TheAlchemist

Is there a specific moment in this speech that you resonated with the most? I'm wondering if there's some specific part of the message that got you feeling hopeful and inspired or is it more so the general vibe and character you sense from the guy

I would be seriously impressed if I saw an Israeli or pro-Israel person make a serious effort at empathizing with the average palestinian perspective and what their emotions and underlying human needs might be. I imagine that would be extremely difficult to do in a heated moment like this, but I don't think it's impossible. The same applies to someone from Palestine of course. I would be seriously impressed if anyone can put effort into seeing the emotions and underlying needs of the average Israeli person and how what is happening is a strategy at play which attempts to meet those human needs.

You're right, but church and state are more strongly separated here.

I am certain that victims surely have a need for Justice. I also think its admirable that you show concern for victims of crime and you clearly value justice highly which I respect. That being said, I believe the need for justice there is real, but I don't think punishment or retribution are in themselves needs. They are startegies for meeting the need (justice). I am feeling quite confident about saying that there are ways of meeting the need for justice, without feeding the cycle of pain and hurt. One way, which comes from indigenous Americans that I was quite impressed with when I heard about it, was bringing the victims and the perpetrator together and creating a space where the perpetrator hears what hurt and pain his actions caused in the people who were victims. This process can be done with the help of a professional mediator and is continued until the victims feel truly heard and the perpetrator has witnessed the impact of his actions. Then different paths can be navigated there to find peace. It seems that this process often can meet the need for justice in the victims and doesn't further feed the cycle of pain and hurt in society.

Reasonings behind putting people in prison 1) Retribution 2) Incapacitation 3) Deterrence 4) Rehabilitation The Finnish system (and Norwegian more so) simply have a different understanding of what Retribution means. In the US and many other countries it seems that retribution means making the criminal suffer as punishment for their wrongdoing. That is seen as a part of Justice. Whereas the idea of Justice in these Nordic countries is seen to be mostly independent from whether or not the prisoner is made to suffer or not. Notice how the Christian idea of justice is strongly tied to punishment and suffering.

How do you know you aren't just making the ego stronger and more resistant to change?

That's very insightful. I have also thought about this, how fundamentalist evangelical Christianity is as much, if not more about belief in Satan/Devil/demons, as it is about belief in God. Yes, I think the fear of "Satan" (all that is labelled evil and utterly undesirable) is what causes the person to abandon connection to themselves and that results in a sort of surrendering of the ego to a belief system such as Christianity. Jesus and the whole Christian myth serves as a sort of lifeboat, and "rescues" one from that deep fear of Satan. Interestingly, I think that shift into a deep belief in Jesus can in some cases be the result of becoming more conscious and aware. I mean this in the case where the belief isn't just blindly adopted as a result of indoctrination, but when the belief comes as a result of some internal crisis. The person has a serious face-off with the falsehood, the evil and the ugliness of the world, all of which was previously not acknowledged or was denied. Then in this epic moment, if the suitable language for that exists, all that which is undesirable is perceived to be "Satan" and Jesus and the whole story associated with that appears as a sort of lifeline from that utter horror. It kind of works; it provides many with peace and respite, but ultimately it is still conditional, and now the thing that is feared even more than "Satan" is the loss of the new found faith.

You mean that the devil will "save" them because the idea of the devil is what keeps the duality alive as it symbolizes that which is denied, repressed and cut off from love? If that's not what you mean, can you expand on what you're referring to with that?

Honestly, I realized I haven't fully trancended this fear at the deepest levels and this idea of evil that is talked about in the bible is still operating somewhere in the background. Uncovering layers that run very very deep. It's very tough overcoming the childhood religious indoctrination. Especially in altered states where those themes seem to often come to the surface.

