WonderSeeker

After teaching in a Korean hagwon for 5 months I can confirm what you said as accurate. I came to the factory farm conclusion from direct experience about a week ago. These poor kids are getting skewered by the system. It's pretty harsh. The Korean co-teachers at my school give these puny 6-year olds earfuls when they are too slow or make too many errors. It's a bit aggressive. A Korean guy I befriended at a coffee shop today said the parents do this to their kids to try to move up the social ladder. I actually teach in one of the most academically rigorous parts of the whole country which consistently scores high. The kids are insanely competitive with each other and it gets reinforced daily with the class dojo we use (which is against my philosophy, but what can you do). I favor the Finnish style of education where they lay off competition based academics/athletics until you get into your teens. What Korea used to pull off an economic miracle decades ago is being put into overdrive to barbecue its young people. Not good. I'm moving to a different country to teach after this year.

Damn, I didn't expect this thread to gain so much traction. Of all the comments so far I agree with Davino's the most. Coming into this forum in the early days, I felt like I knew nothing and I saw others speaking highly all over the place. Now I think they're just attempting to parrot the tone of people on here that actually know stuff rather than disappear from the forum for a few months to actually study or become conscious of shit. Good point.

My answer: I get the sense that most people on this forum are disinterested in having children (if not, completely against it). Personally, I want to have kids at some point, and consider it a deeply important part of personal development. It can help you integrate so many character traits and relative truths that you're hard-pressed to find otherwise. For example, by having kids you will learn how to caretake a vulnerable, complicated, unique being who you have a deep, direct, blood connection to. To do so, you have to become pain-stakingly clear on your values. It forces you to mature and develop high degrees of empathy and integrity. It gets you to take possibly the highest degree of personal responsibility you can as a human. It also forces you to be really pragmatic financially and materially (a good way to smooth you out if you're an idealist like me). All of this, of course assuming you want to raise a rockstar kid who becomes purposeful and interested in consciousness. (Now that's a project)! Part of the reason I posted this is in response to people who reference the below video. Thumbnail: Should you have kids? What if I told you that it doesn't matter because reproduction is a fictional narrative you invented as part of your robotic drive for survival? Not that I don't grok the metaphysical points made in the video, but I get the sense it argues in favor of not having kids without considering the upsides. This is a massive lifestyle decision that varies person to person, so I'm not trying to come off as a creepy, finger-wagging, white Christian Karen who says "you gotta pump as many as you can cuz the birthrates are going down," but moreso sharing a personal preference that's important to me. I may not even necessarily have kids in the end, but in principle I think it can be an extraordinarily good thing for people who want to integrate all kinds of different skills and experiences in this life. I think doing this Actualized work and then becoming a parent would be an interesting way to go about life. Parenting and finding creative ways to continue the work while you are raising new life. What I find so interesting about it is how do you balancing the two halves. Cheers.

What is one thing you personally disagree with most of the forum on? ----- Note: This thread is not for being a dick or arguing with others. It's just an opportunity for you to make a journal entry about what's important to you even though it may not be the majority's taste on the Actualized forum. Breaking free from conformity means even doing things that may seem "conformist" for nonconformist reasons in a nonconformist style. Answers will vary, and I'm curious what y'all put.

@LordFall If that's what makes you feel like a million bucks, go get 'em. I used to fee insecure about my dating/sex habits, but now I'll happily admit that I date only 2-3 girls per year and sleep with 1 of them (unless I have a girlfriend). Sex has never really been high priority for me and even when it was a little higher on the list, it distracted from all the other cool things I love about life. Maybe you and your bros are just wired to want a buncha hot girls, and that's fine. And yet, the hot ones are often the worst to be around. I never approached them in bars, not because I was scared of their hotness (laughable), but because I was "scared" of their craziness. I once f*cked a SUPER "hot" girl, which made me feel like I shot up heroin after (it felt AMAZING). But she turned out to be a total psychopath with the worst personality ever, and I had to ditch her like a high speed chase. If she's a 10 in looks but a 2 in personality, 10+2=12 (lame). Is she's only a 7 in looks but a 9 in personality, 7+9=16 (better). I've had both and I would take the one with a surplus in personality every time. Then again, I'm demisexual, as others on this forum have pointed out. "Demisexuality is used to describe individuals who feel sexually attracted to someone only after developing a close or strong emotional bond with them." (Wikipedia) All of that said, it looks like you've got a killer network and I hope you crush your goals. I think you're a little bit of an outlier on this forum in terms of game skills, sex drive, and motivation (for better, worse, or both). Only thing I'd ask is why do you care who is picking up whom and what people on the forums think? They probably aren't as dedicated to this stuff as you. You're clearly more wired for it or have convinced yourself you're invested in this lifestyle and ought to max it. Which again, nothing wrong with that, but for most people it's a stepping stone that becomes tertiary before long. Cheers~

