Roy

What is in your direct experience and what seems relevant to your reality right now is appearance, however limited it seems. What is actually going on is infinity in all possible directions, in all possible dimensions, in whatever way imaginable. Both can "happen" simotaneously. How? Precisely because they are happening. Infinity of course has to include all possible finites, otherwise it wouldn't be infinity now would it? Hope that helps explain it @Yulduz

Yuval is underrated as hell in the intellectual community. I highly recommend everyone buy and read his books they are very educational and wildly interesting.

I find the hypocrisy and lengths of the mental gymnastics they go through to rationalize this stuff so fascinating. It's like the perfect case study for ego.

Yea, you didn't get enough oxygen! Be careful mate :P!

@Someone here Consider scaring the absolute shit out of yourself to change your relationship and perspective on smoking. Because whatever your attitude is towards it now, clearly isn't strong enough if you keep relapsing. This is more a blunt method and takes some courage, but you have to be willing to try radical things to make radial change. Wouldn't you agree? When I say scare the shit out of yourself I don't mean just glance at all the warning labels and recall common tropes. I mean really immerse yourself in the consequences and become truly aware of what smoking does, can do, and WILL do to you. You better be sure it WILL happen. Of course any smoker can "know" of all those things, and most do. But they don't care because simple acknowledgment and knowledge of all those things is just a game the ego plays with the mind to distract from with the problem. Having knowledge of something is not the same as being aware. People who are aware of the dangers of something don't participate in it, or at the very least they can control it. I challenge you to go out of your way and spend literally HOURS finding the most grotesque images and videos you can find from lung damage caused by smoking. Read and listen to personal stories of people who suffered and recovered, and those who suffered and simply died from all the associated illnesses. Research and memorize the mortality rates and statistics of smoking. Really sit with the numbers and soak them in, don't just look away when you feel uncomfortable. After you do that start to contemplate the future deeply and ask questions about the present and the future; - Is this what I want to happen to my body? Is it already happening to some degree? - Do I want to die this way? - Does smoking align with the lifestyle I want? Is it inhibiting anything? - If I have children or want to have children in the future, would I want them breathing this stuff in growing up? - Do I want to be able to play sports and play with them without losing my breathe? - Do I want to be hauling an O2 tank around as early as age 60? - Do I want to be out of breathe going up a few stairs all the time? You may come across stuff so vulgar and petrifying you wouldn't have imagined it. Well? It could be a reality for YOU if you don't change your ways. It's completely possible for you to change though. I believe you can do it, it will just take courage. Do you have the guts? I dare you. Good luck friend.

TikTok is another perfect example of technology destroying our attention spans and ability to focus. I'm not gonna look it up because I don't have the attention span, but I'm gonna guess Ritalin and other ADHD drugs sales have increased 300% at the very least in the past decade.

The simplest path would be to find more interesting and important things in your life to be pursuing, and with time you'll forget and therefore get over him. If you have an uneventful life with nothing going on, then of course you are going to reminisce and constantly look back to the past for joy! The problem is that's all done and gone now. It's never coming back. I struggled with this same problem sort of problem for years as well. Nostalgia is addicting but it's ultimately inhibiting and holds you back from living a full life. You need to immerse yourself in the now and contemplate the future. Those are the only things that matter. Consider adopting a mindfulness meditation practice. That will help most here.

I believe it can be a reality for some people. I said it probably isn't for most people.

@Leo Gura Well put. Raises a question though - say one slowly drops their identity (physical and others) through a bunch of spiritual work. They realize the truth of no self, they detach themselves from all needs and connections in the world and realize they are God and One with everything. Even most of these people will still probably recoil in complete fear and shock, and probably beg for their lives if a loaded gun is pointed at their head. Of course such a stark scenario like that is unlikely. Still, how does one audit themselves honestly enough to know that the work is actually helping them transcends such situations, and it's not just a bunch of mental masturbation? In your experience have you come across many plateaus that make you think this is all a waste of time? Then to break through and actually reap the benefits of such work? Apologies if this is too loaded.

