Radical Openmindedness
By Leo Gura - November 30, 2015 | 77 Comments
How to break free of dogmas and beliefs
Very well done this is completely radical thinking, i’m looking forward to you doing another video on this . Love the way your mind thinks . I believe it was Buddha who said the man who knows who knows nothing knows everything.
Ema says: Great video! I loved it an found it very relaxing, soothing and empowering.
Everything you say in this video is so true and so refreshing that made me smile and shut up my ego, my mind became very still and present. I think I will use it as a meditation mantra
Thanks ….. you are a breath of fresh air…….and I have never said that to anyone before, but it fits! I don’t know what I don’t know but I would like to know it! If there is anything to really know! Sometimes I do think just the experience is enough but we all want to be in the know and write our own book! Love the way your mind thinks and how well you can express it to us!
susan says: Hi Leo,
Thank you for this wonderful video. I love your work. At first I was offended by the profanity scattered here and there in some of your other videos (I am 65 plus years old and was conditioned to take offense, then remembered that taking offense is a choice, like anything else, so I chose not to be offended and now get a kick out of it.)
Thank you, a thousand times thank you, for what you produce and share. I feel very blessed. You are very blessed to have such open mindedness and intelligence at such a young age.
I look forward to the next video.
Nuno says: Hi Leo! Last week I ask you to tell us how you see reality. You actually did not tell us your model of reality, but this questions are OK. This is a good video. Until now your followers were lost somewere in the Antarctic ocean, and now you showed them the tip of the iceberg. This is just the beginning, and I am shore you can do better. Now you can’t go back. Your work is to raise our abilities and show us our capacities. There are no limits.
Uldis says: It is a very lonely feeling. No friends. Nothing to talk about. Sometimes I feel like Palivec from “Good Soldier Shvejk” who said he don’t give a damn about that shit.
nonu says: good one
nonu says: iam not discussing…most of the time i am trying to let people see the other sides..which iam able to see..if i understood you right
We think in words. Our inner voice uses words…
As all true poets & philosophers know, to attempt to communicate or express ourselves using the coinage of words is to dive into a sea of ambivalences & ambiguities. ;
Galyna says: Leo, please correct me if I am wrong: ” all I know that “SOMETHING” exists!!!!!”
I do not know what it is, but it feels like something should exist, should
I go deeper and even jeopardize this feeling that something exist because what if it is an illusion?
Leo Gura says: I’ll just point you to the following possibility:
What if the distinction between existence and non-existence is imaginary?
Galyna says: Leo,
Thank you so much for your time. I am really lucky to find you in this world. I will definitely try to look at your answer from this prospect albeit it should be something than VOID for sure to let the reality be illusory.
Thank you. It was very kind from you to answer me. I really appreciate this a lot.
IRTAZA says: you are great….very great…
thanks..
Paula says: one of your best videos yet. thank you
John O Keeffe says: Fantastic video. Visualisation was long and hard to concentrate on fully, but very eye opening. The videos of late have been very deep. I am guessing, Leo, you must be really delving into this stuff of late. There are so many great videos on this website that I feel I will be working with the stuff for years to come and will never be caught up! A good complaint, in truth.
Love this website and think there is a great amount of value. Working through the life purpose course now and reading some of the assigned books. My brain is sore from lots of the concepts but I think my 2016 and beyond will be better for it.
Leo Gura says: You’re on the right track now. Stay the course and don’t fall off!
John O Keeffe says: Thanks Leo! I’m looking forward to it all.
I’ve recently given up drinking, begun meditation for 20 minutes a day, started anaerobic exercise and eating healthier, coupled with daily reading and introspection through writing.
Read “The Road Less Travelled” recently, absolutely amazing. Also read “The Way of the Superior man” and “The Four Agreements” as well. Have “The Big Leap”, “Psycho Cybernetics” and “Mastery” to get through now.
Your videos and website have been a big motivator for me. Thank you.
I will keep on the course.
Lyle says: I used to genuinely believe that playing lots and lots of video games would make me happy . I’ve always been into video games in my younger years but it was at 16 years old when I started to advocate it and would get really close-minded about my video game habit.
