Apparition of Jack

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Posts posted by Apparition of Jack

  2. Posted

    Do you have any friends or connections that might help you move to a (relatively) safer place in the meantime @Mesopotamian? Even if just somewhere else in Iraq for now. Also, do you have any skills that might be favourable if you meet the right person? Even just something like photography or playing an instrument can help open the right doors.

    I guess I'm asking, do you have any ability to improve your security in the short-term, even if it's not a full solution? Being stuck in Iraq to living in Western Europe / America is a huge leap, so do you have any small-scale plans in the meantime to help you move in that direction further down the line?

  3. Posted · Edited by Apparition of Jack

    Society is an illusion, but you won’t truly realise it’s an illusion unless you grow spiritually. Cultivating love and compassion is one of the key tenets of spiritual growth, so it makes perfect sense that you’d care about it while you’re still stuck in ego. 
     

    And then, by the time you do evolve enough to see through it, you’ll radiate so much love and compassion that there’ll be no reason not to still care about it even after you’re finished.

  5. Posted

    Man, what a waste. JP clearly has a strong intuitive grasp of human psychology and motivations and yet he wastes his understanding on defending some decaying 20th century white liberalism. 
     

    He could unlock so many secrets of the universe if he could look beyond his biases but alas he entangles himself in samsara due to his petty ego clashes. Sad.

  7. Posted

    Here’s a question - what does “freedom of speech” even mean? To me it’s a nonsense term than can be used to justify practically anything. 
     

    Freedom from government censorship? You could argue that, but then that doesn’t explain why the government bans child porn or info on how to make bombs. These are forms of speech, after all. 
     

    People hide behind the phrase to hide the fact their tongues are like snakes and their ideas are like poison.

  9. Posted · Edited by Apparition of Jack

    @vizual the difference is left-wing fundamentalism is still more conscious, loving, non-violent and adaptable than right-wing fundamentalism.

    A few left-wing radicals might blow up an oil plant or cancel a celebrity for some remarks made 15 years ago - a few right-wing radicals will kill minorities and attempt a political coup to undermine democratic rights and implement a reactionary dictatorship.

    They are not the same.

  11. Posted

    42 minutes ago, Hardkill said:

    Yeah but guys, Leo said that once a nation has a high enough income and good enough infrastructure, then enough of its people will want to rebel for more equality and freedom. So, why haven’t a lot of people within Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE been fighting hard for more freedom and equal rights?

    Maybe they have? In fact, there often is protests in SA etc for more freedom of the press etc. 
    The problem is is that it’s still too early for a majority of people to want these things. There are people in these countries alive today who were born when these societies were still tribal nomads. That mindset isn’t so easily shifted, even in societies that experience rapid economic growth. 
     

    Basically you’re jumping the gun. Yes these societies have become wealthy but only in the span of about 30 years are so. That’s nowhere near long enough for a solid tradition of liberalism to emerge. Give it a few more decades, especially as the young people are exposed to these ideas more, and you’ll see more people wanting democracy, etc.

  12. Posted

    1 hour ago, Eph75 said:

    He's just pointing towards there being a difference in capital use efficiency between corporations and government where capitalists or corporations "that have proven great responsibility [towards the bettering of the world]" are better off using the capital that otherwise would be taken by the government, and instead reinvest towards meeting the desired outcomes connected to that envisioned better world. 

    This makes sense. 

    Are there many corporate leaders that are so future world benefits focused as Elon Musk so that it would be wise to exempt all corporations from that reinvesting possibility?

    Probably not.

    The administration would be tedious and risk of corruption or taking advantage of such a system would be enormous as its hughly profitable for anyone favored by it. 

    The lack of practicality doesn't take away from what he is saying though.

    Capital in the hands of someone like Elon Musk [seems to be] is likely to be reinvested time and again towards pioneering making a better world for all, while government is more preoccupied with maintaining the world and keeping to from falling apart, survival. And for each self-sustained project raising more capital a new project could be born, accelerating the overall process of creating a better tomorrow.

