BlueOak

First off that's great. Its part of what needs to happen to flatten this pyramid somewhat. Second find something that is fulfilling to you and don't stop until you do. Failing that offer as much value to others with your work as you can, its a good fallback :D, if you can get both well you hit the jackpot. You will always feel something is missing in life if it is. Until all of life is integrated properly and accepted there will always be a level of suffering and self-doubt present. Both in you but also in it. The problem is society has suppressed certain components of itself, now to the point they are almost invisible, where you are labeled all manner of derogatory terms for even mentioning them or their surrounding challenges/issues in life. You can always reprogram the mind to do another task, but you can't sway your spirit to be something it isn't.

@Devin I wouldn't use the term devolving personally. All countries are adjusting to the rise of authoritarian superpowers and their influence on the collective or geopolitics, which is trying to reach for a global stage green parity, at least at the level of intent for foreign policies and cooperation. I mean France very nearly went far right in this last election, and nationalism, even fascism has been on the rise through Europe for a couple of decades, especially in the east but in truth most countries. People can deny that all they want, all they need to do is look at election numbers and the leaders of those parties. By culture I mean culture. It helps form communities with a common identity, but a community can have more than one for example. Traditions for me are created in the culture and are upheld through the culture, otherwise, they end. Empires in the past like anything have fallen for a variety of reasons, one common one is a declining culture and the loss of a sense of common identity as a result, the empire, country, or group splitting apart into small collectives. Materialism does divide an individual from an individual but it still forms the basis of what being an American seems to be to a lot of people. Again I am not advocating for its merits/flaws, just stating an observation.

Reform is always better than removal to leave a void for some of the reasons I've given above. With the greatest respect, again I ask for this to continue in a different thread. It's difficult for me to advocate the benefits and flaws of traditional culture and even materialism, while at the same time being dismissed as a left-wing extremist. While the contrast is amusing the two conversations don't overlap well. You seem like a reasonable person to talk to and thank for you the discussion.

I'd be happy to have a discussion on culture in a different thread, it might be an interesting topic. I think most cultures go through periods of being strong, growing, and vibrant, with periods of decline, stagnation etc.

I'm sorry this discussion got buried in personal attacks and nonsense talk, I missed this. I am not in the frame of mind for an in-depth discussion on culture, but would be happy to in another thread. For a brief summary. Cultures end or less dramatically reform for all kinds of reasons. Without things that define a culture, it is weaker yes, cultures bring a people together and gives them common ground. They allow for things like celebrations, festivals, tourism in good times, and common identity in hard times like war or economic depression. It encourages people to work together when times get tough and gives them a collective identity.

@Leo Gura I have had so many examples of comments getting censored or channels getting closed for nothing that you are straight-up wrong Leo. Yes people can't view everything on earth but much more of it should be available to them. Not censored from view. You may dislike the word, but that is its meaning. I expected better than trash talk. If that's all you've got. Shall I reflect it? You've lost your mind in a bubble of self-superiority and projection of your own bias. Because you dislike the opposing opinion and way it's framed you see fit to attack the poster of the opinion rather than address the perspective itself. Which is always the sign of a limited mind or flawed perspective. You make leaps in judgement on people because it's quicker and easier to do. Its easier to put people in a category you can dismiss when they don't fit with your worldview. I do time to time view a video, but barely consume any political or social media whatsoever these days, for the reasons I've given above. People rarely tell me what to think without a good argument because I am too stubborn for it, so perhaps read a person a bit better before leaping to conclusions.

You added this so I'll make a separate quote for it For the great majority of my life I don't care who is reading or watching something, only fruitless times when I thought I was making a difference did I go down that road. Most of the time in my life I am talking to you, and only the poster I am replying to. That said the audience size should have little or no bearing on censorship if two people are not abusive to each other.

Why do you think I am still on this forum? Its one of the few places I can have a discussion. Your neighbor does not control the street, town, city, and country's ability to put out signs on all yards, even their own. Google does, along with facebook and a few others, that's all you get to see, because 90% of the internet is completely censored from your view, and the rest of it is buried so deep in the algorithm you'll never see it anyway, and of those sites that do exist, they are also bury most of the content that isn't made from mainstream sources.

Rarely have I seen so much gaslighting. I am envious of your ability to not only dismiss people but belittle their experiences from your enlightened perspective.