I once did an experiment and let a sleep paralysis "demon" kill me. I decided I will not give into fear and I will see through this illusion. It was very difficult, my heart was beating like crazy, but I let the being approach my paralyzed body and it stabbed me right in the middle of the chest with a huge knife. I let it kill me. Guess what happened? Everything vanished. The being which you might call a "demon" vanished and I was floating in empty formless nothingness. From this empty formlessness, I imagined my way into a dream, and happily dreamt my way through the night after that. That experience dropped a lot of fear in my psyche towards these "demons" and now I can even have compassion for these imagined beings in some ways. They are symbolic representations of something very deep in the psyche. Likely something that has been banished from love and rejected.

I hope no one makes some actually serious conclusions about the world based on a video like that. It is almost equal in information about college students views on these things as air is. Not even a whiff of a representative sample, yet many of us will form their worldviews based on some clips like that...

Here's the best take on caffeine I have heard, from Daniel Schmachtenberger. Basically the main points about caffeine in the video: Caffeine is a psychoactive drug Using caffeine to deal with tiredness from not resting enough can lead to adrenal fatigue and burnout. It is best used when already energized and it is used for enhancement of metabolic activity/stimulation/dopaminergic effects in an already healthy system that can handle being stimulated and has rested and repaired enough. Rule of thumb - don't use caffeine when you feel you need it, use it when you do not need it, as an enhancement to the system. Signs of caffeine misuse include desensitization and down-regulation, where the stimulating effect of caffeine decreases over time, and the need for more caffeine to achieve the same effect increases. Cycle caffeine - either use it sporadically, or every 3 months take at least a week off to help your body rebalance. For those who have been habitual users for years, it can take even months off it to rebalance the system. (Time-stamped) Ps. I probably would not have posted this if I wasn't on on a caffeine high :D. It helps me with focus and I suddenly get pleasure from mundane tasks or research and writing. Also, music is much more pleasurable for me with a solid caffeine high.

Can you imagine alien porn? And how about some of those alien psychedelics? Must be some crazy stuff for humans to discover

We are now understanding better than ever what massive effects even minor trauma in childhood and adolescence has on how a human operates in the world. We are understanding this especially in the west, where it seems now that most people have some kind of mental dysfunction or insecurities etc. That is all good knowledge, but I am just left wondering about the past thousands of years and other parts of the globe where violence, rape and killing has been so prevalent and much more intense than what most experience in a western democracy. My interest is in how much of what we think of as "human nature" is actually the result of traumatized people doing their best to cope with their pain and hurting/dominating/oppressing others because of the pain. Often we kind of assume that humans by their nature are somehow greedy and that killing and violence is just "natural" for humans. But what if a lot of it has to do with trauma and people acting from that trauma, which we are just now beginning to understand? Wouldn't this be extremely important for us to understand? If our fundamental view of human nature is skewed, and humans actually are not so violent by nature, but do so because of trauma; that would have major implications for how we think about almost everything in society and community life.

Hi Matthi, What I'm hearing is that you are feeling very overwhelmed and in pain right now, you have just gone through a major change in your life and you're also experiencing strong anxiety and stress from traumatic experiences. You might be experiencing this because your need for love, autonomy and basic support wasn't met in your home as you grew up, and that deprivation was in and of itself traumatic. You were also deprived of basic psychological safety in that environment and in those circumstances where the traumatic events took place. I felt inspired when you said how you left that very difficult circumstance, I thought it was a bold and very courageous thing to do. I am learning about Nonviolent communication (NVC) in my life atm and my purpose with this (perhaps odd) response is to try and learn how to connect with peoples underlying needs and emotions, and express that I feel compassion and empathize with these struggles you have been through. Please correct me if I have misunderstood some things. Much Love.

All creative acts are from and of God. Sometimes though, the creation happens through a human being. The human might not be aware of where the creative force is coming from.

This is an interesting discussion. It seems that for most of human history God has been more likely to have been perceived more like a She than a He. The western hierarchical thinking turned God into a He. Also in Hindu Tantric tradition Kali is the Goddess(God) represented as and in Death, and also as the Ultimate Reality itself.

