winterknight

The recession wasn't caused by a lack of personal consumer responsibility, it was caused by massive lack of regulation of the financial and real estate sectors. How do we know this? Because we didn't have regular financial crises crises for the middle chunk of the 20th century, when there was regulation. In the 19th century and early 20th century, there was little regulation, and -- massive regular financial crises. After the 80s, when there was deregulation again -- massive regular financial crises. For 2008, it was not a lack of personal responsibility but unregulated systematic marketing of low-quality loans to low-education and vulnerable communities, unregulated securitization of such loans, massive unregulated leverage of banks and other financial institutions, all on the premise of 'responsibility' and the free market. Even arch-conservative free-marketeer Alan Greenspan admitted he had been wrong about a lack of regulation. And when the shit hit the fan, who ponied up the money? Was it the rich? Or was it taxpayers? Where was personal responsibility then? Did the GOP call for corporate CEOs who had profited off all this pain to go to jail? Did rural voters? Personal responsibility is fundamentally the wrong way to analyze society's ills. People are responsible or not because of an enormous structure around them of incentives and education and culture.

Well I certainly agree on Biden being terrible. I think the reason I like Warren more than Bernie is that Bernie is very polarizing. A lot of Democrats just hate him. I'm not sure that bodes well for him being able to accomplish things. Warren is principled but is capable of being highly diplomatic. On Medicare for All, I haven't studied it carefully, but I've heard some arguments that, taken very literally, it may not necessarily the best way of getting to universal healthcare. I see Warren as someone who is absolutely in favor of universal health care, but perhaps doesn't want to be boxed into a specific plan that sounds good but that she's not sure will work well in practice. Foreign policy is an interesting point. Will have to look into that more... And Warren's Republicanism I actually view as a very healthy sign of an open mind. She figured out she was wrong and changed her ways. Not an easy thing to do as an adult.

There's a little trembling sometimes in my body, or my gums ache sometimes. The Heart is, as Jkris said, in the end just another word for Self. The Self is not dull at all, it's just very subtle and indescribable. It's far superior to any character game, but the reality is that someone is going to have to play whatever character game they're fated to play until they're fated to grow tired of it.

I like Bernie too, but my favorite is Elizabeth Warren. Had her as a professor at one point. The most amazingly kind, warm, charismatic and dead smart person. She got the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through a hostile Congress and armies of furious banking lobbyists, has also been fighting for working people for decades, and has amazing adaptability, intelligence, and integrity.

You have to start listening and expressing to the inner voices which don’t want to do all these routine things that you feel you must do. They must be heard and felt. Because the truth is that you have conflicting desires: on the one hand not to let people down, and on the other not to be trapped into routine. And even those desires may have deep unconscious roots in childhood, so may go much further than the way I’ve just phrased it. When through psychoanalysis or through intense emotional journaling or other work like that you get in touch with these conflicting emotions, you may be able to see that they are facets of a larger picture, a richer desire which might be able to accommodate them both.

Lots of misconceptions on this very critical topic.

Then your desires have changed, or perhaps your understanding of them needs to be refined. Of course that can happen. It’s a continuous process of learning and adaptation. Thank you. Glad to be of service. I wouldn’t worry about what some random person does or does not have the luxury of doing. Your situation is the important one for you. If you don’t want to do the things that it would take to get what you want — you’re conflicted, and those conflicting emotional voices must be heard, so that they can be integrated into a higher understanding of your desire. Psychoanalysis is very useful for this, though it takes time and effort.

That is true except for the part that says “you’ll be reality itself.” There will be no you. In fact — is there ever a you? That’s the question to look into.

Other than mine? Heh. I'm afraid not. I do like Mooji's videos generally, but I wouldn't go so far as to call any of them favorites. What sort of videos would you find useful? Might be good to know when developing my next ones...

Prior mental tendencies, basically. It's not about the degree of realization. It's just their mental makeup/temperament. For some people, physical renunciation is what suits them. There are many kinds of renunciation, of which physical monastic renunciation is the least important. The important kinds of renunciation are the renunciation of the concern with the results with one's actions and the renunciations of the desire for things to be different than what they are. Renouncing such concern with results/desires, one can be a renunciant even while being active in the world. Conversely, without that kind of renunciation, even in the forest all by yourself you will still be a non-renouncer.

Heh. Well, sort of... The 'wanting' itself is also in the movie, really. So it's not so much that one wants what happens as that one is kind of like the space within which either wanting that or not wanting that happens. That space is whole either way . Smart. Thanks.

So you think when you watch a movie, you're controlling the actions of the character in the movie? Wow.

Do you control what the hero in a movie you’re watching does?

When you’re watching a movie, which part of you gains from making the hero help people? Why not make the hero hurt people instead? Yes, I cannot help non-sincere-seekers. No one can help them but god.

It's not more intellectual answers that are going to help you construct your life and lubricate the cog. It's going to be paying attention to your emotions. Which is what therapy helps with.

When you ask all these questions and post on the forums, what are you feeling? What do you hope to get out of them?

Yup. Libertarians have the largest gap between how much they think they know and how much they actually do.

So I have just released an extensive guide just dedicated to the practice of Maharshi's self-inquiry. There's a description of the process, but also answers to common questions, and I'll be adding to that list over time. So if you have any questions about self-inquiry not answered there, feel free to let me know. Meanwhile, I'd love to hear any feelings, thoughts, or suggestions. I expect to be revising the guide over time.

Yes, you're in NZ, right? Contact these guys and ask for a referral to analysis. If that doesn't work (they seem pretty small, actually), then try here or here or here. Let me know if you have further problems.

Good question. If the question is framed that way, the answer can only be known by God, as I said. If you self-inquire deeply, however, you will see that the frame of the question is not what it seems.

Get there first and ask again. This question itself comes from a lack of clarity.

In a sense. Keep asking when the mind "comes back," who it is that is asking about these revelations, who it is that's wants to know "more about reality." And remember, inquiry must eventually take over your life in every waking moment, not just in some particular set period of time. You will find in the end that the questions that you thought you had are not what they seemed. That's the clarity that will occur.

Thanks! Muchas gracias.

Bring that question up to your therapist.

Karma is simply the law of cause and effect in operation. Everything has causes, and everything causes effects. Karma happens to the body-mind whether it realizes it or not. As to how the seeker should approach it, there is a multi-fold approach. On the one hand, the seeker needs to be in touch with what they really want. This is a process that takes experimentation and being honest about one's feelings. This will in fact calm and purify the mind, and you could say that’s a kind of good karma. On the other hand, the seeker needs to bear in mind that karma only affects the body-mind, and that they are not the body-mind. They are the Self, which karma cannot touch. So, surrendering all worries about good and bad karma, the mind should remain calm, intensely relaxed or intensely focused on self-inquiry. One cannot deliberately transcend karma. One can attempt to bear with whatever karma happens and to focus the mind on self-inquiry, and then the transcendence may happen by itself at some point.