XYZ

The human experience and any sense of a 'you' or 'me' are also stories. But I don't think I can be convinced that this perception of "I" is not a direct result of my parents reproducing.

Metaphysics aside, our existence is merely the result of our parents procreating. We never asked to, or chose to be born. Realizing that you are oneness eases fears and anxieties about death, but doesn't really change the fact that you perceive your own existence as a separate ego connected to a human body as a direct physical consequence of a biological reproductive event that there was no you to play a part in.

This thread also reminds me of what Leo said in the episode about 'escaping wage slavery' about becoming a such massive value provider that the things you are offering are seen as a precious commodity. So much so that if you die, masses will grieve the loss of that value, but not so much the person who was creating it. Likewise, there were few comments here along the lines of "must be sick I hope he's okay" versus all the frustration of not having regularly scheduled free content delivered.

Actually not so counter-intuitive, mental states & emotions are not separate things from the physical body. If you go to a chiropractor, get a full body deep tissue massage and private yoga lesson you would be amazed at how emotionally free you feel when misalignment & tension in the body is eliminated. I can't afford to do this very often, but ideally do bodywork practices on my own that get me 'unstuck' this way relieve the stress on my body from everyday life. And the challenging thing is that even if you know logically that neglecting your body is the result of your emotional distress, the emotional state itself is an obstacle to overcome to do the bodywork in the first place. It's like feeling depressed on a physical level, and emotionally numb, prone to lethargy and indulging in addictions instead of using all the tools you have to kick your mind-body into high gear. Some things you are able to even with no money for professional help are deep breathing, stretching, self massage, asana and kriya yoga. One way self-massage goes beyond what you can get at a spa is you can dig really deep into all the musculature around your hips, butt, abdomen and crotch area. Freeing that area up does wonders for breathing capacity, energy and mood.

Why do you feel entitled to your video, and why does it frustrate you so much you obsessively bemoan it instead of just checking once a day. Must be some older videos you haven't watched yet, or re-watch and better understand now.

Not my advice for people to take Elliot literally, just showing a counterexample. Neither extreme would for myself I know, if I just lived dangerously I would very quickly end up dead, in prison or mental ward. If I stopped dabbling in anything, afraid to experiment & make mistakes, would lead to a dull boring milktoast workaday existence. No one is my guru, have to pull from a variety of sources, keep talking to people, never stop learning, and chart my own journey. I would say though everyone should learn about firearm mechanics and safety. They used to teach you that stuff as a kid, now the popular narrative is ignorance, no one bothers to learn about them if they feel that guns are bad and we need to get rid of them. Urban liberals would benefit from going to the gun range once in a while and overcoming their fear of it by using dangerous weapons in a safe environment. The other extreme would be someone who is so fearful they think they need to be armed all the time otherwise people will hurt them or rob them. It's super relative what is a necessary risk, or unnecessary. The more you risk the more you have to lose, the less you risk the more opportunities you miss out on. Everything in moderation, including moderation.

And also consider this counter-advice:

Don't tell people what to do with their life as if you have all the answers Don't take life so seriously Don't take me so seriously Don't take Actualized.org so seriously Don't take yourself so seriously Do ya think the most successful fulfilled people you see followed a straight edge safe sanitized path through life, or they did drugs, had flings, shot guns, lost money, fell in love, wasted time, and dabbled, dabbled, dabbled to figure it all out for themselves?

Work seems hard if it's something you have to figure out every step of the way, there's no clear map to completion, and you only progress after you keep making mistakes and learning from them. Work seems easy if it's just doing simple repetitive tasks, or following clear instructions telling you exactly what to do and how to do it, along with being given all the necessary tools you need; like assembling furniture.

Problem-solving requires looking at a situation as objectively as possible, trying to interpret reality without any personal investment in the matter, looking at the big picture over your own life. An idea like "the reason I'm poor and can never get a job is because of all these immigrants" would be a scarcity mindset, victim complex, limiting belief, self-fulfilling prophecy.

