65 principles.docx

[Cepzeu]

P.S. Attached Word doc is at the bottom of the first post.

[Sahil Pandit]

@Cepzeu Which one's are you looking to embody? 

[Cepzeu]

2 hours ago, Sahil Pandit said:

@Cepzeu Which one's are you looking to embody? 

Well, all of these eventually.

[Sahil Pandit]

@Cepzeu Well, yeah. But if you were to start tomorrow. Realistically, what would u do? 

[Cepzeu]

@Sahil Pandit

Ah ok. I'm currently focusing on the ones centred around life purpose, mastery, and survival (38, 41, 42, 44, 53, 54). Basically trying to integrate all the Beige - Green spiral dynamics stages so that I can move on to Yellow without leaving something behind. I feel I am somewhat developed spiritually but I need to be strategic and get myself into a financial position to be able to actualize more yellow and turquoise values without creating a shadow of the lower stages.

[Sahil Pandit]

@Cepzeu Smart move! 

Thanks for sharing.