However, at early January 2015 (I’m 18 now), that started to change. I started to feel a deep sense of emptiness that I couldn’t explain I and I thought maybe it was because I was not playing good enough video games. However, after a few days, the emptiness grew to a feeling of chronic anxiety and existential dread. I didn’t know what was going on.
That’s when I decided to search “What is Happiness” on Youtube (out of desperation) and I discovered your channel. Now, my life did not immediately change drastically after just watching one video and I still suffered strong anxiety and even suicidal thoughts for two weeks. After two weeks (and some mature open-mindedness), I would have to admit to myself that my original blueprint of living life was wrong and officially began my personal development journey.
I’ve certainly learned a lot these past several months and I still have a fucking Everest to climb but I can say that I have made a huge difference in my life since the start of the year and you, Leo, have been a huge contributor to this. Thanks for all your advice and wisdom. It’s definitely changed me to become a better person. Granted, I still enjoy playing video games but I’ve been spending way more time in creative hobbies that give me a lot of joy in life like ‘game development’, ‘music production’, and even various art-related activities because I’ve found so far that I’m a very creativity-oriented person.
Thank You So Much For Your Work!
I’ve seen viruses on an electron microscope.
Children seem to have a sense of right and wrong hard-wired into them before language comes.
I’ve read and understood Meyer’s book, “Signature in the Cell,” and have dealt with human tissue for long enough to have developed an intelligent appreciation for its mind-boggling complexity.
Most of what you’re saying is true, but if I said to myself that I have found no evidence of objective right and wrong and no evidence of a DNA code writer, I would be lying to myself. There is evidence. It’s just not politically correct for a person with a science background to say so. People’s careers and reputations are attacked for pointing out the philosophical implications of the information in DNA, and the way it is organized and controlled epigenetically.
Let’s examine your dogma of “we don’t really know anything” with an open, objective mind, not swallowing it blindly in hopes of promised reward.
Lyle says: The state of “not knowing” is not a state of believing that objective right and wrong does not exist. It’s just a realization that the mental faculties you use to learn everything you have learned have its limits and that there is always going to be something unknown connected to whatever knowledge you think you know is true that may either prove it wrong or at least give you a completely different perspective on certain knowledge. And this is going to be true for literally everything including the information you have mentioned.
Leo does not have a dogma or strict belief that we cannot really know anything. I don’t remember him mentioning anything like that in the video.
In his newsletter for this video he wrote:
“I don’t place any limits on what I should believe, or what can and cannot be true.
I don’t care about any ideology or belief system.
I have no loyalty to beliefs or ideas. They are all completely disposable to me.”
This is what true open-minded thinking is like. Saying “we cannot know anything” is a belief or ideology you are falsely attaching to open-mindedness.
Thai says: Leo, I have BIG problem. I do personal development 1 months and now i tell all the thing i’ve learned from you to my parents… And they just don’t care what i talk. They said is bullshit and i was tried to explain to them but they said” YOU TOO YOUNG YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW LIFE IS” and i was hopeless. I see how my family live and think. I just want to change them, my mom live with no life purpose and my dad work with uninspired.
And i just 16 year old and i have life purpose for 2 years. They not support me on my purpose, they don’t want me to DO THE THINK I WANT. They want me to study good at school and my life purpose is become DJ/Music Producer.
Please Reply Leo, and thank you for change my life.
Leo Gura says: Your problem is that you’re trying to change them. Don’t. Let them be.
You focus on your life purpose. That’s all. Don’t expect people to understand your life purpose or support you in it. Life purpose work and personal development work is mostly done all on your own. So get used to it.
Dear Leo,
What you talk about here, for me it has been basic stuff as bread and butter. I KNOW these things in my heart. The problem for me is: how do I get on with society, with others in my society, who are not aware? how much do I tell them? can I confide in anyone?
I feel lonely out there and usually I communicate better with other animals than with my own species… I feel them (by the way it would be lovely to know if you are vegan/ vegetarian and also hold a world view that other animals are thinkers and man is just another animal).
