Joshe

The "shock" or confusion comes from people thinking Trump cares about delivering any of the things they want. Healthy minds can clearly see having faith in a con artist to provide the citizenry with anything of value is utter foolishness. That foolishness is what shocks. The problem is, Trump supporters don't see him as the con man that he is. They say things like "Trump isn't perfect, but he cares about America." The healthy minds among us have a hard time acclimating to a reality where a large portion of their fellows flat out reject and deny a truth that is so easy to see, yet they persist in willful ignorance and refuse to see the truth of what is. This happens with religion but the dangers of religion are nowhere near as immediate as the dangers of putting an overtly toxic, Machiavellian narcissistic con artist at the helm of the most powerful country on the planet. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who sees Trump as he is, which is a con artist, to say the least. Recognize that every single thing he says, he says to further his personal agenda and is almost certainly a lie. He will lie to Christians, unions, Jews, hurricane victims, etc. He will lie to every single demographic and he will make them believe he cares about them with all his heart and he's the strong man to make their dreams a reality. To see those demographics fall for his overt con artistry is disturbing. The best rebuttal a Trump apologist could give here is introduce a both-sides argument, but if they do that, they just demonstrate they can't see what Trump is, and this is yet another facet that contributes to the shock, confusion, and disturbance of healthy minds. We livin' in the upside down bro.

@Keryo Koffa Just informed me they're using Google Keep for a knowledge management system. I'm not sure how many other poor souls there are out here so I figured I'd offer some upgrades. Obsidian uses markdown for notes. Really simple. Plain text files basically. It's free and it has badass features and plugins. My favorite: Infinite canvas. Good for not getting lost in minutia of the thing you're studying. The nodes are notes. You can zoom all the way in and out. Each of these nodes can be external notes as well. If you use Obsidian the way they suggests, you can get a really nice Bird's eye view of your brain with their graph view. Each note/filename is a node. You can click it and it'll take you to the note. Here's an example using mock data. Here's a video of the graph feature. Not sure how well it will play. I'm hosting it with my microsoft account. https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ajj233BUpjgM46kT8RnDEtWFSpt5kQ?e=O0Jldg And here's one for the infinite canvas: https://1drv.ms/i/s!Ajj233BUpjgM46ki3RAxju3IpMNKbA?e=c8jeru You're welcome!

@ryandesreu - That's a good video. Pakman does a good job of explaining right-wing masculinity and their grifters. His explanation basically explains facets of an agitated stage orange demographic and he goes on to talk about how the left(stage green) needs to start providing those folks healthier alternatives of masculinity. This was one of his best takes I've seen so far. Timestamp 34:24. It's obvious this sort of strongman facade resonates with orange but there are subtleties that are easy to miss. Many Trump supporters aren't necessarily right-wing, but rather, pro-perceived strength, and then they might often end up identifying as being on the right because they want to align their identity with strength, toughness, grit, etc., which are ubiquitous values.

@Javfly33 One of my top desires in my early twenties was a particular Mercedes. As time went on, I eventually stopped wanting it. I wanted people to look at the car and be like "wow!" and associate it with me, so I could get ego strokes. Once I understood the desire sprang from this, it slowly went away and never came back. Today, I'd feel awkward driving it because I don't want to be flashy. You seem like you're interested in evolving, so I doubt you'll care about a flashy car in 5 or 10 years.

@What Am I Go create multiple accounts on X and don't follow anyone or tell it your interests, let us know what you see. You'll see Elon telling you democracy is at risk if you don't vote for Trump and you can earn $47 bucks if you go to his link and refer a friend to vote. I just signed up with X a few months back just to see what it was like, and Elon Musk was all over the feed. To be fair though, I saw much right wing propaganda and promotion when I created a new Google account and went to Youtube. The algorithms expect a male in my area to be interested in that stuff. But the difference between Youtube and X's algorithms is that Musk is tweaking his to serve him however he sees fit, whereas Google's is designed to get as much engagement as possible to increase ad revenue. They aren't intentionally trying to propagandize people like Musk is. It's public record that Thiel and Musk LOVE the idea of "memes" and "mimetic theory". Why? Why would the richest men in the world be interested in such things? Meme: units of cultural information—such as ideas, beliefs, practices, or symbols—that spread from person to person through imitation, similar to how genes propagate biological traits. Is it because they want to enrich humanity or enrich themselves? Obviously, themselves, and this is why Musk bought Twitter. If you have the resources (vehicles to distribute memes) and knowledge of memetic theory, you can apply it like this: Influence Public Opinion: Shape societal beliefs by spreading desirable or strategic memes that drive public discourse. Amplify Divisions: Use memes to heighten tribalism and polarize groups, making them easier to control or manipulate. Create Social Movements: Spark or steer social movements by seeding viral ideas that align with specific political or economic agendas. Control Desires: Guide consumer behavior or political preferences by manipulating what people desire through imitative processes. Deflect Criticism: Distract from personal or business issues by flooding the discourse with memes that shift focus elsewhere. Rally Support: Build loyal followings by embedding identity-forming memes that create strong in-group cohesion. Scapegoating: Use memes to direct collective frustration or anger toward specific targets, reducing conflict toward powerholders. Manufacture Consent: Shape societal norms and legitimize authority by making certain ideas appear self-evident or widely accepted through imitation.