In my opinion it simply depends all in what you are looking for in life to be satisfied. When I was younger (17-20) I got a lot of value out of thinkers like Richard Dawkins and the like. While it was useful for a time, it didn't fully explain or satisfy some deeper intuitions and questions I had, so I looked for the next thing. Richard Dawkins seems satisfied with his worldview and what he knows, it serves him quite well (from his POV). Thus he never changes or branches out. I think to avoid this trap, with all perspectives and modes of thought you need to just assume they aren't complete. No matter how convincing or convenient they are to you. Even with advanced big picture teachings like what Leo presents, it will have limits. Everything is only a perspective after all, no matter how expansive it appears. I imagine he and others after a certain time will have absorbed what they needed to and moved on. I have these feelings coming on myself. Kind of rambling here. I just think the moral of the story is don't be so eager to plant your flag anywhere. Carry it with you through life.

GM Terran towards the end of HotS. I stopped playing when LotV came out and switched to CS:GO for fun. Slowed down a lot on gaming recently.

Of course! Like I said, humanity is crazy. Almost 8 billion people alive now and 100+ billion before that. You can find someone that has done nearly anything you can imagine or lives a life so far-fetched it sounds impossible. I don't even know a damn thing about Bob Lazar nor have heard of him before this thread, I don't care. I responded to the original post of yours I quoted to make a meta-point. Consider you might not be as open-minded as you think if you believe that's it's an impossibility for him having been lying all this time. This isn't an accusation, nor am I looking for a bone to pick. It's just food for thought Peace upon you friend.

People do absurd and preposterous things like this all the time. You haven't been broadly exposed enough to the wackiness of humanity if you're still skeptical or surprised when you come across people like this.

It's because Trump makes people go full retard, on both sides. The only winning move is to not play the game and laugh. It's amazing what kind of energy and reactions he summons out of people, because he's honestly not even that interesting of a person. I can think of a million more interesting things and people to garner attention, yet so many people are fixated on Trump like he's some sort of alien. Guess being president of the most powerful country on Earth will draw a lot of attention regardless. The crazy thing is despite EVERYTHING it's likely he'll get elected another 4 years LOL.

@Leo Gura For sure. What would you consider a fair threshold for someone to be primed for it? Of course there may be many things that could impede spiritual development like family, environment, economic situation. But would someone with as little under their belt as genuine curiosity be "primed"?

@Leo Gura Would you consider yourself spiritually hardwired Leo or did you just put in massive amounts of labor to develop it?

@Leo Gura You misunderstand friend. I'm not asking for myself, I don't have a problem with it. I'm asking from others positions, just wanted to hear your thoughts.

@Leo Gura Of course pure solipsism is not what you mean when you say that, I've absorbed enough of your content to know that's not what you're advocating. But what do you say to explain yourself to the people that can easily interpret these statements as solipsism? Are you not changing your language because you're expecting people to just understand there is a deeper meaning than what you're saying at face value?

@TrynaBeTurquoise Consider that you are the one participating in the right vs left, independent vs establishment game, not people in this thread (yet). You might be so invested in it you automatically project it out onto places where it might not even exist, because it's the lens or narrative you've nested yourself in. This isn't an accusation, just a thought. I know you just mentioned you aren't a right winger, but one doesn't even have to plant their flag in order to be propagating the game. It doesn't take a genius to observe how remarkably awful Trump is as a person, let alone president. Anytime someone mentions that people jump to politics almost instinctively, like it's impossible for them to distinguish the difference lol.

Of course we have to admit he has a certain level of intelligence and competence to have gotten where he's at in life. Obviously had plenty of advantages but also obviously not an accident. The denial happens earlier on in life, and gradually. Growing up as a young man I'm sure he had countless moments from positions of power where he had a choice about what to do. I'm sure his conscious felt bad about making a corrupt decision that benefited him, but he simply rationalized it or sweeps it under the rug. As you do that continuously many times over many years, the empathetic muscles in your brain wither away. This is how any psychopath, criminal, or murderer is made. It's a process. Nobody just decides to be evil one day. Now we have a man who is completely impulsively selfish like you said.

