No Self

Yes, though 60 million people died before Hitler's 'free speech' exercise was neutralized.

Intuitively, it feels like a short-cut is to call into question the root assumptions of one's sense of self - being separate, being finite, etc. This leads to a naturally meditative state rather than mental mayhem - but there seems to be a fine line between the two. For practical purposes, there is always some sort of 'walled garden' in a given ego's psychology. I remember Neale Donald Walsch used the example that one should replace one brick at a time in a house rather than knocking the whole thing over. Some people believe in spirit guides, and some of them believe in animal spirit guides. The space kangaroo is plausible from this perspective...

Everyone is offended by everything these days. It's not a pathway that can be sustained much further. My point was that we are trying to solve a root problem of human primitiveness and it never works via suppression. The same reason all of our economic systems have failed. We have never addressed the root problem that people are assholes. In the social media era, unlimited free speech means being overrun by violent extremists. ISIS turned out to be the first of many. It is hard to argue that nothing should be done to stop them. Perhaps the right balance eventually gets struck through the natural forces of legislation and debate.

With only a most basic respect for fellow man, nobody would want to suppress the speech of others, nor would anybody want to use free speech to promote violence.

Very possibly. In British/Australian/NZ vernacular, the term 'pissed' means drunk. I like this. Now we are on a bridge between politics and spirituality. The conclusion that I am drawing is that no effort should be made to fight against so-called evils such as Nazism that Trojan-horse their way into political legitimacy (as outlined in the allegory of the OP 'discussion') since nothing in the world is real anyway. We should peacefully accept even worst case scenarios like mass extinctions and genocide. But what a fine line there is between a spiritual master and a psychopath!

Thank you :). I don't like to be too sarcastic but I hope my point is understood. I gave this some thought and can see the danger here. There are people in the scientific community who are dismissive of spirituality, attempt to define consciousness materially, etc. Yes, those people are closed-minded and insult spiritual seekers. But you have a lot to thank them for if you like having medication rather than a witch doctor selling snake oil. Our genetic programming pushes us towards tribalism, and makes us want to be a part of Team Spiritual and pwn Team Science. Go team! ...Well actually, no. God is ALL OF IT. And tribalism is actually the most primitive of human behaviours. Every religion has fallen for this us-vs.-them trap. Now it's our turn. Being spiritual and arguing that you are 'better' than Team Science is every bit as unconscious as being Christian and arguing that Muslims are inferior. It doesn't matter if Team Science made fun of 'us'. Because there is no 'us' or 'them'. Only relative truth which is uncovered by authentic truth-seeking (eg. the fact that light moves faster than sound), with absolute truth being that this entire scenario is a play observed by the great consciousness.

Reminds me of a quote by Ramana Maharshi: "The ultimate Truth is so simple. It is nothing more than being in the pristine state. This is all that need be said. Still, it is a wonder that to teach this simple Truth there should come into being so many religions, creeds, methods and disputes among them and so on! Oh the pity! Oh the pity!"

I could be wrong, but I don't think it would ever work. The implication of having a day of celebration is that the remaining days are 'ordinary'. Likewise for venerating special people or sacred locations. It brings out the worst in people by creating more hierarchies. The best modern Western religion is atheism, since it venerates rational cognition and commonsense. Of course, that philosophy is imprisoned in materialism, but at least avoids the extreme evils of traditional religion. You won't find them burning people at the stake for being witches.

Might be an idea to take a break from seeing that person and have some time apart. Some friendships will come back into your life in an improved form, others not so much.

@Strangeloop Which country are you in? Here in Australia, the word gay was an insult until maybe 10-15 years ago. Now it is not an insult anymore. That's a pretty incredible change to see in just a few years. It is really important to find people who understand you. It's better to have a small, high-quality community than to fit in with the dysfunction of the mainstream society.