I like this guy:

haha, good catch! Yes, I've learned much from Hawkins.

To say "I am an addict", implies there is work to be done and the purpose of hammering this into your skull daily is not to foster weakness, but to acknowledge the weakness inside you and to make you 24/7 vigilant, which is necessary when you're attempting to quit a substance you're extremely addicted to. Higher conscious people can solve their addictions on their own but the average person cannot do that. They often require hitting rock bottom and society or their family forcing them into a program. AA mostly serves to bring the addict's energy up to a place of courage and willingness so they can choose to quit. The details of how that happens are not important because without them choosing to quit, they'll soon end up extremely diseased or dead. AA provides a sense of comradery. When you're depressed and apathetic, which most alcoholics are, it's uplifting to be around others who sympathize with you, don't judge you for your failure, and to know others have been there before. This social element provides a great energetic boost that replenishes their self-esteem and self-efficacy, which is required for them to choose to increase awareness and to engage in strategies that will protect them from relapse. I had an alcoholic gf once. It was rough af. I'm good with strategy but there was absolutely nothing I could do. She wasn't interested in my solutions. All she ever said was "you don't know what it's like". No amount of wisdom ever penetrated until she had the social element of AA.

@ryandesreu Yeah, he mocks a lot but he seems to do it from a positive place, lol. He mostly talks about the psychology of Trumpists and how to combat it. If you watch his "Stumping Trumpists" series, he'll grow on you. His style is a little strange but there's definitely good insights.

@Thought Art Any good ideas as to what he might be up to in the deep blue states? The most obvious answer I think is he wants free media coverage, but it seems so stupid to be campaigning in deep blue states less than a month out from the election. I've come up with many speculations but I'm leaning towards he needs to go there for business purposes. And by business purposes, I mean, stealing the election.

Interesting read on Musk. The author lays out solid logic suggesting Musk's Trump-alignment largely stems from a need for praise/validation. I figured he was more evolved than that, which made me lean towards Machiavellianism, but maybe most of it can be chalked up to him desperately wanting attention. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-donald-trump-rally-b2626745.html

@Fearey

A daily alignment practice could help, but that also gets stale. Even if you remember the principles, you need drive to live by them. You could try to put yourself through some sort of self-designed boot camp where you brainwash your mind to respect your highest principles. What you want is to be able to act in ways that align with your goals and ideals, and your current strategy is to rely on principles/mindsets/thoughts, etc., to provide you with drive to take those actions. IME, this is the hardest thing to do because it requires an insane level of commitment and discipline, which would literally look insane and make you feel like you're insane because to do this, you have to radically brainwash yourself, at least, that's what it seems to take for me. I have not found any specific collection of thoughts, perspectives, principles, etc, that won't fail in the presence of negative emotion. I've tried creating an entire school of thought and daily principles/alignment practice that I wanted to connect to. I called it "The Advancing Life". I collected audio recording of my most important reminders, favorite principles, symbols, imagery, you name it. This all turned out to be a procrastination trap. I just ended up adding more and more to it and never focused on the absolute essentials. One thing always leads to another, which is why, IMO, essentialism is the most important principle for self-dev work. There's not enough time and energy to fix everything, so we have to only work on one or two at a time. If you were to actually integrate the principle of essentialism, that in itself would solve most of your problems. The hard thing about this principle is that there are many things that you're interested in that you will have to surrender but I can't think of another principle with a higher payoff. Maybe the first principle should be "know thyself", but that's a huge project. And the principle of "balance" is important too. As far as I can tell, these 3 principles are the most important. But, I just thought that some sort of principle that connects you with the finitude of your lifespan is probably necessary as well. Maybe attach a bunch of ideas to a symbol of an hourglass! (there I go procrastinating again) When it comes down to it, after you define your goals and strategy, stop all thought, know your "why", and put one foot in front of the other, without hesitation, over and over and over. It really can be that simple. I'm still trying to let go of all the fun thinking and dreaming, which I tell myself is productive, but I'm not ready yet. When I am ready, I need to actually implement what I've laid out above. That's my plan to solve this problem.

