Osaid

Explain to me like I am above 5

Wow, nice. I feel like it's hard to find girls who are into kinkier stuff. Pretty amazing to get to do this for your first time. She seems very open sexually.

Then you can ask, how come you don't find it inspiring anymore? Also, I'm curious how the anhedonia started. I don't find it hard to believe because of how widespread sexual stigma is. And also, how unconscious most people are of their own negative projections. For example, think about how many people ascribe to religion, and how much religions push sexual repression and demonization. Anecdotally, a lot of these no-fap communities do give me religious cult-like vibes at times. It's filled with bro-science, and people will gaslight you for reporting negative symptoms of no-fap. I just don't find it unlikely that so many people would be steeped in delusion. Bad epistemology is everywhere nowadays. Most people are strongly positioned in stage red - stage blue. These are better. Now you have something tangible you can actually look at and question and figure out, instead of a one-note blanket statement saying "I'm a stupid loser". This one is still hyperbolic. This video basically just talks about hedonic adaptation and uses porn to demonstrate it. The stuff mentioned in this video points to a process called hedonic adaptation, and it applies to any activity that stimulates dopamine in large amounts. Basically, there's an activity, and that activity has a potential for addiction, because after a while you get desensitized to the previous stimuli, and so you end up searching for bigger stimuli, and it can become a cycle of addiction. Me personally, I haven't been addicted, even though I watch porn. I can still get off to just images. In fact, I can get off without any visual stimuli, or direct physical stimuli. With porn in particular, I find it very hard to get addicted. It's just very satisfying. I don't find myself falling into any addictive cycles. However, I wouldn't say it applies to your situation, because I'm sure that you feel bad after masturbating even without watching porn. This video is talking about porn use specifically. You also have to keep in mind that sexual urges are physiologically and psychologically programmed into your body, so it might not be practical or useful to test for addiction using the metrics he used at the end of the video, which are for people struggling with exogeneous substances. It's not perfectly analogous to call a natural function of the body an addiction, it's like saying you're addicted to water or food. In general, I'd say if you're doing it some obscene amount of times a day, like 5 times a day consistently, or you've noticed that it's a detriment to your relationship with real women, I would then say it's negative or addictive. Or, if you find that you've become noticeably desensitized to a lot of the porn you watch. Otherwise, your body will naturally produce and excrete its urges. For example, if you're really busy with some project or you go on some business trip, notice how easily you end up abstaining. And then notice how wet dreams increase during abstinence. I would say these are your body naturally regulating and excreting its urges. You don't have to micro-manage anything, unless you want to experiment with your sexual energy or something.

I was mostly fine with the video until she basically said sex = demonic, then it kind of went downhill from there, in the sense that the criticisms basically seemed like it was coming from a stereotypical Christian. Still an interesting video. Even if we assume that Leo merged with a demon, Leo's video isn't really about that anyways. Leo wasn't confirming or denying whether the consciousness he merged with was from a demon or not. He was simply talking about the metaphysical implications of his experience.

These still lack nuance and have a negative bias. And, some of them are hyperbolic, like "I can't motivate myself to do anything". This sentence is exaggerated and has a bias towards negativity, because it's not true. You can still motivate yourself to do some things. For example, you motivated yourself to reply to my post. Notice how you snuck that negative bias in there. What does "I am wasting my potential" mean? How are you actually doing that? What does that look like? Focus on that, and then change it. What do you mean by "I can't motivate myself to do anything"? What are these words actually specifically pointing to? Maybe you were too lazy to start some project earlier today. Or maybe you can't get out of bed in the morning. And you interpreted that as "I can't motivate myself to do anything", thus creating a negative storyline about yourself. Get more specific and objective. What does "I don't take enough action" mean? What have you done that makes you think this? I'm sure you had some scenario of yourself in mind when you thought this, but notice that "I don't take enough action" is an interpretation that you created out of that scenario, it's not something inherent to the scenario. Is there not a single thing inspiring to you? And it doesn't have to be things you consider as "personal development" or "productive". It doesn't have to be your old goals. Goals can change. I'm asking for anything that inspires you. Whether it be video games, music, etc. It might even be some ephemeral idea of you in the future that inspires you. Once you find something, even if it's some small thing, ask yourself why it inspired you, and what qualities it has that inspire you. And then follow that. 1 million out of 8 billion. It could be that these no-fap circles are groups of people with masturbation-related illnesses. So they've unknowingly created a echo chamber of people who suffer from these symptoms, and they see it as something everyone has because the entire group has it. If not that, they could just be people who've created negative projections and stories around masturbation. It makes perfect sense. There is massive stigma and repression around porn and sex right now.

