- Recognizing a deep need for personal growth: Self-actualization begins with an intuitive sense or personal realization that there is more to human existence than societal expectations and norms, or it may also emerge from personal pain, suffering, or dissatisfaction with life outcomes, causing the search for growth.
- Taking full responsibility: Self-actualization requires 100% personal responsibility for one's life, ruling out blame games and victim mentality. Self-actualization implies that one comprehends their life as a reflection of their thoughts, desires, emotions, and psychology.
- Discriminating reality from appearance: This vital component involves seeking and understanding truth (both lower case and uppercase). This process typically starts with an investment in self-education, seeking to understand how various life facets, like relationships, finances, and emotions, truly work compared to their appearances.
- Conceptual understanding as a foundation for personal growth: Here, the ideation that conceptual understanding sets the groundwork for personal growth is emphasized. It aids in discriminating right from wrong actions. This entails learning how reality truly works irrespective of influence from previous beliefs or ideologies.
- Engaging in epistemic and metaphysical questioning: This involves delving deep into existential queries and asking about the very fabric and structure of reality, and understanding epistemology. It includes evaluating the webs of belief and ideologies that may obstruct one's ability to distinguish between reality and appearance.
- Glimpse of the Absolute: After deep metaphysical questioning, one may experience a transformative, mind-blowing glimpse of the 'Absolute,' or ultimate truth/reality. Following this initial glimpse, further exploration enables the individual to embody this concept in everyday experiences. This involves every aspect of their being, from actions to thought processes and relationships.
- Raising the Quality of Consciousness: In the self-actualization process, it's about improving the quality of one's consciousness. The "absolute" is seen as consciousness, with realism stripped from appearances to reveal this sole consistency. Understanding this idea's implications can take years and requires consistent work.
- Unconditional Love & Self Acceptance: Another key component in self-actualization is the capacity for unconditional love towards oneself and others, even in trying circumstances. This can serve as a measure of personal growth. Additionally, self-acceptance is seen as an application of unconditional love to oneself. True self-acceptance doesn't hinge on achieving external circumstances but embracing oneself with all imperfections. As one genuinely grows in this path, self-acceptance improves and dependency on others' opinion diminishes.
- Detachment: Misunderstood but crucial, detachment involves liberating oneself from attachment to experiences, thoughts, emotions, and results of actions. Contrary to belief, this doesn't lead to insensitivity but allows for deeper and fuller feeling. Elimination of attachments can lead to a sense of wholesomeness without any need to do or be anything in particular.
- Being vs Doing: Shifting from a life of doing and having to a life of simply being represents a radical change in orientation. Satisfaction derived from just being in the present moment, feeling, and savouring existence is more sustainable and fulfilling. This feeds into self-acceptance, making one feel complete without the constant cycle of action.
- Capacity for Observation: Observation, especially of oneself, is essential in self-actualization. Keen, non-judgemental observation of one's thoughts, emotions, and self-deceptive tendencies paves the way for personal growth. Mindfulness, meditation, and self-inquiry all strengthen this observational capacity.
- Undermining Selfish Impulses: Once aware of innate selfish impulses through sustained observation, effort must be made to undermine them and weed out lower consciousness tendencies.
- Honesty & Surrendering Control: Brutal self-honesty, about self-deceptions and manipulations, is a must on this path. Contrary to popular belief, the process is about surrendering control and giving up manipulation in one's life rather than further tightening the grip. Facing hard truths like death, boredom, and emptiness straightforwardly, without spiralling into depression, is a significant step in this journey.
- Identifying Defense Mechanisms: All individuals have their own unique defense mechanisms, which are responsible for keeping them in their current situations. It's therefore important to identify these mechanisms and begin to undermine them, as they prevent personal growth and development.
- Improving the Quality of Motivations and Desires: A lot of people are motivated by low consciousness desires such as money, sex, fame, popularity, and approval, which are often programmed into them by society. To become truly happy, one must raise the quality of their motivations and desires.
- Becoming a Creator and Identifying Life Purpose: One must find their life purpose and determine how they want to contribute to the world. It's important to be productive in a way that is high consciousness, fulfilling, and contributes to personal potential and joy.
- Understanding Evil, Suffering and Ignorance: There is a necessity to reconcile with evil, suffering, and ignorance. It is important to realize that these exist not just externally, but also within an individual themselves.
- Attaining Big Picture Understanding: One should aim for holistic, big picture understanding. It's essential to understand things at a broader, existential level rather than focusing narrowly on individual elements.
- Transitioning from Left to Right Brain: As personal development occurs, there is a transition from left brain thinking, which is more analytical, to right brain thinking, which is more emotional, holistic, and intuitive.
- Creating a 'Sonic' (Saattvik) Lifestyle: Creating a saatvik lifestyle involves living soberly and distraction-free. It involves eliminating intoxicants, distractions and toxicity, and actively cleaning up the mind, body and environment.
- Undoing Social Conditioning: Overcoming childhood programming, societal norms and beliefs, and other conditioning factors is an important step in the process of self-actualization.
- Non-Manipulative Relating: Honesty in relationships and removing manipulative behaviors is essential. Recognizing and letting go of these behaviors in all types of relationships (family, work, romantic) is a crucial part of personal growth.
- Understanding Manipulation in Relationships: Recognizing and addressing manipulative behavior in relationships is critical for personal growth. While people often manipulate to maintain relationships, it ironically ends up damaging the relationship. Flourishing in relationships requires ceasing the use of manipulative tactics for selfish gratification.
- Initiating the Process of Self-Actualization: The process of self-actualization involves becoming strategic, decisive, proactive, and visionary. Unlike what's usually expected, it requires hard work and does not happen accidentally. No magical pill or shortcut can replace consistent work.
- Broadening Understanding: Understanding and growth will require studying multiple traditions, techniques, and teachings due to their diverse perspectives. The process will vary and could be messy, but the key is adapting it to personal capacities, resources, and environment.
- Preparing for the Journey: Initiating the process of personal growth demands setting up a supportive environment with essential resources that enable attainment of goals. This includes detailed planning and strategic decision-making.
- Understanding Self as a Machine: Human beings, identified as biological and psychological machines, have physical, psychological, and spiritual needs that need proper fulfillment. The information provided by culture or society often fails to meet these needs, leading to psychological intoxication.
- Fulfilling True Potential: Understanding the bigger picture of personal growth and potential is a rare opportunity. Despite being intoxicated by society, one can still align with personal growth through consistent hard work and seeking truth on various paths, irrespective of religious or ideological persuasion.
- Consequences of Ignoring Growth: Ignoring personal growth and failing to incorporate the enlisted components into one's life may lead to failure and intense suffering, resulting from unfulfilled psychological and spiritual needs.
- Endurance in the Process: The process can provide occasional glimpses of true satisfaction. These sporadic yet impactful glimpses can motivate individuals to persist in their journey of personal growth.
- Future Plans: Leo Gura plans to make a practical episode on how to get started with self-actualization, providing some concrete details about the process.