Come on. About 10% of the internet is accessible these days, of that 10% only 0.00001% gets to the top to be seen at all. Discussions I am in on youtube frequently my partner is deleted, it happens to me also when I am on the wrong side of a debate. Censorship is the worst I've ever seen it in my entire lifetime. It used to be discussions were deleted or usually locked (and left) when they became abusive, not when they had opposing opinions the trend has become so bad it's absurd. I even seen people asking for it on this very forum, which is a complete 180 on attitudes. This is a case of you either having opinions that are more accepted by the censors. When they are not they won't be there, or would be buried so deep nobody ever finds it in any search algorithm anyway. I had considerably more freedom to even have a conversation in earlier periods of my life, that's a fact, there was considerably more of the internet accessible in its earlier years too, that's also a fact. Many of the other things I've listed I've observed nobodies told me it. I've never had anyone talk to me about 50's cultural trends, in film, fashion and media. Nobodies come up and said look how older names are making a comeback . Nobody makes a video on collective concessions to culture or society because of the rising authoritarian superpowers, Not until right now with these massive changes to law. Sure there was some whispering in socialist circles about how Breitbart was funded and the influence it had, but that was a very slow drip of news. I doubt many people can even see it because it's a gradual change over decades. That's an observation, the fact you want to dismiss it because I'm supposedly watching the wrong videos only highlights the point. You would rather dismiss those speakers because they have an opposing view to you. Which is the trend. People are constantly being banned for saying things that don't walk the line. There was a period when almost every left-wing speaker on youtube or facebook was banned, then it moved to focus in on individual comments on text. Before this it was just burying every single independent news outlet, you can barely find any independent news anywhere unless you really take the time to look. Before that it was people copyright claiming everything that wasn't run by a billionaire or government media. You can tell me its not raining when I am soaked, but when I see every single day, yes every day, the speaker I am talking to having his comments deleted, or mine when I am not toeing the establishment line. This post would 100% for certain be deleted if I made it on youtube.

How do you personally love division and contrast? Thank you.

There is no exaggeration. I see styles, fashions, even names and cultural trends from the 50's. I see TV shows and films that could have been set in the 50's. I see civil rights being rolled back 50 years. I see authoritarian powers that have outlooks as if they were a European power from the last century. I see politicians wanting to roll us back to that time. I see religion on the rise again in decision-making. I see the ability to protest at an all-time low globally. I see censorship has reached almost draconian levels. I see the intelligence services behaving as if we were in a cold war era, even before all this recent mess with regards to surveillance and privacy. To reach stage green globally the several billion people stuck in our version of the 50's will naturally have an effect on our lives. To acknowledge that is not an exaggeration. I've accepted it. I hate it in many ways, because I hate the authoritarian part of me, and that's my issue. What it does make me more sensitive to is authoritarian changes happening, and they have been happening since the early 2000's. Which hopefully now anyone can see as clear as day.

If you are in a Yellow state of a mind on a subject, you can operate as a conservative or a liberal and see the necessity of both depending on the situation. *You are also not above making a fool of yourself or acting on impulse, emotion, or anything else. The other stages of your development don't disappear, just because you can do better.

There have been countless cultures that have come and gone over history. In my lifetime I've seen modern-day Britain have a cultural crisis as middle England was all but removed, where the village life was usurped by towns and culturally lost its way for a while. The rise of the chav for example :), which in reality was just the new youth of the time. I imagine the same in a more severe fashion happened as its 'empire crumbled'. 10-15 years ago I used to ask people what English culture was? I got very weak answers. One of the positives over the last 10 years was a slow re-establishing of english identity and culture, through media efforts and national programs. For example I was against brexit but one reason it was successful was England in a way needed that jolt, to say I still exist and have a voice. The cultural aspect of that is almost overlooked, and one reason why the EU struggles with unity or did until it had a common enemy in Russia. Rome - https://blablawriting.net/prime-relationship-roman-culture-absorbed-essay A classic one Romans used to absorb cultures slowly by taking aspects of their culture and integrating it, some were strong enough to persist after rome fell, some didn't. Search Engines favorite answer: Bantu Migrations https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv114c79k.8?seq=1 Lots of cultures were absorbed during this period. Let's just look at just one area I know well. England had the beakers which nobody remembers, druidism much of which was removed (people say celts, others gauls), the anglo-saxons which it is said peaceful changed the druidic culture over time, the normans changed it not so peacefully! The vikings which had an impact on many local areas, and we arrive at the combined english culture of which some of the old remains and some doesn't. I'm not going to touch China, because i'd do a poor job, which has had more historic cultural sites destroyed than anyone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_destroyed_heritage#China

Traditionally weak cultures are overtaken by neighboring cultures, either preceding the breakdown of the nation/group, its laws and social structure, else being absorbed into another culture. It would look like people who don't know who they are as a cultural identity, that have no reinforcing/defining elements to that identity present or accepted by that group of people.

Materialism has many flaws but it is part of the culture. A weak culture leads to a stagnating society and a breakdown in it. Often I'll comment on how to reform materialism -> recycling items -> minimalist living -> ? It isn't the only part of American culture, perhaps as an outsider looking in I see more than that? Certainly, you have Hollywood, Football, Lots of foods, dances, music, not as many museums or old historical landmarks. You have a great deal of native American influence, Spanish and Mexican influences, cuisine, dress, food, customs, languages, cars, historic industries etc. You also have several famous buildings. The alternative to a strong culture is social decay, disconnection, economic depression, crime, disorder and sometimes war (depending on who is in power).

