No Self

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Papaji did military service. It may help you learn skills of discipline, though there's also the risk of being traumatised. The most important thing is to not have your inner state corrupted regardless of what happens on the outside.

What is death to an awakened one?

Triumph is good!

Yes I did!

Yes, others appear to be the cause of pain, therefore a murderous rampage is a pain-killer.

Belief is the most powerful motivator, especially when paired with deep unconsciousness. When people have to choose between their children and their religion/beliefs, they typically choose the latter without hesitation. Direct experience is easily dismissed, unlike the mind. As a segue, there is a situation when belief should out-muscle direct experience. Example: Mandy had an abusive father, a drug-addicted brother and no other positive male role models in childhood. She has only attracted negative relationships with men. In her direct experience, all men are bad. But intellectually, she understands that her own experience is based on a ridiculously small sample size and 'believes' that there is such a thing as a good man. Which is closer to truth, the direct experience or the belief?

This is not a very popular topic, unfortunately. Being a part of a tribe and throwing rocks at our 'opponents' interests and excites people far more than admitting that our own brains have been hacked. Maybe humans will evolve over the next few million years.

I've yet to read up on the M1 but it seems like some traditional aspects of mobile phones design (system-on-a-chip, hybrid big/little cores) are trickling up to larger devices. Similar things are happening with Intel, though is still in its infancy. Not sure exactly how it would serve as a societal metaphor, though. I've not seen the episode you refer to. Another metaphor is the human body itself, which has a few dozen trillion cells which are both individual yet collectively forming a macroscopic organism. From this perspective, a lot of society today can better be likened to an autoimmune disease. This happens when some cells attack others and the entire organism suffers.

They are.

I think this deserves its own thread. Social media AI algorithms are intentionally designed to mesmerise, radicalise and divide people. Nothing has been done about this problem except for ad hoc censorship. Before lashing at your political opponents, what about the for-profit machine that literally breeds hatred and terrorism around the world? Less educated societies may lack critical thinking or oppose nonconformity in general, or the emotional drama of social unrest can make people susceptible. The degree to which people have been manipulated is downright horrific. Trump was president simply because he was grotesque, entertaining and glued people to their social media feed. Zuckerberg is now approaching $100 billion dollars in worth as a result. If Zuckerberg is not stopped, there will be plenty more Trumps to come. Tristan Harris has made a documentary bringing attention to the issue. The statistics are concerning to say the least. For example, he says social media algorithms promoted Alex Jones more times than all of Fox News, CNN, NY Times, etc. combined. Democrats and Republicans hold very distorted images of one another.

True. We really need to distinguish between extremely 'open-minded' belief systems and the awful things that happen when New Agers go off the rails. (Like defaming everyone as a pedophile, promoting extreme-right politics, utilising dangerous medical practices, Holocaust denial/anti-Semitism, etc.) This applies to any belief system. All are harmless in moderation. I have no final opinion on the alien stuff - and that's after decades of interest in the topic. Good to see different ideas shared.

You have misunderstood. Facebook utilises aggressive 'brain-hacking' and is intentionally designed to cause the division that it does (albeit as a side-effect of maximising profit with no ethics). Some early members of the Facebook team have seen the monster created and have spoken out publically. It is very important to be educated on this issue. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/famous-facebook-and-google-investor-condemns-brain-hacking-2017-8?r=US&IR=T

Here in Australia, the Indigenous peoples lasted for tens of thousands of years, and the reason they survived was because they placed respect for nature at the forefront of their philosophy. The narcissistic philosophy of contemporary man - the total apathy towards other beings, the primitive obsession with domineering, the contempt for feminine energy and the belief in being 'superior' to nature - is the philosophy that must die. The modern version of respect for nature involves voting against fossil fuel lobbyist governments, supporting renewable energy/conservation, choosing a suitable place to live and limiting procreation. But politics, science and technology will play a central role. Beyond this practical action, the suffering that will continue to happen is out of our control so there's no point focusing on it.

Why blame Hitler and not millions of other people who cooperated with the Holocaust and WWII? Also, read about his childhood before judging him. If you use Facebook, you'll realise that there are millions of 'Hitlers'. They are as they are. The trick is not giving them too much political power.

Gun sales have hit a record high this year. A considerable percentage of the population is radicalised. Now they are sore losers. What is lacking is any organised, national-scale militia. I absolutely expect some amount of violence, though it appears at this stage that it will stop short of a civil war.

Yes, a shame because we do want to have a diversity of opinions. Echo chambers are inherently dangerous. But fake news is not a legitimate opposing viewpoint.