I imagine it's a gray area and he is aware of legal loopholes. If Trump wins, Elon stands to win big. If Trump loses, Elon can easily use his money and social media platform to clean up his image, so I don't see it as a huge risk to his reputation in the long run. I just saw a Trump TV ad that takes Kamala out of context, making it appear as if she is saying she thinks all transgenders in prison should be eligible for federally-funded gender-affirming surgery and that she voted for that. Clips were clearly chopped up and taken out of context but the average person can't discern it. I don't see how such an ad could be legal, but I guess it is. I heard the other day that anti-woke/left videos are the topmost sought after videos on YT. That seems absurd to me but if it's true, that could go a long way in explaining why Musk, Rogan, and the like, have been cultivating that audience. Trump has created an audience that is so big and so easy to dupe, people like Musk saw it and just couldn't help himself. I think the Haitian cat story was a huge success. I talked to an ex gf in Pennsylvania who was never political but now she is and she don't like the fact that immigrants are taking over. lol. The right's propaganda machine is doing a great fucking job. I'm back to thinking Trump will win, and largely because of the immigration angle, transgender ads, Elon Musk, etc.

When it becomes obvious one's integrity and moral development are on par with—if not lower than—the average MAGA cultist, it should become clear that whatever virtue you think he might have is useless in the context of beneficial societal impact. At this point, he's a billionaire on his way to becoming the first trillionaire, with an agenda to grow the MAGA cult. People can talk about his virtue in an attempt to be balanced, but at a certain point, when you understand survival and psychology sufficiently, to speak of Elon as someone who isn't every bit as worthy of condemnation as Trump himself, for the societal harm he's causing, is absurd. He's now buying votes for $47.

Sweet. Thanks @Keryo Koffa. I'll check that out. I'm dealing with the fallout from hurricane Helene and this is the first I've had a chance to hop on here. Laptop is dying again. I shall return.

I feel like ideological drive will lose steam without Trump. Before Trump, they were all fine in their disparate bubbles and we didn't have to resist their lies all the time. Do you think it would go back to that or will the void from Trump's absence create demand for another like him? I worry Tucker Carlson might fill his shoes. I'm trying to get an idea of the degree we'll have to resist falsehood after Trump is gone. Any reason to think things will improve or do we just have to wait and see? What do you think is likely?

I say stay here because you're the best source of fresh wisdom I've currently got. 😆 Aside from that, what's the point? Intellectual/spiritual/reality exploration, testing limits, etc. To fix something To maximize the now (fix something) Understand yourself All of the above + 20 other ideas 😂 This desire/fantasy makes more sense if you're older. How old are you? Are you wishing you had more time to explore? If the desire/fantasy is more utilitarian than exploratory, then imagine how useless altering the past would be if you ceased all mentation that associated negative thoughts with your present circumstances. From this orientation, you would essentially have the same amount of creative power now to create your future as you'd have if you were creating it from the past. The only difference would be, in the past, you'd have a slightly better shot at predicting the chain of events, but that slight edge wouldn't account for much because there's too much complexity for you to handle. God made sure Keryo wasn't going to timehop that easily. I hope this makes sense. I'm loopy. All that could be done from the past could be done from the present. You could always maximize and always want more, like Kenneth Copeland. Tomorrow, you could wake up and get on a plane and fly to Japan and become a buddhist. That would alter your future. THINK OF THE POWER! As long as your rose-colored glasses are being used to look ahead, there is no difference in creative potential. One foot in front of the other is what creates the future and you do that now, whether it's in the past or the present.

^ this. It's not very sustainable to rely on motivation. Eventually, you will have to "force" yourself to do things. Which can be done, but ideally, you would not force yourself to engage in something. Your energy stores will deplete relatively quickly compared to not forcing. When I was building my freelance business, I could work 14 hours days and never tire, day after day. Now, I get fatigued after 3 hours of client work but I can still be happy working 14 hours days when I'm doing my own projects. If I must force myself to do things I don't want, what helps me is to bring something I like into it, for example, efficiency. Efficient routines, processes, infrastructure, etc. I use that to make the drudgery more palatable. Save energy everywhere you can. Get shoes you don't have to tie. 😂 Minimalist environment. It really just all depends on everything about you, but the above were some strategies for me.

