aurum

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Posts posted by aurum


  1. @DocWatts You are writing some high quality content.

    36 minutes ago, DocWatts said:

    Precisely because any attempt to assess the comparative value of different societal and cultural viewpoints is anathema to Relativism, this severely limits its usefulness for guiding our decisions in the real world. An important aspect of living in the real world means being confronted by decisions that are informed by incommensurable viewpoints. As such, we can’t always reach a compromise that ‘splits the difference’, nor should we work from the assumption that every perspective has something useful to contribute (as anyone who’s dealt with online trolls can likely attest to).

    I'll add that the egoic mind will weaponize relativism for its own agenda. They can exploit your open-mindedness of different perspectives to get away with their anti-social or otherwise damaging behavior. Who is to say if I really cheated on my girlfriend? That's just like, your opinion, man.

    So it isn't just that relativism makes it hard for us to decide what is true or not. It's that self-bias will actively corrupt it.

    Of course the egoic mind can weaponize any epistemology, so this is not an inherent flaw to relativism per say. 


  2. 12 minutes ago, Vajra said:

    a) How do you know that? Maybe you simply didn't find a way yet. Maybe there is one.

    You are more than welcome to try. 

    12 minutes ago, Vajra said:

    b) Why not care? When you know, you can relate to these people more accurately. It's good to know whether a person is a man or a woman. It's important. Just in the same way, It might be relevant to know whether someone is actually God-Realized, or is only saying that.

    I agree that it's relevant for practical purposes. But the thing about God-Realization is that it transcends many of these practical concerns.


  3. 22 minutes ago, Vajra said:

    I didn't even say that I am not Realizing God.

    I said that I don't know if you or Leo or someone else is too.

    That's what I am asking about.

    I see. So you want to know if other people are God-Realized and how you can verify that they've achieved certain realizations. 

    In that case, the answer is that you mostly can't verify anyone's claims of God-Realization. But what you can do is to become God-Realized yourself so that it becomes more obvious when people don't know what they're talking about. You can also develop keener discernment around self-deception in general, so that you can better spot fraudsters. 

    Also, I've found that deeper God-Realization leads to you caring much less about feeling the need to verify other people's awakenings in general. It's useful for practical purposes so you don't get duped by false teachers, but otherwise it doesn't really matter.


  4. 7 minutes ago, Vajra said:

    I meant if you are saying that you know God, or know the truth, how can I believe you? How can I know YOU are not bullshiting? How?

    You aren't suppose to believe Leo or anyone else here. That's the whole point.

    Discover God for yourself. 

    Practically speaking, there are many tools and practices that have been discussed at length for you to accomplish this. You will either do them and figure it out or not. Either way, your belief about it does not really matter as long as you are suffuciently open-minded to make a genuine effort.


  5. @soos_mite_ah Turquoise to me always felt really badly defined in the SD model. Once you hit Green / Yellow, I find it's no longer that useful to keep thinking of your growth in terms of the Spiral.

    If by Turquoise you basically just mean doing hardcore spiritual work, then I'd say that's not something to force. You might just be in a phase where you want to focus on more basic human things. Or maybe you don't even want the highest levels of spiritual realization in this life time at all. 


  6. @Burntouted

    Step 1: Stop consuming manosphere content that is filling your head with this garbage

    Step 2: Realize that healthy relationships are indeed possible and that there are great women out there

    Step 3: Make a commitment to growing yourself as a man and to take responsibility for your end of said relationships

    Step 4: Go meet women in real life

    Step 5: Forget that you ever even worried about this kind of stuff


  7. 45 minutes ago, Jason Actualization said:

    So the question we must ask, is if CVD is the smoke, which of the myriad things that correlate is the true gun (surely at least one must be)?

    I'm submitting that oxidized cholesterol (oxysterols) is the unifying factor and that in fact, it's our own immune system responding to this oxidation that renders the chronic inflammation that lays down plaque in the end.

    Interesting. 

    I think a potential hole in your theory is that you are suggesting a physiological unifying factor, when in fact there may not be one. Especially when it comes to something complex and holistic like chronic inflammation. But nonetheless I am intrigued and will do some more digging on this.

    45 minutes ago, Jason Actualization said:

    I cannot stress enough the importance of this: I would consume industrial seed oils before I would ever touch ghee, and that's because my antioxidant status is amazing, so I'm less worried about oxysterol formation endogenously, which I am protected from, as opposed to oxysterol consumption exogenously which I cannot fight off.

    Also very interesting.

    People in the biohacking / carnivore / keto / animal-based community talk about their issues with seed oils / linoleic acid  all the time, but almost all those same people are proponents of ghee. I think you've convinced me to at least test switching out ghee for some grass-fed butter and to see what happens with my labs. It's a pretty simple swap to make.