It's definitely a trap most people are in for sure. Notice how almost everybody you ever meet in the world is convinced they're right. Even the most humble, skeptical, or self-critical! It's really a mind-plague.

Nothing really special about it. Alcohol is more fun than being high to be honest. Both are kind of bad for your body though, so I would use them very sparsely.

@lostmedstudent My partner and I moved in together after only 10 months. A lot of potential conflict has probably been avoided because we made some simple ground rules when we moved in together right away, like within the first few days as we were decorating/moving furniture. We love living together, and never really conflict about anything! We like to think of living together as a permanent sleep over ! - Come up with a simple schedule for chores. Not too rigid, but just the stuff that HAS to get done. Have some free days in there as well so neither of you are overwhelmed. Don't know why this image is so big haha; - Although you live in the same house or apartment and may be splitting costs 50/50 (I hope it's 50/50 or there might be resentment/power imbalance built up) you should each have designated "spaces" or rooms for yourselves. I get the office for my work/alone time, and she gets the living room more or less. Of course neither of us are banned from spending time in either if we want when the other person is there, it's more of a "vague agreement" so we can get alone time. - Have certain standards for cleanliness where you are living. Don't point fingers or shame if someone leaves a mess or slacks off, just be kind about reminding them and help them clean up if they ask or don't have energy. You want to encourage each other to build the habits up individually. Having a nice space you can both enjoy raises overall baseline happiness. - Do nice things around your living space for them once in a while on top of what you do for your role, but don't expect the favor to get returned like you're counting score. - Be willing to compromise on style/decorating. Give each other some leeway in how the place should look. - Be very sensitive about noise when either of you are waking up/getting ready for work, etc. - Even though there is lockdown, try to have chunks of days and time where one of you leaves the apartment/house for whatever reason so the other person has some true alone time. It makes a difference. Just build up that honest communication early so things don't bottle up and blow up later. Living with someone can be challenging but it's also amazingly fun. Hope this helps, cheers! - Roy

That's a really good quote @LfcCharlie4 nice find! That's an amazing summation if I've ever seen one. It's kind of interesting seeing that conclusion from another perspective. I remember reading Sam Harris' book on Free Will a number of years ago and his definition is remarkably similar. Obviously he's coming from a more scientific paradigm but he came to the same conclusion almost through meditation, introspection and thought. Though he talks a lot about the "no-self" concept and advocates for people to discover that truth, I still feel like he hasn't got past the whole physically of the body/brain yet. Free will is simply an illusion, but a convincing at that! Even someone just willing to honestly take a simple thought experiment like this will notice it's comically evident free will doesn't exist; Whoever is reading this right now I want you to immediately say OUT LOUD the name of the first movie that you think of, no deliberation just say it out loud. Notice that whatever content came up was completely random? Perhaps if you do some tracing from past experiences or your environment you could come up with a reason for why you said it, but if you're honest you'll admit you still had zero anticipation of what movie it would be, it simply happened. Now also notice that if you hesitated and thought of a small list of movies, and then felt like you "chose" one of the movies to pass this experiment, that choosing also just happened. It's like this for all thoughts that arrive in your mind, choices that you make, and even physical actions you do. It is all just constant and relentless happening. No matter how much you try to feel "prior" to anything that is happening, you'll never arrive faster than the happening. Even the deliberating is part of the happening hahah! Once you break through and become aware of this it's very chilling. There are even scientific experiments that prove the brain has activity that determines the experience before the person is even consciously aware of it, if you're looking for that kind of explanation. Free will is just a comfortable illusion.

No matter how much you don't like it or how much evidence you provide to how dangerous "porn" is, it will never be viable to regulate how people choose to use their bodies. It's preposterous.