@AlphaAbundance Yes, the higher perspective is enlightenment/liberation or whatever one wishes to call it, but it is important to distinguish the mental idea of enlightenment with the actual experience. In simple terms, you distinguish the Self that is looking out through your eyes right now from the noisy little human self that is always grappling with problems to do with past and future. Only the present consciousness is real. This would change your entire outlook as you can imagine. Having more insights from the higher intelligence might give you a newfound purpose of some kind, or you might still prefer to chill out. There's no right or wrong, except be true to yourself. Owning a home and having basic living costs covered is incredibly liberating, though is easier said than done unless there is access to a substantial sum. Even then, there can be all sorts of restrictions around money for everyday living and it can get depressing. As for mental issues, there can be a certain lethargy caused by a lack of positive engagement with people and challenges. But if you are involved with other goals, that would likely not be an issue. But the finances are hard to get right if there's no external source of support. Sometimes I say that surviving on part-time work is a more achievable goal. Many near-death experiences end because people are told by higher powers that their mission here is not complete. If someone dies suddenly, even if by 'accident', it means their mission was complete. We are not all guaranteed to live 80 years. Suicides often have less pleasant after-death experiences because we are overriding the higher purpose when our minds make the clinical calculation that living is more painful than dying. My best advice is to take suicide off the cards and instead focus heavily on that higher purpose. People who live to old age often comment that the time passes crazy fast anyway. For your last question, the error is in thinking that the suffering is caused by situations. Some masters have lived the most mundane lives, and been in bliss the whole time. They feel joy in even the dullest of chores. It is hard to even imagine or describe it, and it is something antithetical to the ways of Western society and its consumerism, competitiveness, etc. Personally I love the pure and direct teachings of Ramana Maharshi, but there are other worthy teachers also. I hope this helps!

Good questions. Viewed from the perspective of the mind, life is basically a load of chores and suffering and then we die anyway. It is important to realise that this is not necessarily the highest perspective. I totally relate to not wanting to work, and found that seeking the most affordable housing and aggressively paying down debts was a fairly safe way to improve independence. Keep in mind that not working can also cause mental issues, so the best outcome might be part-time work. Death is not really an option as I understand it (sources like near-death experience reports and the Neale Donald Walsch book Home with God). It basically means having to come back and try again. This implies that life does have a legitimate purpose at some level. There may be other options like living in other countries. But my best advice would be to put more energy into dis-identifying from the mind. It is essentially speaking on your behalf and causing untold misery. Liberation from it is possible.

That's great research. Also, Francais didn't exist in Christ's time as it evolved out of Latin centuries later. According to Google, 'I am' in Latin would be 'ego sum'. Still a really cool idea. I like it! Reminds me of 'The Moses Code' if anyone has seen that film. And at least my original mis-reading of the title as 'Jesuit' was wrong.

Yes, hopefully this discussion has relevance to the OP, otherwise I will gladly butt out! I can add that I was abused as a child by 2 older sisters, and am aware that my own sexuality literally feels like something distorted out of shape. I've chosen to attempt a 'spiritual bypass'! So I know very well what you are talking about. A few years ago I became a qualified early childhood educator, and was motivated by concern for the way children are raised and the abuses that lead to problems later in life. Attachment theory discusses relationship quality but not sexual orientation. I learned a lot, but don't feel like I could go into it here without causing a ridiculous tangent. To summarise quickly, men make up 3% of early childhood educators, which means most child care centres have no men. I found that I was extremely popular with the children, which helped confirm my theory that children are actually missing out on healthy interactions with both genders and this may help explain relationship and gender-politics issues later in life. But a number of factors, like being unsupported when bullied by coworkers, minimal pay and the realisation that parents ultimately influence the children so much more, caused me to eventually give up and settle for a more gender-normative role as a truck driver! Early childhood is a huge issue even for average people, but especially abuse cases. But I sadly don't see things getting any better unless we have standards over who is allowed to have children, mandatory education on child-raising, etc. I feel we have to just accept the world, as screwed as it is.

@Keyhole OK, I apologise for misunderstanding your intentions. Some of your earlier remarks "LGBTQ ppl are in general more fucked up" and "created out of childhood trauma" reminded me of the sorts of arguments made by fundamentalist Christians to shame people for being LGBTQ. I wanted to point out that legitimate homosexuality is supported by the post-dark-ages community and that we need to be careful when implying wrongness in something that is natural for some people.