Bernardo is a serious scientist and philosopher who doesn't shy away from mysticism or even psychedelics; here he talks about how it was obvious to him that having his own high dose psychedelic experiences was totally relevant for him in studying the nature of consciousness, death and reality. I think Bernardo is a refreshing signal of what future scientists and methodology might be like, regardless of if one agrees with his views or not.

Once had a nofap streak of 180 days. Not worth it although there were some minor benefits. It's not very healthy to supress sexuality IMO. We need to look deeper into what the nature of addiction actually is and what is fuelling the compulsive behavior, if the behavior really is excessive. I highly recommend Gabor Mate's work.

Found this clip very interesting..

I think for many it's about excitement, adventure or even a desire for transcendence. Trancending the mundane for a moment and also trancending social norms and internal blockages, which feels freeing. For many it is also a way of connecting with other people and just being part of something fun. We can see many problems in the world, but I don't think partying is one to be too worried about. You can also have parties that are not centered around alcohol, but other substances such as cannabis or psychedelics, which all tend to create a very different kind of vibe. For many, a psytrance party for example can be a deep and meaningful spiritual experience. Also, you can have great "parties" without any substances, just using other methods to shift state like collective mantra chanting or breathwork etc.

I know what you mean, sometimes you also realize that you will soon remember it if you just relax, other times you know the memory is "lost" somewhere further away and you have a sense that there is a very low chance that it will come up. What I also find interesting is that often there is also a sense of if it was an important memory or not that important. Maybe these are a sort of metadata that the mind stores about the memory, even though the actual content of the memory is not in awareness. Interesting to explore this more. Being in the state of not-knowing is much more fruitful in many cases than trying to figure out with a sort of force..

@Oceansky1980 @LSD-RumiBtw here is an excellent resource on retreat places all around Asia, most of these are really affordable ones also. None of those flashy retreats that cost thousands, the list is written by a very legit guy who has stayed in a lot of these places in Asia. Funnily I randomly bumped into him when staying at one these places, which I discovered thanks to his post ? https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/jr19vu/updated_buddhist_dharma_retreat_listings_for_asia/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=2

I didn't see a chance to travel on the roofs anywhere, a huge portion of the rail network is electrified nowdays, so I don't think it really happens anymore.. if you go to Bangladesh you can try that Oh man the food was heavenly and so affordable.. Biryani, chole bature and chana masala with chapati, vada pav, samosas, idlis, dal tadka.. so many good ones. Best places are these random shacks that dont even look like restaurants but are filled with locals, you just say 3 chapatis and they bring you the bread and top up your plate with some gravy to infinity..

Amazing. I just travelled for three months last winter in India.. My tips: Use trains (sleeper class for best adventure, general class if you are fully insane) Eat local food, look for places that are busy and stick to veg food to prevent food poisoning. Don't let the touristy spots demoralize you about India, they will be filled with all kinds of touts and scammers. But outside those tourist hotspots you wont find almost any of that and people tend to be super genuine, just the best <3 Interesting places: Auroville, Pondicherry Ramana ashram and Arunachala Mountain in Tiruvannamalai Arambol beach, Goa. (Hippie lifestyle and psytrance parties in Anjuna/Vagator winter). Palolem or Gokarna are better for peace and quiet chilling. All of these beach places are a bit touristy though. Mumbai, see the utter intensity of what human life can be in an Indian mega city. Kodaikanal or Vattakanal (known for some special mushrooms growing there certain time of the year) Varanasi 100% recommended. In Rajasthan go to Pushkar during the Camel Fair if you can, I heard it is wild. Otherwise Pushkar, Udaipur, Jaipur etc. in Rajasthan tend to be a bit more touristy but still can be worth a visit I think.. Meditation retreats. Here is a great resource: https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/jr19vu/updated_buddhist_dharma_retreat_listings_for_asia/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2 Any small villages along the way. If you need some small help with some practical things like how to book train tickets etc. feel free to shoot me a message. Godspeed my friend!