Could you send me videos related to psychology in the work place? how to feel more hopeful with people, when you know you are intelligent and yet, feel ill confident and suspicious because of your past experiences?
Thanks Leo, I enjoy watching you!
Leo Gura says: Well… people who become deeply aware of such truths usually distance themselves from society. At least mainstream society.
Maybe you should go live in a cabin in the woods.
There’s a reason why yogi’s and Zen masters live in secluded monasteries high in the mountains or in caves.
Of course mainstream society will tell you this is crazy. But who you gonna listen to? A herd of cattle or your higher calling?
Jess Bideaux says: Hey Leo thanks, although I am finding this frustrating to work with, I appreciate that there is something above the frustration and I must keep on resisting my ego, perhaps this will actually get me somewhere, I got to be going home from “work” here in a few moments. I await your reply.
Kathy says: Leo,
I’ve been extremely interested since I accidentally ran across one of your videos about 6 months ago! I wasn’t even sure what self actualization meant! I am now journaling and working on self improvement, and have some friends that run/help with the ISA Experience, which I will be attending in February! You are still my favorite and I try to watch at least one video per week, although many times it’s more! I have often thought of some of the questions you asked in this video and I really enjoyed it! This will be one I download, for sure! After losing my husband a year ago, and losing my career as an OR RN, to back/neck injuries, I needed to pull myself out of the pity pit, and you have helped me tremendously. Thank you
Kathy RN
Ninos says: Great video Leo!!! BUT. At what point will you be sure of anything? If everything we learn can be proven wrong? When can we go with out gut instinct? Having a open mind is great but somethings we might never prove. Me and you disagree on spirituality, even though you seem very confident that you are right and I am wrong. You didn’t say it point blank, but you where very confident that my Christian belief was not right. We can both be wrong about some aspect of religion/spirituality subject, I am open to that. Your video seemed to say don’t believe in anything, it can all be wrong.
Leo Gura says: The desire to be sure of things is what needs to be challenged. This is a game the ego plays, and it’s a really stupid game that is tainting your life.
The challenge, of course, is that even after you become aware of this and agree with it, is how to free your mind of all the shit it’s been filled with by society.
The reason you cling to your religious beliefs is because they mask the existential fear that would otherwise overwhelm you. This you can easily verify for yourself with just a bit of self-inquiry. Don’t take my word for it. You don’t have to take anything I say on faith.
Dumitru says: Great work Leo! Thank you from Romania!
Sergei says: Hi Leo! Greetings from Russia! I love to watch your videos. This is a great episode, just want to point out that what you told about stars is wrong. Stars that are visible with naked eye are in our galaxy, with a distance from several to several hundred light years. I am not a scientist but from what google told me stars live on average billions of years, so almost all of the stars we see exist now. We can only see about 10 galaxies with naked eye.
But this also illustrates your point about not believing other people)
Leo Gura says: If that’s the case, I stand corrected. Thanks!
It doesn’t surprise me to see errors in my understanding More errors certainly exist in my body of work. Luckily I have you guys to keep me honest
Sergei says: Have you been inspired to open-mindedness – enlightenment theme by Peter Ralston? I am asking this because you also recommended his books very much. If I am not mistaken you also met him on workshop. What convinced you that this is the way? Besides obvious appeal of non-dogmatism and sense of deep honesty with oneself when you think this way. There are tons and tons of different teachings, Buddhist and others, and I am trying to understand what is the best to research, read and learn about.
Leo Gura says: No, I have been independently interested in openmindedness since I was about 16 years old. Anyone seriously interested in truth will be interested in openmindedness and will arrive at similar understandings because reality is what it is.
Mayur Ghule says: Leo you are my “psychological twin ” you steal my mind . That is why I am seeker of actualized.org .
Thank you 1 , thank you 2 , ……………………. thank you x times ( where x grater than 1000…..) !
Mayur Ghule says: I think what you provide is world class content for me . thanks a lot !
Nick says: Well done Mr. Leo. I’m just starting the Life Purpose Course. Jodorowsky’s Dune was awesome! Your hard work is greatly apprciated. Keep it comin
Ninos says: Can you let go of your spiritual thinking Leo? Could that be holding you back from any truth?
