Extreme Z7

I used to be a rationalist once. In my experience, there's just this addictive feeling of being smarter than anyone else. It's very hard to let go of the egoic need to feel like you can understand everything and that you're way better than those stupid religious people who believe anything they're told. I broke out of it, I guess, when I started to realize that reality isn't as obvious and easy-to-understand as rationalism puts it. And then I began my meditation habit and after several months of the practice, I realized that rationalism only looks appealing from the perspective of an undisciplined mind. The reason why people are so dogmatic and rationalistic people tend to be so dogmatic is because they haven't put in the hard effort of disciplining their mind. And, of course, this causes a lot of trouble and suffering. It's funny how a lot of rationalists like to criticize a lot of new-age, spiritual, or even self-help material as being 'pseudo-science', 'scams', or even just idiocy while at the same time falling prey to many consumer products in society that are really not helpful to the human mind. They might criticize some New-age figure like Deepak Chopra as someone who spreads 'false-hope' and 'snake oil'. But then what do they do in their lives? Drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, spend hours watching TV, etc. etc. and they criticize New-age as something that ruins people's lives? You see, rationalism is very attractive to the addicted and undisciplined. Because it's very hard to embark on a journey to grow yourself when you already think you're able to understand everything about life in your present state of mind, no matter how rotten it is. Additionally, It's very hard to take any hardcore rationalist seriously when they make a "debunking" video while mixing it with random Star Wars effects. (Yes, this is real)

Ikigai = Life Purpose

Good Luck

Can Truth even be shared?

@Samuel Garcia If you say can't self-actualize, then it will be that way! Out of all the variables that affect your life, what you believe is possible is one of the most significant. But of course, it's all just beliefs. You can change them on a whim if you're wise enough to see how it will transform your life. And if you do claim that you've changed your beliefs yet your life still hasn't improved, I'm going to claim that you haven't actually changed your beliefs. You still cling to them like they're your little puppy dog pets. Welcome to the club, buddy. What, did you think it was going to be as pleasurable as watching TV? Logically speaking, if it was, everyone would be meditating because everyone loves TV! But very few people meditate, and it's so rare to find people doing it very seriously. The only explanation is that meditation is a really emotionally difficult and grueling practice. And think about this seriously, how many people you see who chase pleasure are truly joyful and happy? Are you truly happy chasing raw pleasure? Judging by your story, you're not even close. You have to face the reality that your idea of what you want in life has to change completely. Question everything society has taught you are things you want. Because 99% of what modern mainstream society says human beings want actually causes a lot of trouble and misery.

In my opinion, it's a lot easier to see what Leo is pointing to if you have more of a recluse-type personality. I know I do. If you're not able to comprehend how it's possible that all these 'heinous' acts are perfectly acceptable, it's probably because your mind is struggling to let go of mainstream moralistic thinking or not even making any effort to do so. I notice that it's rare that people only talk to themselves about how they hate certain acts of 'evil'. They usually like to bicker their opinions with other people, probably to get some ego gratification out of it. When you're a recluse-type, you're not really compelled to converse with others about what you think, not even online. And likewise the overall toxicity of mainstream culture barely affects you.

Sadghuru was once asked by a little child "Is life real or is it a dream?" Sadghuru replied, "Life is a dream, but the dream is real." "Hmph! Sadghuru, you're always like this!" the child complained.

Yeah, falling into a deep pit of negative emotions could instantly be turned into pleasure through pure mindfulness.

@Leo Gura Sadghuru has his own 'Daily Quotes of Wisdom' app. Maybe you can check that out too.

If one thinks that they understand spirituality without actually researching let alone practicing it, chances are that they don't understand anything at all.

Nothing about video games is inherently distracting or detrimental to growth. And just because something isn't necessarily helpful to personal growth, doesn't mean you should avoid it all costs. It's a matter of awareness and observation of how one handles these habits. Okay. . . maybe MMO's are the only real wastes of time.

Selecting The ONE Right Life Purpose out of Multiple Possible Ones: This is one I've struggled with for almost two years now. I have a passion for visual art, music and game development and a little bit in storytelling and have varying degrees of skill on production in all these fields. I recognize the problem of pursuing all of them equally so for several months I've been pondering to pick one field to really focus and become a master on. Recently, I came to a decision that game development would likely be my real life purpose and have since had increased motivation when coding my current game project. However I still have nagging thoughts in my mind to also spend some time in my other fields. I do not wish to abandon my lesser passions completely in order to pursue my main passion exclusively. For me, this problem has led to a lot of stress, workaholism and indecision. Embodying My Authentic Desires: The way I act around my current environment is very disconnected with the how I feel and I think. For example, I'm a college student who is very unsatisfied with still living with his parents who have been brainwashed by the modern education system's narrative of "Go to school, Get good grades, Get a job". They don't know what my true desires are and they assume that I just want what they tell me I want. It's very difficult for me to actually act they way I want to act in this environment. On the outside, it seems like I'm completely okay with whatever they have planned for me but deep down, I've got my mind focused on my authentic desires. This is just one example out of many scenarios in which I cannot embody my own feelings. Obsessive Thoughts: Enough said...

@Tako le poulpe It's just a phase you're going through. Sooner or later you're really going to get just how unsatisfying most of the things that mainstream society offers are. Your mind right now is like an obese kid who doesn't want to let go of his junk food. But ooh man. . . that's some good junk food isn't it?

@Leo Gura LOL, I honestly thought you were spending your birthday with your family or something.

Nope, we're doomed. . .

@a e l i Two of the best techniques I've found with getting along with people is. 1. Just talk to them. Talk to random strangers. You don't even have to be friendly. Just be you. 2. Don't talk to anyone. Sit in a quiet room by yourself and do nothing. Learn to sit and be calm just by yourself and accept reality exactly as it is.

Who is experiencing the fear?

It's very simple. People fail to see the big picture because they already think they have the big picture.

@Leo Gura Most people don't act like people. More like robots wearing people skin.

@Emre 'Life is meaningless' is only a negative thing through the perspective an ego. 'Life is meaningless' is itself literally meaningless! Ego hates void because void reveals truth and you can probably already verify that for yourself to be true. And truth reveals that ego doesn't exist. So there's nothing it can do but continue to trick itself to avoiding truth which could be why you've ended up in such a bad state. It's ego getting a small taste of truth and then trying to run away in fear. Your job is to face it head-on, stop trying to run away from it.

@nightrider1435 Things can go way deeper than that. And the deep existential stuff you discover will completely change your life. Just don't get so lost in your spiritual path that you neglect "regular human life". For the past month I've been spending one hour of meditation and one hour self-inquiry per day so that's 2 hours spent on a spiritual practice per day but it's been making it harder for me to work on my college projects as they require a big time commitment (My major is in computer science). So I decided to temporarily set my meditation and self-inquiry down to 30 minutes per session to give myself 1 hour of extra work time per day. You know, decisions like that can help keep a good balance balance between spirituality and practicality.

@NutellaTC Just keep calm and don't make any rush judgements or actions. Be relatively dormant until you're able to function back into your normal life.

I made this one very recently. It's not a static image nor is it a gif. Just see it for yourself. http://sketchtoy.com/67977731