UnbornTao

Some supplements have side effects. High doses of Vitamin D have caused me irritability and insomnia if taken late in the day. Expect the occasional unpleasant effect at times. Having said that, I'm not a doctor, just a guy on the internet. Try krill oil.

How Not To Depend On Teachers - Part II. No idea.

@Vibes

PSG and City have spent billions in the last decade with an overall net negative outcome and very little profit. And yet each season they barely reach the final, although they have been close to winning it on some occasions. If Barça is included, add Madrid too. They consistently compete well in Europe while Barca has been a disappointment for the last 5 years or so. With a modest budget compared to City, PSG and more recently, Chelsea, Real has managed to win five champions league titles in the last decade. Not bad. Madrid can go after Haaland and/or Mbappé in 2024. I don't think it will happen this year.

Ramana was one of the best teachers.

About being God, what is that about? Infinite mind? I consider mind to be relative but I know it's possible you're using the term differently than I am. Could it be Consciousness, or better be called that? Not that I know (have become conscious of) what I'm talking about.

Let's leave the discussion open without personal attacks.

Mbappé can play as a center striker like Benzema. Vinicius, Mbappé and Rodrygo. Veteran players can't play 60 games each season. Tchouameni and Valverde are there but the coach trusts Modric and Kroos more, even when they're tired and the team needs faster, stronger players. Camavinga could have played as a centerback, his natural position, not as a left back.

I try not to talk in terms of belief systems. I am not sure where you are coming from. I haven't looked into mind yet but I hold it as relative, otherwise it'd be better not to call it infinite. If it's infinite, it's neither mind nor thinking.

Plus a younger version of Ronaldo. Camavinga stopped him at the Bernabéu, though. But agree, what a player.

just a heads up to acknowledge this as entertainment.

Which is why a defensive 4-4-2 line-up would've been a better option, imo. City simply crushed Real. Real players were still napping in that match.

Not at the Bernabéu, though. Benzema was absent in both legs. I'd have started with a 4-2-2 formation: Alaba, Rugider, and Militao, Camavinga as centerback and Valverde in place of Rodrygo. Madrid needs players like Mbappé, Bellingham and Davies.

You can't think God.

Do the real work without considering these debates as more than fun discussions and hearsay.

The way you talk about this makes me think you still don't feel like you can own your emotions, and as a result might think of external factors as the cause, agent or source of emotion. Based on that perspective, emotions then seem to "come up" and you have no power in the matter. This is a disempowering viewpoint. Reactive, instinctual feelings are tricky. In your example of a plane crash, I imagine that it'd still be possible for someone who's mastered emotions to be calm or to feel less fear, without acting it out. A Zen master may be able to remain calm in some of those situations, for example. Again, practice generating enthusiasm now just because. Contrast that experience with your enthusiasm when it is seemingly catalyzed by circumstance. Notice it's the same experience. It can be generated without daydreaming or other forms of images. We might not have mastered this skill yet but it shows the creative aspect any individual has on her feelings and emotional state, and ultimately their experience. On another note, external event isn't fixed or even objective as you will relate whatever's perceived to your self, personality, story, needs, wants, etc. Make finer distinctions within the experience of emotion: interpretation, meaning, projection, self-referencing, etc. These are all things you do, even if unconsciously. They are activities done by you prior to the result called "emotion". See? We just don't grasp it yet. I'm pointing out that, instead of being victimized by circumstances, owning your experience (hence emotions and feelings) is an empowering shift one can make. To be clear I'm not in favor of ignoring emotions. What you have sounds like it works for you. I find it useful too.

It's useful for us to get clear on what goals any given practice has. A couple of useful distinctions to make: Meditation is setting out to manipulate your state in order to heal or control the mind. Contemplation, on the other hand, is going after insight and real experiential understanding of the subject being contemplated. It is questioning with the intent to discover what's true about its nature and workings. It's not limited to a technique or posture. The difficulty of this practice lies in its simplicity.

Are you saying that, since emotion has a purpose "outside" of yourself and seems to be precipitated by circumstance, that the "thing" responsible for its generation is then an external factor? That it has a purpose doesn't mean it is generated by circumstances. We do hold emotions that way, generally speaking. If something positive happens to you, you may feel happy. If nothing happens at all and yet you're still happy, others might as well wonder what drug you're on. We use circumstances as an excuse to producing emotions, labeling that as "real" emotion; without the pretext, we assume the emotion has to be fake. Since you are responsible for generating them, circumstances aren't needed in order to generate emotions. And yet they fulfill their purpose. For example: Why does one get angry? After looking into it, we might discover that anger is based on hurt and that it is a manipulation on our part to cover up the hurt. Hurt is also an activity you're doing. We're just ignorant of how that is so, and our job should be to grasp what we're doing.

The guy might have some traumas related to trusting others.

Experience emotion as an activity you're doing. Pay attention to components of that activity as you're feeling any emotion: perception, interpretation, meaning, extrapolation. These you do, they don't just fall on your ass. I may move my body in order to reach my coffee mug. The action is motivated by me wanting to reach the mug, so it is directed towards that. Emotions have a purpose, you're the one who starts and leads the motion. When you say "they're directed at something" what I hear is "'I'm at the effect of emotions rather than being their source".

We might not know what life is, so basing questions on presumptions is not a good way to go about it. Self-survival is inherently a struggle. Pain and fear are extremely accesible experiences -- as are freedom and happiness, but also less common for people to access. Self-survival demands managing what's considered negative, positive quickly fades, taken for granted and so may go unnoticed. And of course the bitch of it all is that we can't win the game of life. Ultimately self is going to die. But joy is possible too. Simplistic answers don't provide much except a new idea or opinion. Better to look at what all of this is for oneself.

@Osaid thank you, gonna add some to my next cup.

Yes, enlightenment is possible for everyone. If we postulate that the only requisite is to be human, given that other humans have done it, you can, too. Whoever says you can't is full of crap.

Adopting a loving an open disposition towards others is actually one of the hardest things to do in life, contrary to what most people may think.