Apparition of Jack

I think this is a good case study of a country not being able to progress too much if the social systems of that country are undeveloped. Morales may have tried to be a great reformer, but because Bolivia is simply too stuck in stage Red/Blue, even he couldn't make that many changes and started acting corrupt himself. Spiral Wizardry would help here. Find whichever politician is the most advanced in Bolivia and support them, whatever their shortcomings may be. Otherwise, i predict troubles within the country for a long while to come.

I think we have to distinguish between "debating someone" (i.e. pointing out flaws in someone's reasoning, which even Leo does), and "having a debate" (i.e. setting up an argument between two sets of people with a pre-agreed upon position which needs to be supported/opposed), which is usually nothing more than mental masturbation for people with too much time on their hands. The first one can be a useful tool for awakening (assuming you're doing it with the intention of getting the other person to critically examine their worldview and aren't just trying to puff up your own ego), the other is pretty useless.

Factory farming is horrible. At some point in the future humanity will look back on the way we treated our fellow sentient beings and look back in horror and disgust. The problem is not so much whether factory farming is terrible or not. The problem is - is humanity sufficiently advanced enough to abolish it right now? And to that I would say the answer is no, not yet. This is not to downplay or discredit animal right's activism or vegan movements or anything else - these people playing a crucial role in the development of humanity, even if they are about a century too early. Rather, it would be a call to take a more "holistic" approach to advocating for veganism / more sustainable farming practices / empathy towards animals / etc. Focus on the big picture issues, such as providing nutrition to 7+ billion humans with the technology we've currently set up, raising consciousness so that people start to take an proactive interest in ethical food, or providing alternate sources of income for developing economies that animal husbandry can seem very attractive to. Otherwise, the crusade to end animal cruelty might feel good, but (and I hate to say it) it won't ultimately be very productive.

What are some examples of these conspiracies exaclty?

@Bno I agree with most of these, but Obama didn't start the Wall St bailout, Bush did (Obama did go through with it though.) Also, Obama didn't give us Donald Trump, America's stage blue ethnonationalist backlash did. Obama could've been a lot better and lot more effective but blaming him for Trump is like blaming the water - and not the rock thrown into the water - for the ripples.

@montecristo Everyone operates as a hive mind. This is not an exclusively Chinese phenomenon.

Hi all, as part of my self-actualisation journey I've decided that starting a blog and sharing my insights is something I'd like to do. So I'm wondering if anyone knows of any decent, easily-accessible websites / resources I can use to start a professional-looking blog, possibly with a custom URL (although thats not necessary)? I could potentially pay money to host my site if need be, but I wouldn't be able to afford too much a month. Thanks for any help!

As with most health and wellness related things, I feel like the effects of No Fap vary depending on each individual person's unique makeup. Some people would benefit immensely from cutting out porn and masturbation entirely. Other people can masturbate 10 times a day and have no significant effects on their motivation / energy / relationships etc. It all depends on the person. I personally have cut out 95% of porn (sometimes I'll relapse and watch a video) and have cut down my masturbation amounts significantly, and I have noticed myself gaining more energy and motivation because of it, but I still do ejaculate (mostly using my imagination) and feel OK with that. I don't see occasionally having a release to be a huge problem. Of course, with all this said, I would still say on average it would be better for people - especially young guys - to cut down on porn consumption. I don't think porn is evil or wrong, but for most people, especially undeveloped minds, it can cause a lot of unhealthy habits and cutting down on it will free up a lot of physical and emotional energy. Also let's not forget there's higher-consciousness porn and lower-consciousness porn, as with anything. If you're watching "Big Booty White Girl gets DRILLED" eight times a day, you probably want to reconsider your habits. Just my two cents.

In some sense, civilisation is always reaching a major turning point. 11am today was a major turning point since 10am

@Leo Gura Awesome

https://imgur.com/gallery/pdCsSOQ Here's a good link that explains much of the behaviour of the current Chinese regime. Obviously its a very broad overview so it cant account for everything, but it does highlight a lot of the current trends we're seeing going on in there.

Alpha males might get all the food and women, but they're also the ones expected to defend and - if need be - die for the tribe. Those perks come with big risks. Also, since being an alpha looks so attractive, other strong males will always be trying to take the positon from you, and if they succeed you'll be shunned by everyone else, so it's really not as "stress free" as it looks. In my opinion, rather than worrying too much about chasing material status, focus on self-actualising instead, and all the things you want (money, girls, confidence) will start coming naturally to you, only it'll be in a more conscious and less stressful way (what's trying to hook up with a random hot girl every week in meaningless sex compared to one or two relationships with beautiful, thoughtful partners who let you be open and vulnerable and very damn intimate with?)