Writing schedules is easy and fun, but reality doesn't fit into neat little blocks of time. Careful planning itself can often be the biggest distraction. We have to learn to balance a stable routine with the ability to cope with setbacks, interruptions beyond our control, as well as allowing for binges in productivity. Like spending extra time working in a flow state, and allowing for actual free time to do nothing, or go outside and walk around, not just unproductive time to dick around on the computer and cellphone.

That statement smells like propaganda itself. Is truth a visual phenomenon? How do you know you eyes aren't deceiving you, or maybe you see only what you want to see, that can happen without you knowing it. *Stares at hand*

@CreamCat Automation and all other improvements in efficiency will be a boon for the post-scarcity economy, and the catalyst to push capitalistic ones towards it. Where we are at now is in a great upheaval, a transition period, where we can live in a country where resources are theoretically plentiful enough to feed and house everyone, but individual survival still depends upon competing in the economy for a means to acquire money. This is why the likes of Elon Musk see the government providing basic provisions as an inevitable reality in a not so distant future. Smaller communities are coming up with creative ways to to maintain their own cooperative local economy based on direct exchanges of value with mutual concern with their collective well-being, and ideally this meme could spread throughout the rest of a country and transform the larger economic model. If we keep following the same trajectory of cutthroat capitalism sprinkled with lopsided socialism, the brutal competition, extreme concentration of wealth and widespread scarcity would become so severe it leads to all kinds of war and death fighting over who gets what.

My point is that since sovereign nations are a thing that we have to deal with in the current day, people from outside the country should not be brought in to do work that nationals can do, jobs that citizens would gladly take instead of being poor, homeless and unemployed. I'm thinking only pragmatically here, all politics aside, it just makes no sense that a supposedly first world country would help migrants/refugees and give them work and/or benefits, while they can't even take care of their own first. Doesn't matter where anyone was born or what their citizenship, bottom line is that more bottom of the barrel lower working class people equals more scarcity and inequality, resources are stretched thinner, and more will get left behind as everything becomes increasingly competitive. As long as we are in a capitalistic society, the less people people have to compete for scarce resources, the less suffering there is. A post competitive economy, or more socialistic state can only be sustained if the population is contained. Evidence shows that increasing the standard of living decreases birthrates, and so this would happen naturally, as long as you don't go and import more people. Case in point, some European countries are headed for bankruptcy because after letting in so many refugees, there are immensely more people on the dole than can find ways to make a living. A stage yellow nations would avoid the mess that is mass migration, and instead, first make sure their own citizenry are provided for, no labor shortage can't be fixed domestically, and then when there is more than enough prosperity to go around, spread this abundance with the rest of the world in a responsible manner. Invest in developing countries, fund education & training programs, broker peace agreements, rebuild war-ravaged lands, and so forth, not bringing needy people in to compete with the locals for starting level jobs like farm labor, driving cabs and working in retail.

Well first of all, waking up in the middle of the night is totally normal and natural. The very belief that you need 7-8 hour uninterrupted to get a good night's rest is counterproductive to actually getting it. Watch this episode of Adam Ruins Sleep: And a while back I posted about my experiences optimizing my sleep while living in an environment not conducive to sleeping well: If you have a first world sleep environment, like a quiet bedroom with heating & AC, you can take comfort in knowing if you don't rest well one day, you can just have some coffee and try again tomorrow going to bed and waking up the same time. Don't take it for granted. One or two days of sleep deprivation is nothing compared to rolling sleep deprivation that lasts several days. It's like a war with my own body. The greatest superpower would be to just tell our body to go to sleep whenever you want it to, any time, any place no matter the conditions, and it will obey. Or to only need 4 hours of sleep a day, like Donald Trump supposedly does.

@Revolutionary Think Perhaps so that the military will have a steady supply of recruits. That is often what guys do after finishing high school and seeing no other options for them besides working at WalMart, or taking on loads of debt to go to college.