  8. 6 minutes ago, Bazooka Jesus said:

    As always, it depends on which place the praise is coming from. Is it coming from a place of neediness ("please, you are so wonderful, I need you to fulfill me and make me happy, I beg you, please love me back") or from a place of abundance where you already are fulfilled and share you fulfillment and happiness with the world out of sheer joy and gratitude?

    Of course. What I said implies a basic foundation of self-respect as well. If someone reading this feels like they don't have that that basic foundation, then you should make it a top priority to steadily move in that direction.

    At the same time, be aware that "I don't want to come across as too needy" can also turn into its own excuse / trap. You end up depriving yourself of expressing love, and by extension, receiving it. No healthy relationships can be formed this way. At some point you have to be willing to transcend / include that.

    6 minutes ago, Bazooka Jesus said:

    That's why the "fake it till you make it" approach can be problematic; people will always feel if your outward protestations of appreciation are authentic or not, which is why a genuine internal change is required for you to see genuine changes in the way people - of in this case women - react to your advances. Adapting a bunch of positive sounding slogans without true inner change will probably just lead to more rejection and frustration... so make sure that you don't build your fancy new house on sand

    Yes that's true.

    I would argue that I'm not suggesting a "fake it till you make it" approach. I'm talking about genuinely making an effort to shift your focus based on conscious intention. Yes, this will feel awkward and maybe "inauthentic" for a while. That's growth.


  9. 4 hours ago, Emotionalmosquito said:

    Totally fair. Just try to understand how difficult it is for me to talk nicely about women. I’m fighting against years of deeply misogynistic thinking here. This really is my best attempt. The reason I said that stuff that makes it sound like I’m not being fully genuine is because I’m trying to strike a delicate balance. I don’t wanna get too close to full on woman-worshipping simp while still distancing as far as possible from hardcore incel level misogyny. This protects me from feeling like a simp and makes the thread easier for others like me to pop in and make positive contributions comfortably. 

    It's a good first step. One of the things misogynistic thinking does is change your selective focus so that you only see the negatives about women. So something like this where you are deliberately attempting to find the positive can help break that habit of negative selective focus.

    You'll also start to see that people don't treat you like a simp simply because you *gasp* said positive things about women. Actually you will likely find a lot of the opposite. Women will treat you with more respect and appreciation because fundamentally you respect and appreciate women. They will reflect back the energy you put out, just like a mirror. 


  10. @Jason Actualization Appreciate the thorough response on this. It's certainly got me thinking about my diet, especially since I do consume ghee.

    I think you are mostly correct, but I'm going to push back on you on a couple of points:

    1) The 2017 Lipids study you provided does not draw a causative link from oxysterols to atherosclerosis, only a correlation. You acknowledge this when it comes for LDL and ApoB, but not oxysterols

    2) If you are that concerned about oxysterols, what about meat? I'm assuming you are not eating raw. Therefore you must accept that some level of oxysterols are non-problematic, or that they are simply a worthwhile tradeoff due to the other benefits of meat.

    Looking forward to your response if you have one you'd like to share.

     


  11. A fantastic example of Green (David Pakman) doing a takedown of Blue religiosity.

    Key Memes: Secularism, Moral / Ethical Relativism, Scientific Progress, Rationality

     

    You could argue this is Tier 2 thinking from Joe Rogan, but I'm not so sure. For me, it lacks the true Spiral Wizardly of a solidly Tier 2 take. But he does correctly identify some of the issues with Green / Orange rationalism.

    Regardless, Pakman's take is essentially textbook Rational Green / Orange. He describes how secularism can work, religion is quaint and people can generate their own moral compass in life. 


  12. 24 minutes ago, Jason Actualization said:

    The process of clarifying butter to ghee, gives rise to an appreciable amount of oxysterols which are directly atherogenic.

     

    Do you have a source? I’m not seen any human studies claiming that oxysterols are directly atherogenic, only correlated. 


  13. 19 minutes ago, martins name said:

    I'm talking about this kind of guy: 

     

    I see your point. He is straw-manning both sides and making them seem ridiculous, then proposing what he sees as a more reasonable, middle of the road perspective. This could lead to false equivalencies between both sides, rather than seeing how one could be more correct than the other. That’s a valid insight.

    At the same time, to always take the side of progressives or conservatives is also incorrect. We need to be able to see how both sides may be getting it wrong, while simultaneously holding the bigger picture of how modern progressives tend to be more evolved than conservatives. This is not some kind of false centrism, this is deeply necessary for intelligent Tier 2 politics.

     

    34 minutes ago, martins name said:

    @aurum You are wrong on all accounts.
    I'm not talking about moral relativism.

    Spiral dynamics is about belief systems, not emotional maturity. There is no model for emotional and character maturity quite yet so many misuse SD in its place. Lex Friedman clearly has a yellow belief system. That's how he talks to people on all sides of politics.

    I am also not speaking about just moral relativism, although of course that is part of it. I am speaking about the operating system of the Green psyche and its tendency to relativize everything.

