JosephKnecht

So you want to have your cake and eat it too? That is possible, but only if there is no cake. Jokes aside. Comfort is the opposite of change. If you are building your whole life seeking comfort and you have created comfort for yourself, why would you want to dispense with your comfort? The more comfortable you become, the more resistant you will be to change. Become comfortable with change and then you have both.

Everything will be ok only when you accept that even if things are not ok, they are OK.

I hate to get rid of beautiful women, but I believe @cheivee8ai doesn't belong here. Mods?

Try connecting with people that share similar passions as you. If your passion is software development, join a meetup group and talk with people about the project they have built. If you don't have passions, find your passion. Trying new things is the best way to learn what you like.

The rich never pay taxes. If you make a lot of money, you pay accountants so that your effective tax rate is below 10%. If you are billionaire Trump, you pay about $750 per year in taxes. In a democratic system, you must promise to take from the few and give to the many. There are a few billionaires and many poor. Biden is only promising this because he wants to gain the vote of the many poor who believe that they can gain the money from the rich through taxation.

Not sure what this means?

I've read all nine books of his books in chronological order in which they were published. My top three would be: Power vs Force I: Reality and Subjectivity Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: The Stairway to Enlightenment. You are correct that some of the material overlaps. However, sometimes you find a sentence in one of his books that makes it worth reading. The problem is that you don't know which sentence it is and in which book, so you should read all of them.

Contemplation dissolves assumptions. You must have assumptions, otherwise, there is nothing to contemplate or dissolve. You assume the answer is "Love". What if it isn't? What is Love is not what you think is? Something to contemplate.

If you want to understand the nature of light(photons), try to understand the following experiment:

Keep in mind that any critique which does not offer an alternative is not a good critique. If you are throwing science out of the window, you should also propose something that in the future can replace science or evolve it to the next level. If science is gone, something should fill the vacuum. Otherwise, we regress back to subjective mythological stories of the past.

1) Is Science invented or discovered? If it is invented, for what purpose does the Inventor, invent it? Is it just to create a framework in which multiple minds can agree on a common understanding or reality? If it is discovered, then why did the Inventor hid it from us so that we have to discover it again? (I know that from the biggest perspective, the distinction between invented and discovered collapses, but try to elaborate from a dual perspective) 2) Can Metaphysics as a branch of Science ever disprove Science? If science one-day collapses, what would cause the collapse? To disprove science to scientists, we must offer them proof. Where do you foresee this proof coming from? Metaphysics or something else? (Keep in mind that when metaphysics disproves science, it is actually disproving itself) 3) The end of science is also the end of Objectivism. If Objectivity is gone how does One create objectivity in a completely subjective world? Science has created standards in material reality that we all abide by. A meter in Europe is also one meter in Australia. If there is no objective definition of what a meter is, how would I order my 1-meter tall Kangaroo without getting a 4-meter one? 4) How can we use the limits of Science to show Scientists that to go beyond the limits of Science they must use something other than Science? When Science has progressed us into an advanced civilization, Scientists don't want to throw away the tool that allowed for the progress. Something else must promise bigger progress in order to be adopted on a mass scale.

He is asking about non-dual states. Non-answer is the best answer.

This is a good question. Does sexual attraction exist within the context of one's identity? I presume that the things that attract us are created outside the context of our identity. In fact, the things that attract us are outside our identity since we need them to help create our identity. In that case, affirmations won't help. This is just my speculation.

To truly know, one must try. To think you know, one must ask. You can't enter non-duality. You are non-duality.

How can one know the truth of one's insight? If something is in your sight, it is true. In other words, only things in your direct experience are true.

To create a sense of stability you must make instability your friend. Only when you are comfortable with instability, you will have a sense of stability. All stability is temporary and thus an illusion.

That was amazing @Quantum Toad.

And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” - Mark 9:23

Psychologists try to understand normative human behavior. Psychiatrists try to cure abnormal human behavior. While they try to understand and cure, they forget how the norm is created. In a way, they unknowingly will society to conform to socially perceived normal behaviors while creating the norms.

It means don't quit now. You might be an inch of finding your diamonds.

Everything starts with a kid at a playground. The question is where does it end? Congrats Leo.

You can't let go of desires if within you there is still a desire not to let go. In other words, you can't desire not to desire because that itself is a desire. You desire that which you lack, since if you had the thing that you lack, you wouldn't desire it. To let go of desires is to realize that you don't lack anything. To let go of desires is to realize your perfection in the present. Your perfection is the present(gift) that you give to yourself without desiring it.

Joscha Bach is reverse engineering human psychology to construct an artificial human. I shared his talk on this forum a while ago.. You might enjoy it too.