Appreciate that.

Ok never mind, I think you understand the concept well. The only mistake (which I also made) is timing. The alignment you're talking about takes time. Don't be afraid to be a late bloomer if that's what it takes. For example— My top values are: Truth, consciousness, education, nature (the outdoors, camping, natural history), natural living, travel, and healthy/clean diet. BUT... What ended up happening is in the past 5 years I made a long and painful career change from being a geologist (which in theory I still love) to being a school teacher in foreign countries (which in practice I love even more). Along the way I tried sales/opening a business to test that dimension of work; it failed but I leanred. Point is you'll make tons of adjustments, big and small, if you're doing things right. That's just a small snippet of my values and some of the changes I've made. Hope it helps.

Life purpose ≠ job. Job is what you do. Purpose is who you want to become. I just turned 28. Since I was 25, I've tried 8 different things. But my purpose has always stayed the same (in fact, it's grown). Purpose is a state of mind. A north star if you will. I say all this because I'm guessing you're about 20 years old. You're all good.

I agree with the first bolded part, but disagree with the second. Spending conservatively - ie, in a way that looks poor - can be a necessary step to becoming wealthy, especially if your starting place is debt. Knowledge is certainly richness. Before age 24 I'd never flown in a plane. In the 4 years since, I've flown 40 times, with 36 of the flights paid for me (to several U.S. states, and to/from Mongolia and Korea twice). Companies and universities flew me around because of my expertise, so in a way that was money I "had" or "spent" via these entities. It was largely worth it too. This is good for a long-term arc of getting out of poor/debt/middle-class money mindsets and into wealth using emotional momentum. Switching from the mindset of a broke person, to getting even (if you're under), to becoming rich, to having it all and giving charitably.

I get what you're feeling, but sometimes it takes longer than seven years. Tell me all the things you've tried and what you haven't tried yet. It's all about hitting the sweet spot between what you value versus what's in demand. I got 2 degrees in a science field only to hate the work and try 3-4 other completely different things before settling on something I like. Sometimes that's the way it is.

Figure out your values. Look at what's in demand. Marry the two and refine as you go. Easier said than done.

Have you dealt with debt before? I wanna know other people's stories I think it's a common problem that enlightened people on this forum have and don't wanna admit in front of their enlightened friends

Love the way this guy explains it. It's taken me years of trying to fix my debt to stop making the same foolish mistakes and start prioritizing it like my life depends on it. I have 65k (50k alone in student loans) and am following a plan to get it all paid off in 3 years. Lifestyle-wise it's not gonna be super fun, but it will be worth it. Nothing is worse than being at net-negative. It prevents progress in so many ways.

Scott Galloway His knowledge base is massive. He talks to/from stages blue, orange, and green without exclusively cherishing their perspectives on repeat. He also makes good critiques of them by stating facts and surgically pulling out the consequences — good or bad — then applying conscious moral judgements to them. He represents a "healthy" version of capitalism. He cares about more than just his tribe, be it family, country, ideology, or humanity. Can't say what his views are in the spiritual dimension though. Otherwise, a solid, current example of SD Yellow.

Oh and if you just wind up watching the Tube on your computer, then get Cold Turkey website blocker. It blocks certain sites and makes it impossible to unlock the setting while a "work-block" is active. But that's if you really need it (it's like $40).