    Spiral Dynamics speaks on emotional maturity in the sense that it models ego development, which includes emotional maturity to a degree. People lower down the Spiral often act less emotionally mature than those higher up the Spiral, although not always. Belief systems often reflect someone’s emotional maturity. 

    Also, Lex being able to talk to all sides of the political spectrum does not necessitate solidly Yellow development. One of the hallmarks of Green is Pluralism and seeking new perspectives. Lex may have some Yellow, but I’m not sure he is solidly there. I could be wrong. I have not done a thorough investigation of his work so I don’t have a strong opinion on this. I am just going off the few videos I have seen of him.


  14. @martins name

    You may be conflating excessive relativism that often happens at SD Green with Yellow meta, multi-perspectivalism.

    Remember, it’s really post-modern deconstruction that seeks to argue that there is no objective truth and that therefore nothing can be said to be better or worse than anything else.

    Your grievances therefore really seem to be with Green postmodernism more than anything else. Part of what breaks you out of excessive relativism and brings you into Tier 2 is understanding deeply the trap you are talking about, while also not demonizing relativism.

    Also, remember that very few people are genuinely solid in Tier 2. If you think you are listening to someone who is solidly Tier 2, the likelyhood is they are not. Personally, I see Lex Friedman as more Green than Yellow.


  15. @Carl-Richard

    You’re definitely on the right track.

    Unless your actual goal is to be a competitive marathon runner, forget standard cardio. Waste of time.

    I prefer to get my cardio via activities like variable resistance training, walking, sauna or cold exposure.

    If someone insists on during more traditional cardio like biking / swimming / running, than the tier list goes like this:

    1) REHIT

    2) HIIT

    3) Zone 2 

    The challenge with REHIT is that it tends to be difficult to actually correctly implement. Thus HIIT becomes the pragmatic winner. But I still prefer REHIT if I can get it.


  16. 8 hours ago, NoSelfSelf said:

    I was on one speedreading workshop, what they made us do is to look in the middle of the 2 pages and then with corner of your eyes you glanse the pages it will be blury ofc, then you turn pages for example 20 pages fast.(this is for like your subconcious taking in the information when you read those pages it will be like you read it somewhere).

    Then you go back and there is another technique called snake, you go with finger in snake like movement towards the bottom of the page seeing the key words and getting the point of the paragraph, key words are enough to give you sense of whats going on...

    Sounds like Photoreading.

    Did you have success with this method?


  17. 6 hours ago, Ima Freeman said:

    How do I explain symptoms of brain and gut inflammation, tinnitus, metallic taste and emotional disturbances from taking chelators (DMPS, ALA, cilantro juice), if  there are no material mechanisms like atoms, in this case heavy metal ions, behind life?

    It’s not contradictory at all.

    Life is what God imagines it to be. God (you) imagines a brain, chelators, heavy metals, symptoms, atoms, Leo’s advice, a forum, etc. And so it is.


  18. 30 minutes ago, toasty7718 said:

    Diet B covers almost all nutrients but you need supplements. Intensive long term research says that this diet decreases your risk for auto immune diseases and makes you live longer.

    Except that's not what the long term research says about veganism. Nor are you likely to get "almost all" your nutrients. So your binary choice is false.


  19. 22 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

    You call GMO lab food vegan?

    Correct. It is vegan strictly in the sense that it is not an animal-product.

    If you have another definition of vegan, okay. But this is the most commonly used definition.

    22 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

    What is perfect lab food?

    We don’t know exactly because it hasn’t been invented yet. But we can imagine that with sufficient research, humans will eventually synthesize something in a laboratory that is far superior for human health than anything we are eating now, including meat.

    22 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

    We don't call robots human, why would we call man-made chemicals food. 

    That’s only because no one has GMO’d something well enough to be considered “food”. Yet.

    It should be obvious that what we consider “food” is completely relative and not objective at all. When the day comes that a company lab grows something that is superior for your health than traditional food, we will start to consider it “food”. Or we just will discard the idea of food altogether.


  20. 9 hours ago, ZenAlex said:

    Are you 100% sure it wasn't anything to do with your own decisions that made you feel this way?

    Yes, my decision to go vegan.

    My point wasn’t that theoretically you couldn’t be optimally healthy and vegan. It’s possible that in the far distant future we will GMO perfect lab food and all be vegan.

    But the reality for 99% people right now is that they will fail to do so. Even if they happen to be the minority that is extremely diligent. Optimal health is hard enough to achieve even when you do everything right, let alone when you handicap yourself with an inherently nutrient deficient diet like veganism.


  21. @MarkKol stop prioritizing RDAs and just get bloodwork done. Bloodwork with a competent functional medicine practitioner will answer the majority of questions you have about what to eat. RDAs are just basic guidelines at best.

    Key indicators to check as far as saturated fat: LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and ApoB. Get a lipro(a) test too, although that one is more just genetic luck.