Any analysis that doesn't factor in and deal with with the campaigns currently underway to undermine the separation of church and state in the U.S, and fails to acknowledge their success, is just not good. The separation of church and state is objectively under attack and those who seek to undermine it are making great progress. Christian nationalist are infiltrating the government. Just this week, yet another state partnered with PragerU to bring PragerU Kids to children in public schools. Florida: In July 2023, Florida became the first state to approve the use of PragerU Kids videos in public schools for grades K-6. Oklahoma: In September 2023, the Oklahoma Department of Education launched a partnership with PragerU Kids. Montana: PragerU is listed as a "bonded textbook dealer" on a Montana state website, and the state's superintendent of public instruction announced a partnership with the organization. New Hampshire: In September 2023, the New Hampshire State Board of Education unanimously approved the use of PragerU courses to satisfy financial literacy requirements in high schools. South Carolina: As of September 2024, South Carolina has aligned its state standards with PragerU content, allowing educators to access PragerU Kids' supplemental educational resources through the state's official learning portal. One state brought in PragerU. Then another. Then another. Then another. It will continue to infiltrate the schools and they will continue to infiltrate the government. It's not going away. Trump showed them it can be done, and so it is being done. My local county council meetings kick off by everyone standing up and listening to the board president make up a prayer on the spot, and he says shit like "dear lord we thank ya lord, and we just really thank ya lord, and look over Susan when she's having surgery lord, and dear lord let this meeting be productive lord, in your holy precious name we pray, Amen". It's on the rise.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-campaign-watches-c6000a9944a5e9116b99ca2fe8b95cb0 "He’s sold Bibles, sneakers, photo books and cryptocurrency during his third campaign for president. Now, Donald Trump is launching a new business venture: diamond-encrusted watches. The Republican presidential candidate unveiled the “Official Trump Watch Collection” on Thursday. The most expensive, listed as including 122 diamonds on its bezel and available in three 18-karat gold styles, costs $100,000. Another “Fight Fight Fight” model is listed at $499."

To change a single red or blue person is incredibly difficult. There are so many factors out of our control that their ego's are vulnerable to. The best answer I've come up with is something like: strategic politics > strategic education > consistent collective effort > results show up 20 years later. Here's how to do it: Get rich. Create and spread high-conscious propaganda via influencer marketing and entertainment. Next, pull a Peter Thiel and find you a high-conscious JD Vance—get many of them into the political system and then have them overhaul the education system. Dennis Prager has the right idea. He's already in 5-8 public school systems. His latest success was this week.

Instead of saying "No it's your world.", why not first ask questions and try to confirm your intuition is correct? Come to the Bible belt of the US and it will be in your world. Christianity was on its last legs and some studies say it still is, but I've lived here most of my life and I can tell you, Christianity is growing in my area and it's not just some information silo I'm stuck in. Is it growing world-wide, IDK, but there most certainly is a marked resurgence where I live. I suppose it could be the "loud minority" or whatever that's called, but it doesn't appear so. When I was growing up here, Christianity was largely kept out of the public but this isn't the case anymore. There are more churches than ever, more church marketing efforts than ever, more social media religious posts than ever, more noticeable at school events, etc. Arizona state senator invites prayer group in chamber, speaks in tongues: AFAIK, this is new.

Thanks @Keryo Koffa - I know this is true. I appreciate you articulating it. Fully integrating this will be my next big leap but I'm not sure when I'll take it. There's something about it that troubles me. I have fully embraced it in a trip before and it was probably the most impactful experience of my life. I'm not afraid of letting go of my positionalities but it feels like I can't carry the weight of the love or something. I tear up just thinking about it. Yeah, I did get hooked by "There is no evil". The trouble with communicating on the forum is that it's hard to know which ideas are directed at or suitable for whom, and it's easy to get wires crossed. I try my best to read personalities and tailor my communications to them or the situation, so ideas for one might not be suited for another... and of course, some of my ideas can just not be good. Also, I sometimes fuse communications meant for multiple people into a single message, and one person might get it but I confuse the other... lol.

Can you explain? I am wasting time like a boss but I'm not arguing without nuance, and lacking "perspectival integration" seems assumptious. Maybe "evil" has too much baggage. What I call evil is "that which is detrimental to the individual and/or the whole". The more detrimental, the more evil. Both the individual AND the collective are taken into account when assessing detriment. Of course, what's good for one thing is often bad for another and vice versa, but this truth does not make me indifferent to that which is detrimental. I don't know how any spiritual person ever could be indifferent to that which is detrimental. I can see how they think it makes sense, but I think it's fallacious af. If perspectives are detrimental, I don't simply say "that there's another perspective" and ignore that it's detrimental, because that is absurd and I don't think any amount of consciousness or spiritual development would produce an attitude of indifference in this regard. This doesn't mean I am narrowly focused in on some evil to the point that I lose sight or can't, in a single second, go into a higher perspective. I've chosen to value that which is good and my chosen highest good is the health and peace of the the planet and all life on it. If I make that decision and honor it, I have to make distinctions of what is good and what is bad for it. Hence, I will call bullies and rapists "bad" or "evil" or "detrimental" to my chosen highest good. This is not a blindspot.. it's intentional. I could decide to tear down all these structures I've built, but I choose not to. They were put in place for a reason. Sort of like how you have to fabricate your life purpose, you have to fabricate what is the highest good. This game is better than the indifference game. What is wrong with this position? I do not see any flaws. Maybe it's too much head and not enough heart.