@Revolutionary Think I understand what you mean, but don't the higher stages of abundance build upon stage orange security and prosperity? You can find endless new-age type movements that want to raise the collective consciousness of humanity, make everyone happy, loving and fulfilled. But they can't do that because most people are still wage slaves barely getting by materially. So what happens is that these organization do some things to help the poorest of the poor, while the rest are overlooked, and it becomes this inside circle-jerk of "spiritual elites' telling everyone else they just have limiting beliefs and can manifest anything they want if they ask the universe and believe it's possible, all that sort of bullshit. To move societies into post-scarcity mindset, the economic system first has to change. Experiments with this can be done on very local levels, like designing intentional communities where resources are pooled, people are interdependent and able to better meet their needs, as well as have the time and resources to engage in higher pursuits, discover and do things they are passionate about. I'm sure you've noticed on how all the forums here there are constant threads about needing to make money, not having enough money, being stuck in soul crushing jobs, careers not aligning with purpose, and so forth. I tried to ignore all that stage orange stuff, write it off as petty superficial material concerns, and focus on spirituality and self-inquiry instead. But it keeps coming back to bite us in the ass, as not having material needs met, or being inauthentic in order to meet those needs keeps getting in the way of truly being our highest selves and giving our greatest gifts to the world.

If you actually have a plan to start a business I'd visit the SBA and get them to walk me through the whole process.

At the risk of oversimplifying, and jumping in before reading the whole thread and document, it's been very obvious to me for quite some time that to reduce suffering, increase abundance, and stability in (the human) world, three interrelated things need need to happen together: Pragmatic anti-natalism: Less people equals more resources to go around, less suffering from lack of resources, directly from use and indirectly through environmental catastrophe. This means both developing the best birth control technology we can, and encouraging mankind not to procreate. This would be very difficult to promote, because having children is seen as a human right, regardless of how poor people are, and what I've observed are that those who can least afford to have children tend to have the most. It also goes against the entire history of human evolution, and the biological imperative, the default purpose of being a living mammal. Heavily restrict immigration of unskilled immigrants and refugees: From any perspective, it's utterly ridiculous that a "first world country" would allow people form outside to come in and get all kinds of government benefits, and take entry level jobs, while tens of millions of people already there are poor, hungry, homeless, unemployed and without healthcare. I'm not advocating for some kind of stage blue nationalism, but to argue that, since the world is divided into countries with borders, that a country should take care of their own first, and when it is strong at home, only then should it try to help others from abroad, with privately funded, not taxpayer money. Eliminate the need to make money to survive. Some wealthier European countries already have such a social safety net, but in other places like the US, you can easily become homeless and go hungry if you are denied the opportunity of being a wage slave. At the very minimum, provide citizens with a safe place to live and healthy food to eat. This would level the playing field by guaranteeing people that the will be okay, they are not at the mercy of cut-throat capitalism, or their employer, but also maximize creativity and human potential, as they will want to make money to have things beyond the bare minimum, and spend their time in ways which result in high quality of life. To tie it all together, the less people a society has to provide for, the more, and better they are able to provide for their needs. This is why the people who happen to be alive right now inside whatever made up geopolitical entity is marked on the map should be prioritized over bringing new humans into existence, or supporting others from outside those boundaries. I also feel that most suffering people inflict upon others, known or unknown, intentional or not, is out of concern for their own survival, side effects of living in scarcity. Environmentalists get mad when regulations are cut, and allow for more logging, coal mining, fishing, grazing, etc. But what the cosmopolitan hippie doesn't understand is that no one gives a fuck about the environment if they have to worry about when their next meal or paycheck will come. That's why endangered animals will be hunted for their fur and horns. Same with crime for financial gain, whether it's white collar fraud, drug trafficking or robbery, most of it is just out of a desire to survive. So yes, to reduce suffering & hate, increase stability & prosperity, you have to start small, and locally, by making sure everyone's basic needs, the bottom of the self-actualization pyramid, are met. This is how I would envision creating a peaceful society. As for myself dealing with my own scarcity, I tend to behave more selfishly and indifferent when my needs are not being met, because I am still being preoccupied with wanting a comfortable home environment and having quality food, and these "I want, I need, me me me me" thoughts take precedence over everything else, either that or I detach from humanity altogether. It seems that only once my basic needs are met would I be able to evolve beyond the self-centered perspective and then would actually feel a strong drive to project outward, to develop & share my gifts with others. It's not just "limiting beliefs," increasing lack of resources & provisions in apparently first world countries is a something visionary do-gooders need to address instead of trying to vaguely "help poor people" by throwing money at all the world's problems.