Look at how fast this situation turns deadly. In this video you can see how hard it can be to decide when it is acceptable to use deadly force. You'd be surprised at how fast people can cover distance, even if you have a gun.

Stuck in your head, like me. Decisions are usually not permanent. You don't have to permanently commit to them. What's better? Not knowing which decision is right or knowing which decision is wrong? Not making a decision keeps you stuck at the former. Making a decision keeps you at the latter. It's a trial and error process. The idea of making the perfect decision, counter-intuitively, prevents you from eventually honing your interests and making the right decision. Naturally, pursuing a passion on the side is more risky. High risk high reward. It's equivalent exchange. The path of least resistance is always available. You can always take the easy route. There's a reason why you're drawn to a more risky path. It's not about how calculating how risky it is. It's not about how much money it makes you. These factors are not why you're making the decision. It's about a deeper connection to reality and your values. Something that you feel like is worth more than money or being "safe", If you haven't already watched this, decide to do it:

There's more environmental stimuli, so it pulls you into the present moment. Like how a cold breeze forces you to focus on your body temperature, which inadvertently pulls you into the present moment. It's also a new environment, so it's less likely to trigger old thought patterns you might usually get sucked into. And it's not predictable, like your house might be. It's new stimuli. Your awareness naturally picks up on new and novel stimuli as opposed to stuff it is already used to.

If this is true, you probably have some form of POIS or some other related ailment. Normally you should feel fine after doing it. Random question, but do you feel like the negative effects of masturbation become more tolerable when you abstain more? If you compared masturbating everyday to masturbating after a week of abstinence, would it feel different or the same? Or is it equally bad? Here are some Actualized.org threads on POIS: What I find really interesting is that the OP in the second thread proposes a similar solution to the one @LSD-Rumi gave: It seems that different approaches to masturbation can lead to alleviated symptoms. In my own experience, I've noticed that some forms of masturbation tend to maintain much more sexual energy, to the point where you can easily go for multiple rounds and have multiple orgasms. It does seem to impact sexual energy differently, and it can feel different too. Yes. You have an entire organ attached to you that is dedicated to sex, and many different physiological and psychological complexes dedicated to maintaining your sexuality. You're really pushing the envelope by trying to shut away these faculties of your body. This doesn't mean it's not natural. It just means there was a time period where you didn't have the urge to release sexual energy. Which is still natural. It's called prepubescence. Most people experience this as well. Even if you don't masturbate, it'll come out in a wet dream sooner or later. Notice that once you start abstaining, you also start having wet dreams. There is a benefit. But there's an even greater benefit in pushing yourself without thinking you're a loser. You need to find a deeper and more inspiring goal than just "not being a loser". Negative motivation is just unnecessary, and ultimately delusional. You have to be careful with this stuff. Accepting that you're a loser is the same as accepting falsehood. It's a house of cards. It's unsustainable, because it's untrue. It also carries mental karma with it. So now, your world is gonna be filtered through this perception of "loser vs winner", even after you accomplish your goals. There are other complications that come with it as well, because it's based on falsehood, so there's all these strings and false perspectives attached with it that you have to deal with later on. You can make whatever standards you want. The delusion begins when you create a self-image out of those standards. This is just about accurately perceiving things, nothing else. Standards are just that, standards. The problem starts when you replace the word "standards" with "loser", which has unnecessary baggage in the form of self-negativity and self-deprecation. A "loser" is just someone who doesn't fit a certain set of standards that someone made up, similar to "pathetic". If you want to completely break the façade of these words, simply ask: "How am I a loser?" or "How am I pathetic?", then you're forced to convey the standards that you are projecting. These negative words function by lacking nuance, so when you bring out nuance, it suddenly becomes more objective and non-negative. For example: "How am I a loser?" "Because I ended up smoking weed yesterday even though I was trying to abstain from it" <<<< These are the standards being broken. There's no negativity. It's just describing an action. "Loser" <<<< This is the negative self-deprecating character you conjured up and decided to identify with because of the standards shown above. Positive motivation. Get inspired by the end result of what you're working towards. Get inspired by everything you gain from making the decision to pursue hardship. Remember, you can quit at anytime, but you don't. This is a decision you made out of love for yourself. Out of love for your future self. Out of love for the best version of yourself. Thank yourself for it, because even though it's hard and scary and confusing, you do it anyways, because you want the best for yourself.