Near-death research indicates that there are various stages after death. The first is realising that you still exist even though the body has been dropped. You cannot be seen by other people and they cannot hear you. Often a sense of great tranquility. Sometimes the presence of one or more beings to offer guidance. Sometimes 360-degree visibility, and the ability to visit distant places instantly. Then, there is usually a sense of travelling down a tunnel at incredible speed towards a bright light with a powerful sense of love. The light is brighter than the sun, yet can be viewed without discomfort. The level of love and happiness is far beyond anything on Earth. There tends to be a 'life review', in which we experience our actions from the perspective of others who came into contact with us. Though we are not judged per se, there is a criterion of sorts whereby selfless love is the most important quality to have displayed. Some experiencers went much further and experienced multiple different levels of 'heaven' and witnessed the beings therein. And sometimes unpleasant realms are witnessed also. Kevin Williams has a great NDE website, while the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation is being updated with reports constantly. My best advice is to do your own research.

Spirituality and religion has never been misused by egos?

Good, we can "not know" together. Firstly, your (or my) anecdotal data does not disprove the existence of legitimate homosexuality with genetic causes. Homosexuality has always been prevalent throughout the world, including people with perfectly healthy childhoods, and elsewhere in the animal kingdom. This is why I yield to proper scientific research rather than what somebody on the internet claims. Secondly, it is important to know that the LGBTQ+ community is one of the most vulnerable to suicides and hate crimes. Telling people they are wrong for being different is a major factor behind both. Doing so in a thread where someone in a fragile position is appealing for support is potentially murderous. Thirdly, I have worked with abused children, and any implicit prediction that they will become pedophiles is not very good caregiving, not to mention scientifically incorrect. If you have attracted so many abuse victims into your social circle, maybe that has something to do with your energy and does not mean that your anecdotes should discredit society's move towards respect and tolerance for minorities.

Just so happens there's a new PBS Space-Time video on the topic of time.

Understand that it is not understandable from our perspective.

To 'go' somewhere needs time, which does not exist as we know it within the bigger picture of the 'multiverse'. All exists simultaneously. Your own future self (including all possible futures), or past self, is happening now at a different point on a continuum. Another way of answering this question would be by bringing up Akashic records.

Yes. Funny how genocidal people play victim over being called toxic. Violence against any group is violence against all of us. It is analogous to an autoimmune disease at the societal level. https://theconversation.com/anti-semitism-is-on-the-rise-75-years-after-the-end-of-the-holocaust-and-second-world-war-132141

This is a good thing from an ecological perspective, and no doubt the rest of the industry will follow suit. It is wasteful to be producing chargers that are not needed since people already have half a dozen at home. Knowing Apple's 'ethics', their motivation will have been to make people buy overpriced accessories separately, but it is still a win for the environment. However, the continuation of the Lightning charging cable defies the rest of the industry's switch to the universal USB-C, which the EU has even wanted to be an enforced standard. Not only is this awful for the environment, it also screws Apple's own customers who need a different cable to charge an iPhone Pro vs. an iPad Pro, making a mockery of their claims to offer a simplified user experience. Steve Jobs will be turning in his grave.

The sort of published research commonly cited in the media is very dubious for a number of reasons. There are many unresolved issues in science. Absolutely nobody is claiming that our understanding is complete, nor that all scientists agree with all others on all points. Not even close. The content of legitimate debates is usually well over the layman's head, however, which is a big problem when science needs political support, and is routinely under assault from special interest groups such as climate change deniers. Expect any attacks on science to be exploited by the fossil fuel lobby, fundamentalist Christian/Islamic extremists and other fine people. The solution to scientific limitation is not dark ages superstition, nor throwing the baby of truth-seeking out with the bathwater. We are beginning to see the horrors of internet cults that exploit the public's loss of trust in authorities to divorce the gullible from reality. A true 'out of the frying pain, into the fire' scenario that is still growing like a societal cancer to this day. By respecting science consensus as our best benchmark for all material matters, ever-evolving and imperfect as it may be, just maybe we can avoid letting the lunatics take over the asylum.

The scenario you describe can happen, though the notion that homosexuality is merely a pathological distortion of the sex drive has not been the scientific consensus since 1973, when the American Psychiatric Association ceased regarding homosexuality as a disorder. It is believed to be genetic for some individuals. Homosexuality is also common in the animal kingdom. Public support for gay marriage has skyrocketed in recent decades. The mechanisms behind abused individuals 'becoming' gay, which I have also observed, would only be possible if an individual had at least some suppressed bisexual compatibility to begin with. Advising people to wage war against their own sexuality is dangerous and irresponsible advice and can lead to horrible outcomes. At best, I believe transcendence is possible, since all neediness is ultimate a part of the cycle of suffering as described by the Buddha and others.