Leo Gura says: Letting go of spiritual thinking leads to not-knowing and true spirituality. So that is the goal, yes.
prequel says: After some months of self-inquiry and enlightenment work, my relationships with people have drastically changed. My empathy rised and I can understand them better, but at the same time, I can see all their hypocrisy and egoism, all their flaws…and this actually pushes me away from them, I can’t get along with them, I can’t get along with people who are pretending all time and just show plain stupidity with their mentality.
I’m not trying to be an arrogant, I’m trying to rise my empathy, but when it rises, I can see more clearly that nearly no one is open minded, not even a little and everytime there is pretending and stupid judgments.
And if i want to get along with them, I must put a fake smile on my face and pretend that I’m interested in their infant discussions… but I dont want this, because I want to be authentic… Is it wrong to act sometimes like a “dickhead”? How do you act? Also, I’m a highschool student, if that helps…
Leo Gura says: Be more authentic. That takes a lot of courage. You can also extract yourself out of most bullshit social situations.
There’s a good reason why yogis, Zen masters, monks, and philosophers are loners. Society is a playground for the ego. A playground of distractions and delusions.
Kevin says: Great video. Very effective and comforting. However, I do know that I die.
Leo Gura says: Hehehe… you’re actually wrong about that. Death is a belief! Your true existential nature cannot not exist. But don’t take my word for it. Discover what you are for yourself.
Death is a belief. Interesting. I can wrap my mind around that but are you saying that is it Leo? There is nothing else greater after our minds and bodies are gone. You need to do a video on death. Of course, we have brain and body death. I work in hospice care and my mom passed away 7 years ago. Then what…..I don’t find death scary but can’t deny my notion of hope for the continuation of something. Any thoughts? I think I know what your response would be. I am very open minded but get stuck at this question everytime.
Leo Gura says: You’re not going to understand what I mean without a lot of self-inquiry work.
The problem is, you actually think your thoughts are true. And you’re not open enough to the possibility that they are all false, and what that would mean.
Kevin says: I understand that to be spiritually true as well Leo. But let’s limit the definition of death to – 14 dead in mass shooting. That entire scenario, that it is a part of existence is what I know. We can’t fathom what happens when we die.
Leo Gura says: “Spiritually true”? I wasn’t aware there were 2 kinds of true. Why limit ourselves to society’s narrative when there’s something cooler and truer available?
George says: ‘In more “spiritual” pursuits, a peaceful clear-mindedness is considered laudable and, to the newcomer, somewhat mysterious. If we look closely at this state of mind, we find that at its base is simply openness, a willingness to not know. This aspect of wisdom’s clarity usually goes unrecognized, since what followers most often seek is knowledge and answers.’ – Ralston, ‘The Book of Not Knowing,’ p.36
I like this quote because it goes some way to explaining why ‘spirituality’ is the most misunderstood concept in society. We believe that learning is synonymous with ‘gaining knowledge’ when in fact it’s the very opposite. As you inhale in order to exhale, so you must un-know before realising any sense of truth.
Elton says: Hey Leo, I experienced quite alot of anxiety during the visualisation process I couldn’t sit peoperly after I felt the emotion sensations all over my hands and legs, true not knowing is frustrating..guess that was an ego defence mechanism. Also now one month is over for that stop being a critic exercise but after removing the band the critisism has increased exponentially.
Leo Gura says: True not-knowing is not a frustrating at all. It’s awesome!
You ain’t there yet. You’re fighting truth, which is always a struggle.
Steven says: what i try to do is just be aware of myself without judgement
nima says: Hi dear Leo from Iran,
I think that what you say can be Extended far more vast from our beliefs !
actually the beliefs part is the easy side of it. The complicated part is our efforts and even our desires. which means most of the things we want are not helpful to us.
I appreciate if you share you opinion on this and thank you for all good videos you share
nima says: Hi dear Leo from Iran,
I think that what you say can be Extended far more vast from our beliefs !
actually the beliefs part is the easy side of it. The complicated part is our efforts and even our desires. which means most of the things we want are not helpful to us.
