Consilience

Again I must say, the zen devilary on this particular topic is astounding. Especially by so many of you who claim to be spiritual or empathetic. Future generations will look back on this point in history and be blown away by the lack of compassion or effort. Not only is the meat and diary industry filled with suffering, they’re also literally destroying our planet.

Those studies are epidemiological studies looking at broad groups without examining the details of the individual. Simply stated, the studies are bullshit with poor design if you’re looking at whether eating a vegan diet can be as healthy as a omnivore diet. Many vegans are uneducated on which micronutrients they need to properly thrive and end up being lazy with their nutrition - as a result they arent as healthy as they should or could be. These are the same types of studies being done which show a link between red meat and heart disease, not accounting for whether their population has other confounding variables like high body fat level, bmi, or overall daily calorie intake.

True the state of academia is a mess but this does not mean we dont have a solid foundation of which nutrients are necessary for human health and which foods contain these nutrients. We have that knowledge and actually, when one over educates themselves on nutitrition (relative to a four year degree which I have) you’ll start to see where so many of the mistakes in acedemia are being made. Also self experimentation with tracking calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat and micronutrients and how these nutrients affect athletic performance will yield an incredible amount of knowledge and intuition regarding nutrition, which I have done (I powerlift and weight train.) Not to sound pompous, but I also have a degree in kinesiology/exercise science so my background on this topic is pretty damn extensive. Meat contains micronutrients yes, and it contains an extremely high level of essentiam amino acids, and contains just an overall abundance of protein, yes. In fact, as a vegan and a dude with a nutrition and kinesiology degree, I will agree meat can be incredibly healthy. Evolution has designed our metabolisms to process and benefit from eating meat. So the question becomes, is eating meat necessary? The answer is no. It is not necessary for good health and nor is it necessary for athletic performance, muscle growth, or strength adaptations. Im throwing the ball back in your court - do legitimate research and you’ll find the necessary knowledge and foods needed to be a healthy vegan, even if you have aspirations such as bodybuilding or powerlifting. Ive been a vegan for over a year now and it’s the healthiest Ive ever been.

The fact of the matter is the human body does not Need meat or diary to survive. I actually have a degree in Nutritional sciences and I am a vegan myself. You can supplement all the necessary micronutrients from other sources. And get plenty of protein from plants. I see so much zen devilery in this particular topic and so many sneaky justifications for why eating meat is not a problem. If you were truly enlightened, The amount of compassion that you have for all living beings would outweigh this selfish desire to consume their flesh. Face it, those of you talking about this nihilism bullshit are just addicted to meat and dairy and can’t face this truth. All of society is addicted to meat and diary and as a result billions of creatures suffer and die every single year to feed this addiction. Billions. There is nothing gained by eating meat other than pleasure unless there is a medical necessity. Once you see through the threads of this desire, and you realize it’s source stems from your indoctrination as a child growing up eating meat and dairy, it’s much easier to let go of. Until then, be mindful of how many justifications you create to eat meat. And yes, bringing up absolute truth and nihilism is a justification and the irony is that all of you bring up that point don’t see it. If nothing matters, then neither does your addiction to the suffering of other creatures - so perhaps have a little goddamn empathy

Sshhh brown bear sshhh

+1 Anyone who starts talking about nihilism/meaninglessness Im going to call brown bear

Yes indeed. I cringe hearing the excuses so many meat eaters make, especially the ones claiming to be spiritual. But on the other hand, life and suffering go hand in hand. It’s been a consistent theme across time and is not limited to this generation of humans and animals. Everything is as it should be; there are no mistakes in the actuality of reality. This phase, this cycle must pass as well.

I think you would need to find multi-disciplinary teachers so that 1 teacher has the ability to teach multiple topics. Researching scalable customization is a great idea as well. Keep us posted on how this process goes!

Great post man. Thank you for sharing this

Can you truly "be" with your family if you attached to them? If they answer is no - if you loved them, would you not want to fully "be" with them? Isn't that what it is to truly love someone? I don't necessarily have my own answers to these questions, but they may help you contemplate this topic.

To be honest sometimes it feels like by not talking about it Im not being fully honest with others. It sorta feels like Im in on a secret that everyone else in the room is unaware of ?

Why are you drawing a distinction between that which is witnessed and the real self? Also this was a wonderful video! Thank you for sharing

So it’s the planning ahead aspect... Contemplate what planning actually is then. It’s not necessarily living as though there is a future. It could also be processing a possibility, one possibility out of infinity. Afterall, life/form is impermanent. Thinking about the future is really just the conceptualization of form that hasn’t actually manifested outside of the mind. “Planning” is like witnessing just another form of reality within the domain of mind and need not have anything to do with seperating from now. In fact, the concept of future is literally only available right now. The future does not exist because all is happening now but form is impermanent and may take an infinite number of forms. “Planning” too is one such form reality can take but it happens now. So basically, I disagree that planning necessarily means you are living in the illusion of a future. You have to first understand the existential nature of “planning” and then the illusion will begin to crack. Planning is witnessing potential form manifest inside of the mind RIGHT NOW. It is egoic, but all acts of survival and really any action at all is egoic. But watching the ego unfold and survive does not necessarily mean one is caught in the illusion of a seperate self just as planning does not necessarily mean one is caught in the illusion of time. This magy be difficult to understand but maybe try. Life purpose and enlightenment dont contradict anymore than actively surviving as a body/not committing suicide and enlightenment. Nor does planning. Enligtenment is understanding the absolute nature of what a “plan” is or what the “future” is or what “survival” is. Just because these concepts play out, it does not mean one is caught in their illusory nature. Not really how else to describe it. Just watch the act of planning, the act of life purpose, the act of survival from a metta perspective. Any form could potentiate into direct experience and none of it need to seperate one from the truth.