    Lol

  14. Posted

    3 hours ago, BlackPhil said:

    Feels like Leo is abit stuck in an echo-chamber when it comes to politics tbh, just like so many others nowdays with all the polarization going on. Associating every criticism of the vaccines with the opposite political faction. I don't really see any other gurus or yogis pushing these vaccines on people, quite the opposite.

    Anyways Leo has alot of valuable wisdom when it comes to certain spiritual topics, but this doesn't make him an expert on everything ofc. I would advice you all to not follow him blindly on this issue even if you learned alot from him when it comes to other topics. 

    It's his forums so guess the vaccine debate won't happen here, fine by me.

    For what it’s worth, the Dalai Lama has received the vaccine and I believe Sadhguru has said people should take it. 

  16. Posted · Edited by Apparition of Jack

    They did, actually. There were a number of fascist and authoritarian groups in the UK/US during that time period. Some even managed to gain some degree of support. 
     

    They failed though due to the strength of democratic institutions and the peoples undesire for fascist governments. The economy might have been terrible but people still respected freedom of speech, the right to vote, etc.  There was no need to give up democracy. 

    This was unlike Germany and Italy which didn’t have strong cultures of democracy and were a lot more bitter from WWI.

  17. Posted · Edited by Apparition of Jack

    We’re only not having enough babies if you’re stuck in the paradigm of each nation-state being it’s own distinct unit. As globalisation and migration increases though, such a worldview becomes increasingly untenable.

    The world is having more than enough babies, they’re just being born in the third world instead of the first world. 

    Who’s to say the engineers and architects of tomorrow all have to come from Europe and America? Maybe we should give Africa and India a chance.

  19. Posted

    I want to preface this by saying I am a student of science, believe in vaccines, masks, lockdowns etc and I would never jeopardise my intellectual integrity by falling into right-wing conspiracy nonsense.

    However, this is just my own personal anecdote, but ever since having two Pfizer jabs (mRNA) in September my life has been considerably worse. My breathing is stunted, my thinking is weak, I have barely any energy, etc. It’s not just me who felt this way, my mother has noticed a severe drop in my activity levels and this is without me even mentioning anything to her. 
     

    You are free to dismiss my account all you want but I genuinely believe there is something messed up about mRNA technology and that it’s causing way worse issues for people than is currently being reported on. We live in tense times so I understand the desire to not “give an inch” to conspiracy bullshit, but again I have to say I am still on the side of science and this is undeniably what I am going through. This is nothing to say of the stage Orange devilry Pfizer has been engaged in even before Covid was a thing.

    Interestingly enough, all my friends/family who have had AstraZeneca (a conventional vaccine) haven’t had these bad side effects. I really think I got unlucky and took the screwed up vaccine over the one that’s safer and more reliable.

    Damn.

  20. Posted

    The coming troubles might resemble, well, the Troubles of Ireland between the 70s and 90s.

    It was a constant low-energy civil war between competing ethnic groups, with periods of conflict and violence and periods of relative peace and stability. Some areas were severely damaged during the conflict, some areas saw no trouble at all. 
     

    I find it hard to imagine a genuine widespread civil war breaking out, but some kind of sporadic violence / craziness / terrorist attacks are possible, alongside a general air of distrust and a cultural Cold War. 

    Stay safe Americans.

  25. Posted · Edited by Apparition of Jack

    13 hours ago, Stovo said:

    In regards to whether they have value... Well, the Mona Lisa also holds extreme value as an idea. The cost of the actual materials that make up the Mona Lisa is minuscule in comparison.

    But the difference is there's only one Mona Lisa - sure there are copies, but they're imperfect copies, and the actual, singular Mona Lisa, with all its specific flaws and qualities, can only ever be that one painting in the Louvre.

    But with NFTs, right-clicking + saving one gives you exactly the same image as whoever "bought" it. In fact, NFTs aren't even the images themselves but rather just the "proof of ownership" token. If someone posted a NFT image here, I could easily just save that image and I'd have the exact same experience and enjoyment of it as whoever paid money for it.

    It's literally creating scarcity where there is none - an internet image is infinitely repeatable, and yet somehow paying thousands of dollars for a token means you "own" it? How does that follow?