I appreciate if you share your opinion on this and thank you for all good videos you share
Mobin says: Why don’t you have a specific video on social anxiety solution?
Meghan says: Cheers Leo. You draw me in with your abstract views & thoughts. I’m enjoying all your videos very much & sharing these with my 21 year old son. He also loves ‘ thinking outside the square’ .. My anxiety & inner chatter has desolved since I have listened to your videos as well.. An unexpected bonus lol! – loving your work!
Lin says: I am relisrening to these heartfelt inspiring best wisdom for me who want to live an exceptional life all my life, nonstop effort, till I leave this earth. Laziness and not hold my feet to the fire got to go starting this day this month and this year. Deep gratitude to you Leo
Newman says: Leo, I don’t want to be a numer nazi, but please take care in your videos when you employ numbers to describe a situation. Like at the minute 17, when you said “we know your body is moving at perhaps hundreds of thousands of miles per second?” Well how many hundreds of thousands of miles? 3-4? Well then my body is moving at light speed!
Don’t be so overzealous with numbers. I remember in another video (maybe about enlightenment) you said that this truth is unknown to 99.999999999% of people. Well then preciseley 0.07 humans know this truth. Now don’t get me wrong, I get the point, but please be careful. Thank you!
Very good video, by the way!
Leo Gura says: Fair enough. I admit I have a penchant to exaggerate numbers.
Tinwen says: It is good video overall, made me dizzy.
Sorry to be picky as well, but I must say, your astronomical “facts” made me laugh. Sure enough, the universe we see is not the universe today. But Leo, most of the stars you see on the sky are definitely not galaxies, you can see just a few galaxies without a telescope, if you really try. They are all stars in our galaxy, not even that far away, vast majority of them still exist (the galaxy has, if my memory is right 1e8 light years in diameter, while an order of magnitude years longer). The “milky way”, that fog in the sky, is made up of tiny stars of our “galaxy belt”, so perhaps that is a good example.
Of course I don’t know first hand what a star is or how long it lives , but as far as physics is concerned, you are off base.
Tinwen says: …while the stars live an order of magnitude years longer…
(sorry for the mistake making the sentence incomprehensible)
Newman says: Also, forgot to say, Euclidian geometry isn’t wrong, it just operates with a different kind of axioms then non-euclidian geometry. It’s like saying that if my friend and I cook with different tools, then surely one of us must be doing it the wrong way.
Also, Tesla invented the radio, not Marconi. Marconi stole from Tesla.
Now I know that one of the concepts employed in this video was not-knowing, and I am not 100% certain about anything, but if one of your top values is truth, then you will find this feedback useful.
juko says: Isn’t enlightenment more about losing yourself than gaining yourself?
Leo Gura says: They are exactly the same thing, just phrased differently. You lose the false personal self and gain the true non-object Self. These are all just metaphors in the end. Language is totally insufficient to describe enlightenment.
Okay I did love this ….. I truly believe we need to see through what is going on around us especially with the MONEY grabbers, and I do understand how the only real things that satisfy us are our needs like water, air, food & many more things that mother nature has to offer. Our wants only create more wants and for many just makes them fat unhealthy-selfish beings. That is a merry-go-round that people do need to see through….wants will never make you happy or satisfy human desires.
Here is what I do question however, Leo please respond to this I would love to hear what you think, I believe we ALL are spiritual beings with no beginning or end. We ALL are here to have an earthly experience/adventure (we choose this). I see however that many humans are trying to be spiritual (which is backwards because we already are)! So instead of spending this human experience trying to get back to being spiritual we should just enjoy the human experience which is only for a very short time and know that we are spiritual and don’t need to do anything to get or keep it……we are spiritually eternal. So give up religion, dogma, spirituality or anything that we think we need to be BECAUSE WE ALREADY ARE. I AM……so enjoy the adventure…good, bad or ugly. I say have fun with it and choose wisely! Trying to be spiritual is a conn game….we already are, and now we get to have a human adventure! Start creating, exploring, inventing, loving, sharing, caring, & living a human life! It is not the meaning we find in life, it is the meaning we put in life. Love Joy Peace
Kumary says: Hello Leo… I read that you lost your transcriptionist. If you would let me, I’d like to volunteer for you. I have some free time at home and I love listening to you A LOT because I see you are helping many people. So if you want, I am more than happy to volunteer as transcriptionist until you find one. Helping you is like helping many people for me too… I’ll be waiting for your reply.