Great job. As for my contribution, I made a thread a while ago which focuses on the "resistance" aspect of fear. I was inspired to make it because I was also pushed into a situation where I had to confront fear quite regularly.

That's wild when even a judge is asking you why you didn't escalate to physical violence because you're "a big and powerful man".

It's real lmao

I thought this was an odd request but then this reminded me that it actually exists already lol. Leo got everything covered.

Seems like you've managed to find a way to somewhat cure POIS, that's quite an accomplishment. There are different ways to masturbate and orgasm, and I do feel like they have different effects on sexual energy, so it's interesting that engaging in something like that would prevent POIS from flaring up. But yeah, clear-minded and peaceful is basically how you should feel after doing it. It's like stepping out of a shower, very refreshing.

Awesome

Interesting. You might have some mild POIS. Or, it might just be your own negative projections after you masturbate, which is the more common occurrence. For example, feeling shame is not inherent to masturbation, it's just something you might project onto the activity. And then, of course, feeling shame can affect drive and motivation and energy. It can ripple on itself like that. If you were to completely let go of abstinence, how often would you do it normally? The desire to release sexual energy is absolutely a natural impulse, which you must learn to co-exist with. It's built into your psychology and biology. To shut it out would kind of be like shutting out the impulse for food or water. Is it possible? Maybe. Is it in your best interest? Not necessarily. For me, I can just immediately recognize these beliefs as false and illusory. I just can't take them seriously. I can't believe in them with a straight face, It's like trying to force myself to believe in Santa Claus. You need to deeply deconstruct these beliefs and realize how silly and relative they are. Actually take the time and effort to do this so it properly impacts your psyche. "You're pathetic" By what standards? The standards that you just made up? The standards that the people around you made up? Why are you basing how you feel on arbitrary made-up standards? Why are you giving these standards so much authority? Also, is it even beneficial to think of self-deprecating thoughts? All it does is perpetuate self-deprecation, which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. You're shooting yourself in the foot over some relative arbitrary standards you've created. You could literally become a millionaire, and still continue to believe you're pathetic. You could be a millionaire, and the people around you could still believe you're pathetic. It's relative. This is a silly game to play and believe in. Whenever you ascribe this quality of being "pathetic", you are projecting standards onto something, and then when that thing doesn't fit those standards, that thing is supposed to feel bad about itself. This is the entire game and function of using the word "pathetic" in a nutshell. It's a crude and unconscious form of motivation. It literally functions by you not being aware of how it really works.

I think Leo has said his deepest trips came from sleep, or something like that. But yeah, sleep can put you in very interesting states of consciousness.

They really had to reach to make something rhyme with O lmao

Intermittent fasting + low carb to break the fast. Your body will adapt it's reliance on sugar to however many carbs you consume while breaking your fast. It doesn't happen immediately, it's gradual. There was some sort of switch that flipped in my body a while ago, I think it was about a year into following this intermittent fasting diet, where I can confidently say I'm not really addicted to sugar at all anymore. At the very least, healthy foods taste about as good as unhealthy foods to me now. I'm literally at the point now where I have allocated cheat days, but I won't even cheat because I genuinely don't feel like it. Initially, a month or a few months in you will see a noticeable decline in cravings. I thought I was completely adapted after a few months, but the change gets really deep if you stick through it for a year or so. I did have a phase where I allowed myself to binge on certain candies and foods just to burn through that karma and curiosity, and it's mostly boring to me now. I wouldn't recommend this when you're just starting out though, maybe when you're like 6 months - 1 year in. Also, if you drink something like coffee in the morning it helps curb your appetite. Make sure to give yourself enough fat and protein to accommodate for the lack of carbs. Basically, your body is constantly adapting. If you eat a slice of pie when you break your fast everyday, gradually, your body will adapt to craving carbs equivalent to a slice of pie during your eating time.

No matter what you guys imagine or perceive, it will always be happening from your experience. Even the idea of other experiences. It couldn't be happening anywhere else. Where else would it occur? Notice that any idea you get of existence occurring somewhere else is just an idea, and it always will be an idea, inherently. If it's not an idea, then it's occurring as something that isn't an idea, and thus it isn't "occurring somewhere else" as you imagine. When asking whether something exists or not, it helps to first get clear on what it actually means for something to exist and not exist. If you simply contemplate the root of the question, which is "what does it mean for something to exist?", you will be able to answer any other questions regarding what does and doesn't exist very easily. The content of the question might be different, but the structure is the same.

Smart

Seems like the only one here that made it out

Now I wanna re-watch HXH

How?