Why not be the change you wish to see in the world? If your society is really as masculine and competitive as you say, why not act as a shining beacon of the Feminine and teach other guys that it's OK to feel vulnerable, calm, expressive, etc.? It'll be tough (ironically enough) but perhaps you could see the challenges of it as part of your life purpose / self-actualisation journey?

In my opinion, Epstein is merely a symptom, not a cause, of the sort or corruption that goes on at the top. If you want to prevent Epsteins from rising in this world, then to me you need to take responsibility for the society you live in and hold those with power accountable. This means holding to account not just when they sell children as sex slaves, but also when they rob nations of wealth, push for laws that cause huge damage to our health, environment, consciousness, and so on. Otherwise, by ignoring the more subtle problems of abuses of power, you allow the system that enables these subtle abuses to also create much more visceral abuses (like child sex trafficking by members of the ultra-wealthy.)

@Leo Gura How do you reconcile wanting to be a vegan for ethical reasons but then finding your body relies on animal products too much for you to realistically give them up? I'm always trying to cut down / eventually give up meat because I feel bad for animals, but my body seems disposed towards animal products

@CreamCat Income inequality negatively impacts quality of life though

@Rookie @RookieYou seem quite knowledgeable about the topic, so do you mind if I ask you a few questions? How do you forsee Brexit impacting the UK, as well as Europe at large? I know that when the votes came in a lot of people were worried this meant the end of the European project, but as you touched upon it seems to have had the reverse affect (at least in regards to the remaining members.) What will a post-Brexit UK look like? Where will most of its money come from, what will the cultural attitudes be like? Do you forsee Britain at some point rejoining, if the European honey pot seems too big not to be a part of?

It'd be almost impossible to have a stage green fascist society. Fascism by definition involves hyper-nationalism, militarism and ethnic tribalism, all things anathema to the green worldview. Fascism is unhealthy red and blue. There's really no reason to try and "emulate" it on higher levels.

I'm not sure what the motivation behind this is - are they protesting the anniversary or just putting an "artistic" spin on it?

In 2006 Oblivion released a "horse armor" DLC for $2.50 that did nothing but give your horse some purely aesthetic armor (no gameplay effects) and the fans absolutely tore it to shreds. This was before price-gouging DLCs were common, so people at the time just laughed it off, but it would be telling about the direction the gaming industry was headed.

The polls are finally starting to catch up with reality. Don't buy into the corrupt stage-Orange establishment narrative that Bernie doesn't have the support to get in - he does, and a YUGE chunk of it will be made up of the youth vote, a.k.a most Actualized.org followers Bernie 2020!

Point out the extreme differences in conditions that lead to 20th century soviet communism arising and 21st century modern socialism arising. The first arose in an illiterate feudal autocracy that was suffering under four years of the most destructive conflict in human history up to that point. The second is arising in the single most prosperous and democratic period in human civilisation ever with advances in technology and politics that would make your average Russian peasant quake in their boots. Point out how we have both the technology and guts to implement the massive social programs to reenergize western society. Point out to them how late stage capitalism is failing on its ability to deliver its promises, and how so few solutions have arisen from the free market to the many, many problems we're facing today (entrenched classes, climate destruction, etc.) Point out how just as a society needs cops to prevent people behaving badly, an economy needs government to prevent private corporations acting badly. Etc etc. These are just a few ideas I have.

Machines won't achieve true AI so long as scientists and technicians cling to the materialist paradigm

Spiral Dynamics isn't an exhaustive model of human societies by any stretch of the imagination. It leaves out many factors including history, local culture, specifics of religion, etc. Also, I would say SE countries are still dangerous, just not for foreigners (mostly.) There's a lot of crime and suffering that you wouldn't know about since it's just not relevant to you.

To me, Jesus represents the forgiving, selfless love inherent in reality. And since you are reality, you are this forgiving, selfless love. The reason a lot of people see him is because they've been conditioned to do so (I've had mystical visions of his presence) and because he just seems like a nice person all round. The trick IMO is to use him as an example and try to embody that bold, selfless love in the world. Despite the world being against him, Jesus never backed down from telling the truth and helping the needy because he knew that's what he was there to do. And even whilst being crucified, Jesus went to his death with forgiviness on his tongue, knowing that people only hated him out of ignorance. And since you are him, you're able to reach these incredible states of compassion too.