Alright. Imagine that voice/force directing someone towards a life purpose and enlightenment both. It's not an egoic thing, it's an effortlessly flowing through life without resistance thing, just as it takes zero effort to not commit suicide.

@How to be wise a pretty direct question here, but oh well - what’s stopping you from committing suicide? I hope this isn’t taken to be offensive or anything; it’s a very genuine question.

That’s an assumption though. How could you know what non-dual consciousness is like unless you’ve had the direct experience? Maybe love is just the best word to describe the state itself, rather than being a literal definition. Idk.

@Mikael89 how would you even know this? Have you reached the deepest states of non-dual consciousness? Genuinely curious

This 100%

As someone with an autoimmune disease that’s destroyed part of my body, it’s frustrating reading how my disease occured because of my mind or “resistance” to harmony. No one chooses their genetic makeup or the environment they grow up in, which may well be the triggers for illnesses. Don’t sit and cast blame on someone for a disease or illness which is out of their conscious control, when in actuality, it was never in their control to begin with. This is the case from both the relative and absolute perspective. Even if raising consciousness could spontaneously cure people’s illnesses, 99.9% of people aren’t in a position to actualize that outcome. And in my case, I would die within a year if it weren’t for modern medicine. Dont let your spiritual ego cloud your judgement on the actuality of how biological life operates.

Ask yourself this: is it possible both determinism and free will both do not exist?

If you think this proves materialism you need to contemplate epistemology and metaphysics more

Hello actualized.org folks, I was hoping to get some 2nd opinions of my current predicament. So right now I work as a personal trainer for a pretty standard corporate gym, and at the moment I am most certainly at a "slave wage" type of salary. Not only is my current position not long term financially viable, it also is not fully aligned with my life purpose. So here's the thing... Recently one of the trainers and I realized we have a lot of potential together to start our own training business. She has various strengths and so do I; each of us compliments the other's weaknesses quite well. I'm actually fully confident that if we both worked hard enough and for long enough, we would be successful. Unfortunately though... This too is not my life purpose. The advantage is that if I went off to start this 1st personal training business, in a matter of years my financial situation could drastically improve, my network within the community would grow, my experience level and skill sets would increase, BUT I would be essentially working towards a path which is not my ultimate goal/life purpose. Now this 1st business certainly has the potential to teach me various skills needed for my ultimate life purpose, but again, it's not my life purpose. So on one hand, it seems like a strategic move to start this one business, as it will give me the time, experience, money, and essentially life infrastructure to really bootstrap myself into my ultimate goal long term. On the other hand, part of me feels like I should just start working towards my life purpose right now, forgo the initial PT business and just do my own thing. The problem is it would be very difficult financially to pull it off. Without going into too much details on my health, I can't risk finical failure, as I am dependent on medications every month to live. SOOOO yeah I can't fuck up with money, which makes the 1st business plan a lot more appealing. I see pros and cons to each path... But I also know life purpose work needs to be strategized for the long term, and right now I kind of need money so the idea of starting a joint training business seems very promising for the short term. However, I could also see it becoming difficult to start my own Life Purpose path down the road if I get too entangled in this 1st business. In terms of what is the best strategy for life purpose... I don't know what I should do. Any insights or opinions would be extremely welcomed.

What I've been doing is actively trying to figure out how each book I read will change my behavior. The "Learning = Behavior Change" model from Leo's YouTube has been a really effective way for me to learn. Of course sometimes remembering details is important, in which case take notes and memorize information, but ultimately unless what you're learning is making tangible change in your life, how much did you truly learn? Changes might be in the way you think, the way you interact with others, the way you interact with the world at large, and even what direction your life takes. Either way, behavior change. So getting the most out of books... Understanding how they'll change my behavior is very helpful.

Pursuing life purpose is one solution too.

This 100% Freedom, the ability for life to flow in any direction, may only occur if there is a path for that flow. I imagine discpline as the detachment from psychological impulse, and therefore a “freedom” from the impusles of desires, aversions to pain, and attachment to suffering, etc. It’s difficult to fully articulate but ultimate freedom IS ultimate discpline. This is somewhat paradoxical relative to the absolute truth of no self, and yet nonetheless when the self structure is operating and pulling “you” with its never ending streams of impulse, authentic being cannot take place. So tapping into this beingness, this freedom, requires a “discipline” to remain detached from impulse. But discpline itself is simply the being with impulse rather than acting upon impulse, and therefore you could conceptualize it as a freedom from psychological impulse all together. This is my perspective. So to reiterate: freedom = discipline