Michael Buttacavoli says: Remarkable. Your presentation activates issues that long term meditators grapple with. The beauty of your approach is the speed one can reach troublesome behaviors to act on. One may add the use of direct experience to catalyze the doing with continuous feedback. This will reinforce being here now.
When one follows your path it will lead to the ego dilution and freedom.
1000 Thanks & continue the excellent work.
Tamara K Davis says: Love a good jail break! Who knew. Mainly from the labels others have put on me… from strange to damaged, and everything in between. She is in her own little world.
I have been on this transcendence journey most of my life. Your advanced videos have helped my understand this. Can not get enough!! It is mind blowing to be understood! And massively freeing! I LOVE IT!
The last few years have been intense to say the least. I have been isolated, not literally in a cave hehe, for more than two years. Everything about me is wide open and beyond ready for more!
I think I have seen every advanced video you have in less than three weeks. I will keep searching your site. I thrive on this! Something about you and your methods just click!
If you have anything extremely advanced that you are willing to share with me, please do! Tremendous love & gratitude, Tami
Jess Bideaux says: hmm… …I stumbled across “inspect element”. Again, thanks for the video, blew my mind. I await your reply.
Kevin says: Yesterday I had a strong felling that the entire representation of the world is in my own head and it is funny some times, As I was talking with my friend It really felt like my mind was making him up and in essence i was talking with my self, or more like i was making him and the rest of everything up as the conversation was proceeding. it kind of felt really ridiculous.
I also felt like I should write this email to you but had a strong sensation that I was making you up and what ever was appearing and happening was just new thought patterns emerging inside me, kind of like every thing was inwards. No external representation of anything.
As I left the room to an other room it was like the new room and my transition a across my jurney to the other room was just like new thoughts emerging and everything felt so synthetic and un real. I felt lonely because suddenly I felt like I am the only one chounchess person and everything else pure imagination made up my mind. This part a feeling
Then I realized that the rest of my body was in visual frame and somehow I got sucked in to the imaginative thought, but this part did not feel, it was more like a thought and then I relaized that I was not in the presence anymore, some how I had glided in to imagination and new thoughts.
Interesting was that everthing inside my visual filed, the table chair and distance between the objects was all synthetic and like separate thoughts emarging. Like the visual beeing super flat and the perspective and distances in the room beeing merging thoughts on top of a super flat visual thought I can not describe it so well in language.
Any how, even everything felt so fictive and inwards, there was still a sense of me presence but I can se that everthing emerging in my mind is a thought pattern of a kind and I have no idea how I could breake through so many thoughts, a huge pillar of them
Ryan says: Is the personally developed life and talking about that with people then a dogma? believing that it is really true and helpful?? :L
Michael says: Hey wasn’t it Tesla who invented the radio
Hasan says: Hi Leo,
Can/should we apply this radical openmindedness for our emotional feeling? In particular, higher emotional experiences such as enlightenment experience. I’m just wondering whether we should consider the possibility that our spiritual/awakening/enlightenment experiences could be also an illusion.
Thank you!
Leo Gura says: Sure, that’s what the enlightenment path is all about. Question everything, until you reach a point where there is nothing left.
Then you have real enlightenment. Enlightenment is just absolute nothingness. So you can’t question it.
But on the enlightenment journey you will have many false enlightenments, which MUST be questioned to arrive at true enlightenment.
Afonso Matos says: Leo, I’ve found your questions very interesting. My mind has been entertained with these ideas for a while now. However, I don’t see how not holding any beliefs can benefit me.
Shouldn’t I believe X and Y will fulfill my life and Z won’t? That the strategy A and B is shitty for what I want?
What do you mean by holding no beliefs?
Patricia says: I loved this video. It filled me with humility and compassion.
Thank you Leo!