I tell myself that now and again. It is difficult not to feel squeezed because the world is reforming all countries to gradually have a closer set of values, which for us turns the clocks back 60 years. You yourself have said evolution or development is both coming and breaking apart though.

Expand on this if you would. A strong culture is a necessity for a civilization to endure. There are plenty of problems in most cultures, but it being strongly present isn't one of them. How can you know this? I understand it's better to think it than the opposite, and that in itself can lead a path to a better outcome. Things don't always go in the right direction, especially with the shifting geopolitical scene. I still don't see authoritarianism stopping because China's influence continues to grow globally, just like many eastern nations. That's where the population is and so that's where the world is. I had high hopes India's influence would moderate or balance this out, but that has taken a huge knock in the wrong direction with their choice of solidifying their links with Russia. Even if publicly they try to toe a middle ground they're buying up every barrel of Russian oil (and more) that the western democracies leave behind. I can't predict exactly how long a trend will last, but I see anything from another decade to a hundred years more of regression before this is done, sure with peaks and dips, but generally speaking a move towards older values, and older ways of doing things. A good time for a break from incarnations again or a time skip.

It acts in a pure love state until it meets the first human acting extremely counter to that, which it cannot integrate, and then the ego comes back to protect it. This might apply to other states of being, but as I've only done ego death in a pure love state, this was my experience. Outside of pure love. The more you remove ego, the more readily you'll see parts of yourself you haven't integrated, and sometimes that is very painful to realise.

Most influences in this world are aligned with keeping the world separated and divided. I would say this is because those people are divided and separated, so it is a self-perpetuating cycle. You will hear it as a common thread through all discussions here, through all media, through all politics, through how language is structured. Most things start at language, which frames how we interact with and shape the world. If you want the single biggest lever to what you want to achieve here, look at the language. Look at your language. You can see Tony Robbins discuss it when he says to ask a better quality of question, for example, rather than why can't I do something, ask how can I do something. This basic adjustment changes the approach and the intended response. To achieve more of what you are looking to do. We must look at how we divide ourselves through language rather than come together. This not only starts us off in the right place but means we are correcting ourselves through use of language, which shapes, or forms thought and self-identity. What you've done here for example in the diagram/model is divide up what should be one. So you've started off with the division you want to heal. These arrows should be arriving at the same place or should be a combined arrow in the end, so all parts of human nature come together on any one issue.

You should be more concerned about the continued mobilization of Religion as a Political Tool. If that continues it will keep increasing in political significance. For anyone who says it already is, yes and it's getting more so in America. Using an assigned set of fixed, almost immovable morale values imposed over the population, will eventually cause greater and greater sources of civil disturbance from those who don't share these values. If the percentage of the country is large enough to reject them. The aim is to split the country on issues that don't affect those in power or cost them money. They have realized on many issues religion doesn't, so its safe to use as a dividing factor for the population's two-party system to argue about. It stops you all from focusing on things that might affect their power (money). Same with personality politics, scandals etc.

You are making a false equivalency. Nowhere in this discussion did anyone suggest anything like this was going on. This means the exaggeration doesn't help find the truth, it clouds the issue and means we will be (and are) discussing something completely unrelated to it. This one problem with personality politics, it rarely has much truth to it. Where did I say there was no room to criticize? I have been myself in a few posts. There is a huge difference between tolerating child abuse and disagreeing with a spiritual teacher's methods or manner, and if you are trying to argue otherwise, I don't know what to tell you. The advice of taking what helps you and leaving the rest, doesn't in any way negate criticism. It does however get you free of being hung up on seeing someone fail or fall because you disagree with their methods. I've seen countless people over all walks of life (including myself) insist others do things their way, and when they don't they take the mindset that everything about the teacher/politician/idea/subject etc is worthless, worse that they need to somehow take a fall. Life is rarely black and white like that unless you are using a gross exaggeration as you are.

You can always use hyperbole to make a point seem reasonable. It doesn't make it applicable in everyday life. People on mass are not going around listening to teachers who rape their students or tolerating it.

Couldn't agree more, i've thought about this time and time again, from politics to spirituality, to social issues. You have put it into a context of how I feel about much of life. People's need to see other's fall when they find disagreement, is reflected in all walks of life. Especially when there is no better alternative someone can point me to, its detrimental to the collective rather than helping it. I've been guilty of it myself in the past.

It's all about finding the balance between radical elements of social change driving it, and pulling it back with standards like this. It does overly limit the actions someone can take outside of the established social structure, but I've accepted the word cult is collectively being used as a pressure release for seeing change develop, and that's healthy. One more point emotional outbursts are healthy. Very healthy if you are paying attention. Part of teals work encourages them and not everyone is comfortable with that, and that's fine. I put myself fully into her work when I was doing it, and indeed this post knowing i'd learn something, and I did. That over three or four posts on different topics I have/had a problem with social suppression, more than it deserved. Part of stage green showing :D. Hopefully, this has corrected it in me to see it as more of a necessary dynamic. Gratitude.