Gesundheit

I agree. It's totally pointless and misses the mark whether or not evil exists as an independent phenomenon outside of the human perception, i.e. objective evil vs. subjective evil. This inquiry is not important and really just a straw-man of the actual question. Because as long as we cannot prevent the bad stuff from happening, then the source doesn't really matter. (I know "bad" is a label, so whoever reading this, you won't be considered a genius for pointing that out). Spiritual people are the biggest hypocrites in this regard. Because on the one hand, they naively say that evil does not exist and it's all just infinite love bla bla bla. But then on the other hand, they're quite the selfish people that won't really care for anyone else other than themselves. If you put them to the challenge and do something "evil" to them. All of the sudden, you will be called a devil, as if they're the almighty God, and you're the evil devil. All of the sudden, you're not infinite love anymore, rather you're just a limited deluded selfish devil that is making God angry because you're not following/agreeing with his selfish agendas. Suddenly, there will be a distinction between the absolute and the relative, and an alignment between the two that you are missing. And you will be straw-manned time and time again. You'll discuss the relative, and they'll resort to the absolute. You'll go to the absolute, and they'll resort to the relative. Endless fruitless pointless hypocrisy, just to mask the fact that they're the biggest hypocrites in the world, and that they're bypassing and refusing to see the evil within themselves, because "it doesn't exist".

Fix low self-esteem. Develop an alligator's skin for rejection by going through hundreds of rejections.

I wouldn't do anything differently, cuz I already always try to live my life to the fullest, cuz I always assume I'm going to die the next minute.

Perhaps contemplate the other side of the coin; The ego is infinitely stupid.

The word God is not arbitrary or irrelevant. It implies many different things, mainly: Wonder. Magic. Spirit. Power. Creation. Oneness. Mercy. Forgiveness. Infinity. Eternity. And basically, it implies all possible human & non-human characteristics taken to God levels. There is no other word to describe all that, and that's the point. Because if you truly understand God, it will make perfect sense to you. But otherwise, it's gonna fly over your head.

@Leo Gura Stop spamming the forum with double posts

It probably sounds like a funny question, but I'm asking seriously. Is God enlightened? On some level, it's kinda nonsensical to ask such a question. Yet, on another, I think it makes some sense at least. I guess what I'm asking here is: What does that question even mean? Or maybe how to approach it properly?

@LostStudent We all have our bad moments. But that doesn't make us awful humans. I wonder about this judgement you made about yourself. It feels like you're being hard on yourself when in fact all you need is a little comforting and support. There's also something that I think could help you here: "What You Resist, Persists. What You Accept, Transforms You. You've probably heard it before– the notion that life isn't about what happens to you, but rather about how you respond to it. It's been my favourite motto for over a decade now, and it's given me a sense of agency over the circumstances of my life." https://www.soulaia.com/self-soul/what-you-resist-persists/ Hope this helps. Take care.

There's no 1 or 2 or 5. All numbers are imaginary abstract constructs made-up by the mind. Deconstruct the mind, and there won't be a problem. 1+0-3=653

The ban hammer. I could hear its echo.

If Mohammad wanted the Quran to be a well-kept book, he would have told his followers to collect it, write it all down and copy it then spread it. But maybe he wasn't that genius after all. Sunni is just an interpretation of Islam. It's not Islam. It's like a poem and its interpretation, they're completely different entities. The poem/Islam is dead. And the interpretation has changed throughout history more than you imagine that now it's not at all what it was like when it first came into being. We can safely say that the Sunni of today is not the same Sunni 1100 AD. They're completely different religions, but the Sunnis of today claim otherwise, because they're deluded. And don't worry, probably in a few hundred years there will be Sunni women doing yoga on TV.

@Vytas http://mikemehlman.net/

She lost interest or met someone else. Move on.

Basically, you're asking if you can "know" anything with absolute certainty. So, there is the direct experience of the moon, for example, and then there's your interpretations of it (disk, sphere, beautiful, far, big, etc...). You want to confirm your interpretations of what you're directly experiencing, through some tangible means. Right? But the problem is that the moon that you directly experience is just an appearance of what it actually is. And your interpretations are just appearances as well. However, interpretations make it tricky because they distract you from the fact that everything is just appearances, and they make it look like their content can actually be absolutely true. But see, interpretations are just interpretations. And they can always be wrong. Therefore, it's not possible to know anything with absolute certainty, except for the previous statement

This sounds super interesting to explore!

@tsuki Thanks for sharing ?? It looks that your heightened sense of responsibility is what's stopping you from desiring kids. I'm not sure I can say the same thing about other males, because most of them are immature and irresponsible, yet they somehow share the same stance as you. I guess probably you have better chances at raising high quality kids than most other males cause of your high level responsibility. On the other hand, I don't think we can apply the same perspective on women. I mean the generational trauma part, because virtually all of us have it. But since women are generally more responsible than men, I think it could be naivety that blocks women from assessing the situation correctly, which makes them underestimate the challenges of raising a child, and in result making them want to have kids. I really don't know. This is all just my vague understanding. The more I think about it, the more I feel lost. It seems like a very complex question. But thank you for the insightful responses. You gave me a few keys to contemplate and ponder upon.

@modmyth Thanks for sharing your thorough perspective. A lot to contemplate, but I think I've got a good overall idea that helps me draw a few intuitive conclusions. @tsuki Okay, let's put it this way: conscious desire vs. unconscious desire. Your point is included. Both men and women share the same unconscious desire. But why do they differ in their conscious desires?

How is wanting to have babies similar to wanting to have sex? They're completely different experiences. Most men don't daydream about having babies. But for women, it seems like an important part of their psyche. This thread is a perfect demonstration of that. Notice that most of us would not care to think seriously about having a baby, let alone going to the edges of the earth to have them (by exchanging genitalia). But most women would go through pregnancy and labor to have a baby, even though it is an unpleasant experience overall. In other words, maternity desire is high even though the struggle is high, but paternity desire is low even though the struggle is low. Why is that? Are most humans masochists?

@LostStudent Hey, what's going on?

@Someone here Good.