UnbornTao

For example, one's self-history might be false (crafted for a purpose). Even prior to the mere recollection of presumed facts, there already exists a bias of what to remember and how. Rarely is it an accurate remembrance of an event. A lot is subjective: charge, meaning, self-concept, preference. So, how accurate is our memory and what purpose is it serving? Something to look into.

Was looking to download the mp3's on the site.

There isn't a recipe, and everyone struggles and learns on the go. You can live as you want. That said, there are consequences for your actions, including your thinking. This is where life principles come into play. If you want, discover, grasp and then operate from principles that empower vitality, presence, learning, transformation, healing, etc. A couple of them are honesty and integrity, among many others. When a given principle is experientially understood, they serve something that isn't exclusively your self-agenda and little world, hence their power. If you want any of the above such as vitality and learning, you'll have to align with the "reality" that these principles demand of you. I would add: instead of seeing life as a problem that needs resolution, think of it as an adventure and enjoy it as a learning process, and then die in the end.

"Is it honest? How true is it?"

All of them? You're gonna get your PhD in (the theory of) waking up

Contrast that life approach (problem solving) to creating what you want. Take a look at Robert Fritz's work.

Where Unborn?

Cute.

He sounds overly intellectual and stuck in that domain, a warning sign regarding matters of consciousness. Not sure he knows his nature or if he's coming from an authentic experience. Talks and writes a lot, is smart, and can be convincing to some. If stages, maps, and models don't help increase consciousness at all, why place so much emphasis on fitting what existence is and what it all means into a form that can be "known"? David Hawkins and Jed McKenna's work seem much more grounded and experiential. That said, if you're interested, give it a try. Pick up one of Ken's introductory books and decide for yourself.

Direct experience is different from what is conventionally known as experience. What you describe—seeing someone, encountering something, going through an emotion, perceiving an object, or gaining “experience”—is the conventional notion of experience. Direct experience, though a misnomer when combined with “experience” (since all experience is indirect), refers to the most basic and raw encounter you can have with something through your senses, before any conceptual overlay is added. For example, a direct experience of an object, such as an apple, involves experiencing the apple for itself. Within your experience of "apple", try to separate what is conceptually added from what is simply "there." This distinction is fundamental: an experience about the apple vs the apple itself. Value, meaning, association, past history, and preferences are about the object and how it relates to you. Once we sort this out, we can wonder: what's there for itself? In addition to that: What is memory, and what is its purpose to begin with?

Speculation aside, I'd say first look into the nature of life. An explanation is not the goal but a direct knowledge. We don't know what this is and each of us has to personally sort it out by having direct experiences.

"What do I find threatening to my worldview about other people's legal, respectful and consenting sex lives?"

Pursuit of Wonder guy, perhaps. There're a few popular YT channels on these topics but they need to be searched for, similar to the one above, perhaps.

I think you might be misunderstanding things and tackling matters superficially. Coincidences and anecdotes aside, you can openly look into things, questioning what they are. Being grounded serves this.

Aren't there two of these threads? Can they be merged?

@Keryo Koffa "I missed the part where that's my problem."

Like Plato defining a human being as a featherless biped. Diogenes plucked a chicken, brought it to Plato's Academy, and exclaimed, "Here is Plato's human!" In response, Plato and his followers modified the definition to include "with broad nails."

At this point, we might as well ask what are self, self-concept, identify?

Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?

Not practically possible, unless you had the requisite basic survival skills. Without any human interaction at all, eventually, like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, you might end up befriending a soccer ball. It'd be like experiencing radical solitary confinement in the long term. I suspect that, at some point, we all would miss human interaction to a greater or lesser degree, even if we consider ourselves "loners".

Notice that your state changes when you openly listen to this video.

yep

You know who else? Ken Wilber

Everything you do is a manipulation.