No Self

Concepts like "moments", "always", and "death" involve time. The true being is timeless according to the sages.

I am only imagining this conversation.

A book that I personally trust (Conversations with God) says that there are thousands of extraterrestrial civilisations with life. It also claims that while some are negative, others are trying to help and protect us. It also speaks of people having lived past lifetimes on other worlds, including Jesus. If there are 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the known universe, it is not farfetched to say that there is alien life. It is actually quite farfetched to say that there is NOT, hence the Fermi paradox. I have no real opinion on this matter as I have no evidence nor experience. This feels like a totally separate discussion to potentially dangerous New Age attitude of letting the hyper-inflated ego literally reach for the stars.

You are correct. I don't claim that my mind is an authority of any sort. When I comment, it is based on having associated intimately with certain New Agers, including knowing about the childhood traumas that caused them to resort to fantasy as a coping mechanism. They also utilise other ego defense mechanisms like blaming other people for their problems, so there is clearly a pattern at play. I am hesitant to use the Skeptical argument that all reality is subjective in this context. Some, such as David Icke, are known to be anti-Semitic. I may be 'closed-minded' to the idea that Jews are inferior, or that the Holocaust did not happen, but I do so entirely consciously. Another critique of the New Age way is that for all its grandiosity, it can actually be quite limiting. For example, the star and galaxy systems that they refer to happen to be local. The universe is enormously vaster than our local group. How convenient that the association with heavenly bodies that makes New Agers so exclusive happens to be LIMITED to this tiny pocket of the universe, and involve simplified astronomical concepts easily digested by the human mind. Real spirituality is about transcending the mind altogether; fanciful stories are a distraction. And please, no more genocide.

The number 144,000 is taken from the Bible. From memory, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that that is the number of people that will be 'saved' and go to heaven. The New Age belief system is essentially an exercise in conflating fantasy and reality in order to appease the inner child. Combined with social media echo chambers, the result is not ideal.

Firstly, good on you for having a go at providing an alternative take. Regarding the above argument, though, remember the saying: “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Implying that all of the modern world's problems are solved by war is exactly the mindset that caused Nazism in the first place. There is definitely a place for resorting to conflict: when there is no other choice. Every good police officer knows that you solve problems using the least force possible, though occasionally that does mean resorting to violence. But not every time for Christ's sake! The treaties of the EU and other systems for global diplomacy have replaced the outdated might-is-right mindset that the US remains entrenched in. Ironically, Germany is today one of the most powerful nations on Earth, arguably the leader of the free world (no offense to the US) yet known for trade rather than military might. Welcome to the 21st century.

Be patient, a larger country is naturally slower to change course. The US took 2-3 decades longer than NZ to allow women to vote at all. I predict the US will have an Ardern-level of leader within the next 340 years.

This is a valid perspective in its own right. But would the Buddha see it differently?

This is a very worthy topic for discussion in its own right. The tech companies are very much responsible for extremist cults arising in the first place, as their algorithms promote user engagement (therefore advertising revenue) at any cost. It is intentional, devoid of any ethics and they call it 'brain hacking'. This provides fertile soil for lunatic conspiracy theories, demonisation of minorities, false accusations towards political opponents, mass paranoia, divisive rhetoric, misinformation and so on. Once it reached an extreme, tech companies started censoring far-right movements in an ad hoc manner. This leads to an apparent leftist bias when it's more a case of the far right movements generally being far more militant, ruthless and organised spreaders of tactical disinformation. Both sides of politics should hold tech companies to account for the mayhem that they have caused in the name of lining their pockets. The only reason they have done so legally is that the AI technology is too new to be understood or controlled. Imagine bringing a car back in time to the 19th century. There would be no road rules whatsoever because the technology has not been moderated in any way. This is a pressing issue of our time. We could actually agree on something!

The problem is when two sides are held to vastly different standards. Any amount of lying and cheating by one party is accepted as normal, whereas the slightest misgivings on the other side leads to a false sense of tit-for-tat equivalency. If we have distorted logic, it is important to be aware of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

Bingo. Life is more diverse than people with generic formulae like to make out. Some people die as children. Some are too disabled. Some would have to expend so much effort that it would not be worth it. Let each being walk their path.

Anything that has true value must exist here and now.

Just looked it up. You are right. Hopefully my point retains some merit. "During the penalty phase of the trial, Bundy took advantage of an obscure Florida law providing that a marriage declaration in court, in the presence of a judge, constituted a legal marriage. As he was questioning former Washington State DES coworker Carole Ann Boone—who had moved to Florida to be near Bundy, had testified on his behalf during both trials, and was again testifying on his behalf as a character witness—he asked her to marry him. She accepted, and Bundy declared to the court that they were legally married."

I have heard that Byron Katie had an enlightenment experience during a period of alcoholism.

If it's legitimate, keep in mind that certain conditions like bipolar can make people profoundly insightful at times and very dangerous at other times. We need to stop labelling people as 'good' or 'bad'.

Some valid points. I don't really have an opinion but here are a few more ideas: Society does shame people to some degree for being single, especially if it is because they are not 'sexy' enough. Older societies additionally shame people for failing to have children. (And some highly progressive societies shame people FOR having children.) In addition to psychological and biological impulses within the body, society creates a mess using its peer pressure tactics. Many of the most advanced beings - the Buddha, Jesus, Ramana Maharshi - did not engage in relationships. And they were not 'abstaining', but they simply had a richer, higher purpose than addressing biological cravings of the body. Many of the LEAST advanced beings - Ted Bundy, Charles Manson - did not engage in committed relationships. They were below a level of consciousness that made genuinely caring for another being possible. Eckhart Tolle's teachings could be summed up in a few points. All beings are connected. Relationship 'love' is often caused by egos attempting to cover up their underlying sense of pain, which inevitably returns in time, and the partner will be blamed for causing it. And yet, he says that avoiding relationships to escape pain results in less growth than letting failed relationships happen.

Just a reflection of humanity at large.

The dark energy needs to be seen as the problem, not the person. If this isn't understood, it just spreads from person to person, each one using victimhood to rationalise carrying darkness. Make it a mission to not carry any of that energy with you into the next lifetime. Otherwise, you could find yourself as the one who is given a horrible childhood and then goes onto abuse others in relationships. As bad as it is being a victim of narcissists, I would never want to actually BE the narcissist. I 'forgive' because I want to divorce from the entire dysfunction. It doesn't belong to us.

I think we crossed that line a while ago. The good news is that evolution is not a straight line. There will be some sort of change at some point.

The sad part is that there are massive conspiracies that are happening in plain sight. * The fossil fuel lobby in politics suppressing clean energy and poisoning the ecosystem * The endless sins of the 'too big to fail' banking sector * Privately owned mainstream media pushing the personal agenda of the owners (Rupert Murdoch has personally dictated the outcomes of many elections around the world) * The 'brain hacking' algorithm of social media causing social unrest and radicalising millions * The opioid epidemic that killed tens of thousands of US citizens was engineered by Richard Sackler, who personally profited billions But we can't talk about these issues because they involve mere mainstream knowledge, do not invoke a sense of mystical exclusivity or secret cults.