I noticed last night that there's a need for more education regarding trolls and their tactics. Trolls generally function from central forums where leaders assign them narratives to push, and a place to boast of their exploits. Members of the zombie army then go on the hunt, armed with foolproof tactics. Here are some of the tactics I have observed: Blitzkrieg of BS A sudden barrage of misinformation and shaming tactics. A false narrative - one that is unfortunately legitimised when attempts are made to argue against it - repeatedly asserts known fallacies and ignores established facts. Lies are repeated until they become the truth. A tone of aggressive overconfidence overpowers the naivety of anyone open-mindedly engaging in debate. Free speech Trojan horse The cause of free speech is used to shame attempts at forum moderation or ignoring the troll. This foot-in-the-door approach disables all opposition, enabling a bombardment of misinformation, propaganda or harassment to overwhelm individuals attempting to argue in good faith. Anti-mainstream Trojan horse Trolls present online snake-pits of disinformation as equivalent or superior to authoritative information sources. They will shame any fact-checking efforts as an exercise in conformity to the vast conspiracy of mainstream media and authorities controlling the masses. The fact that mainstream and government publications are indeed flawed becomes a foot-in-the-door to create a false equivalency to propaganda networks. Projection of brainwashing and disingenuous participation By accusing you of doing what they are doing - closed off from good-faith discussion and attempting to use psychological manipulation and clever keywords like 'gaslighting' as a distraction - an air of uncertainty causes disorientation. Again, defensive structures are blown open by feigned victimhood. Appealing to guilt and fear Emotive language and dramatisation appeals to a sense of shame in being an enabler of mainstream horrors. Any and all controversies involving the troll's 'team' are unspoken, presenting a faux black-and-white picture in which the troll is a defender of righteousness. A 'false dilemma' pretends that there are only two possible choices and eliminates all nuance. The slightest doubt or fear becomes an opening to overwhelm all defenses. Manipulation of replies Any responses can be misquoted or distorted to put the troll in a position of power and the victim in a defensive position. 'Whataboutism' deflects attention by changing the topic. Any loss of composure can be used to proclaim victory. Final thoughts I previously provided a practical demonstration here. This is not an exhaustive list as it's based on personal observation. Nor is this a claim that centre-left positions on all issues are infallible - indeed, the numerous flaws in leftist rhetoric give dangerous leverage to the alternative facts cult. The theme is of them using a 'foot in the door' to exhaust defenses. Many trolls are so sophisticated that I suspect some formal education is being utilised behind the scenes. I observe that the most uneducated people are easily indoctrinated by the above methods, which is reflected in Trump's enormous popularity amongst the poorly educated. The most egregious behaviour of the far-right (or any other similarly disingenuous group) relies on a vast army of simpleton enablers. Social media is the new battleground; one that unfortunately sets up mischievous teenage boys to become a globally powerful political militia, so let's all be conscious of the fact that war is being waged against truth, and will continue to be for many years to come.

That's hilarious and horrible at the same time. This guy has made a documentary about the topic and I hope his message is heard worldwide. Trump is just a common internet troll who is naturally elevated by the algorithm since he is fascinating, entertaining and grotesque. Not exactly presidential material.

If we talk about causation without bringing up the AI algorithms designed to mesmerise, radicalise and divide people, it is not a sensible discussion. Critical thinking is not viewed positively in some societies, nor is nonconformity, nor even being educated. These parts of the country were very vulnerable and were (and are) taken for a ride. If Zuckerberg is not stopped, there will be plenty more Trumps to come.

80+ years ago, average young men were assigned the 'heroic' task of fighting for their country. They had traditional marriages to dependent women, children and employment from a young age making them indispensable. They felt respected and had a sense of purpose. Their home societies were united. Take all this away, reduce virile young men to a disposable commodity, and a lower aspect of humanity arises: tribalism. It is the same force behind historical phenomena such as batshit-crazy Christianity (witch-burning, Crusades), or global tribes like ISIS. Did those violent mobs really believe in their Gods? Sure, but the much bigger motivating factor was a sense of belonging and a sense of adventure, which seems to be a basic need. I've focused on the the young-male demographic here as they are the ones who seem to cause trouble to this forum, but of course there are separate psychological syndromes that lead to some of the Karens and the Boomers and others going down a similar path... Anyone would be somewhat open to the 9/11 conspiracy. But eventually it became an endless bombardment. The modern conspiracist movement is still in its infancy as we now have the first Qanon members of Congress. Trump supporters will now be the subversive resistance movement. Best to not be involved in their drama by knowing their level of consciousness, motivations and tactics.

The example given was Jesus, who was extremely advanced from a more advanced civilisation and came here to help others (I don't think it really worked out though). I have no way of verifying this. I'm not aware that normal 'people' bounce around from one planetary system to the next in their sequence of lifetimes as New Agers claim.

That's true. The classic quote is: "There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." But to answer your question more directly, it is said that souls incarnate into whatever body, location and period of time suits their evolution. So from that perspective, any setting is possible. Including stuff that would seem ridiculous to us. *disclaimer: this does not mean any of it is really real.