I want to really explore deeply the concept of laziness. We all have a general idea what it is, but I'm looking to form a nuanced definition, since there are likely different types of laziness, and figuring out what is at the root of our own laziness would be key to overcoming it. What is apparent to me right away is that being lazy is not necessarily being sedentary or avoiding work. Someone could work very hard to advance in a video game, learn a new language, collect things, assemble furniture, et cetera- but be to "lazy" to figure out things on their own, where there is no instruction guide to follow. A wage slave may work very hard at their job, but be too lazy to escape wage slavery. Different tiers of laziness, some so lazy they won't do anything, some unless it's easy, some unless it's spelled out for them. Is it a matter of intelligence, aptitude, ambition? Or is the term actually being misapplied, like if you call someone who is willing to work hard and has a vision lazy, but they are really just lost and confused, don't know where to start. But then again, that seems to be defining procrastination, and is procrastination a form of laziness, or something else entirely? As for me personally, the underlying issue I am working to resolve here is to get myself to carry out more complex projects like start a business, learn a tangible skill, or set up a passive income stream as readily as I would open up boxes and put things on the shelf at my last job.

I think life purpose doesn't have to be a strictly individual thing, and often that's a trap you can fall into trying to have your own unique LP and trying to actualize your visions all on your own. Imagine people cooperating together to create changes in their environment, or "the world" where responsibility is delegated based on everyone's strengths and the relationships within your team are highly valued. This idea still seems kinda vague to me, but it is a much more plausible approach than just saying I want to do X, how do I make that happen?

Like leveling up a character in a video game.

Well if you can actually be the type of scientist/activist that can convince governments and telecoms that 5g is dangerous and get it legally restricted, or an engineer who develops safer technology, go for it! Ultimately I don't think there is much the average person can do, except not be on their phone all the time. Just like with switching form petroleum to renewable fuels, and change in the wireless infrastructure would have to come from the huge corporations that already control the networks. Alternative technologies can't really compete in the mainstream, they'd at best be options for wealthier consumers (i.e. Tesla vehicles). I don't think life purpose has to me a strictly individual thing, a group of friends, a community, or commercial company even can have a common life purpose they work together to manifest. Don't see why not a group of engineers can't work on what you envision, and sell/share the technology to T-Mobile, AT&T etc.

It doesn't work that way, because social anxiety is a visceral reaction. You can know that there is no threat, you are not in danger around other people, but you will still go into fight-or-flight mode. You could be a MMA champion with your MMA champion friends and carrying a gun but still feel socially anxious. It's not about what you think in your head, but how you feel in your body. Social anxiety to me is the discomfort of being confronted with other peoples' emotions directed at me when I am not prepared for it. This can be something as simple as walking down a narrow sidewalk the same time as a confrontational looking person coming towards me. I don't think he is a threat, but if I see someone like this staring at me, I will either get very nervous and scared, or angry and defensive, and my body language will show it, this is that happens when I just confront my fear and power through social anxiety anyway. I don't fear violence, but I fear the unpleasant sensations of my own involuntary reactions. tough looking guys probably aren't going to punch me in the face when I walk past them, but it's likely I could trip and stumble because I'm distracted & nervous, and my body tenses up, creating corresponding emotional tension. I also fear other people's reactions to my social anxiety itself, this is why I use the self checkout whenever I can, so a human cashier can't judge me as being a condescending asshole to them because I don't make eye contact, or my eye contact is an emotionless blank expression.

@LastThursday