UnbornTao

The truth is not about you! It may even go against - or in the "opposite" direction of - your self-agenda, desires, beliefs, expectations, and even the very existence of your self. Given that, avoid falling into the trap of self-importance. Consider the sentiment of 'being the center of the universe' as one of the self's main features.

Don't confuse having talked extensively about a subject with understanding it. These are two different domains.

Could you be using skepticism as a defense mechanism? What is good-quality skepticism?

Master your work. If you're going to do something, do it well. Otherwise, why do it at all?

Answers and beliefs undermine questioning.

In order to become aware of your conditioning, create contrast by changing your environment. For example, when people travel to a culture entirely different from their own, it becomes much easier--if they’re paying attention--to notice how their culture operates, and by extension, how they themselves think and behave.

The extent to which you recognize the truth and align yourself with it is the degree of your spiritual growth.

Seeking value undermines the search for what's true.

Which desktop OS do you use and why? What do you think of Windows 11? What about Linux and macOS?

Thinking is having a thought you've never had before. How often does that happen for you?

A few signs of intelligence seem to be: Being inquisitive rather than assumptive The ability to consider and integrate various perspectives Humor

I didn't mention touch features. OK. A HP Pavilion was the last 2-in-1 that I owned, more than four years ago. It was a mediocre experience at best but to be fair the device was pretty cheap. You're confusing the latest ones with the awful butterfly keyboard from 3-4 years ago. Now MacBooks use the Magic Keyboard again – the original, better technology you're referring to. It's a portable device, after all. Portability is key. If given the choice, everyone would want a thin and light laptop that doesn't compromise on function nor durability. I disagree. With Mac, you get a better package. They last better for longer. Furthermore, their resell value is higher. They can be sold probably for about 1/3 of the original cost after years of use. People are always interested in buying old Macs while PCs drop in value just after being purchased. Not many people are willing to spend a lot of money in old laptops, unless it's a Mac. So, depending on your needs, M1 Macbooks are a much better deal in the long term. What do you mean by compatibility issues? Yeah, at least give us that option! I suspect the same, let's see what they end up doing. Porting macOS to iPad is a possibility, although a remote one imo. iPad Pro is already extremely powerful even though the OS is still quite immature, lacking a lot of basic desktop functionality. Unnecessary hyperbole. They aren't a dictatorship. To tell you the truth, they seem quite green to me. If Apple isn't one of the few big green tech companies along with Google and Microsoft perhaps, then there aren't any. Funnily, it was founded by a hippie who was into spirituality and meditation. Of course, they're solid orange, too. Haven't their mobile processors been top-class for a decade or more? So what? Every company plays its cards. Microsoft could do the same, but they don't. I'm sure that the processor helped a bit. And yet they were still massively popular and loved by many. Android manufacturers have to lure customers in with additional features and brute specs while Apple doesn't need to. Refining the basics like privacy, optimization, consistency, simplicity, and brand reputation is their focus. They can afford that luxury. A benefit can be considered a drawback from another viewpoint, and viceversa: Apple's OSes are locked down, offering less choice than a PC depending on your needs. On the other hand, that factor might in some ways contribute to better security, privacy, consistency, etc. Windows backwards compatibility is excellent. And that legacy code is precisely a key impediment for Windows' substantial improvement, UI consistency, etc. Apple: "No phone, fancy box. $99."

Emotions are one of our most powerful drives in life, yet we tend to think that we are above them in a way - that our minds or intellects are somehow in control of them. Notice, for example, that most people tend to judge a communication mostly by the impressions it makes on them and by how these impressions make them feel. This is significant.

How you perceive reality might be causing a vast amount of your suffering. How do you see life and your self? What beliefs are you attached to?

Real skill is experientially-based. For example, being given instructions by a football coach is probably a positive first step, yet that, by itself, doesn't transform your skills. Intellectually understanding the assertions isn't enough. In such a case, you'd need to ground that understanding on your experience of the activity - into something you can actually put into practice. If you can't do what it is you think you already understand, you may be missing this principle. Now, try to apply it to the couple of skills you intend to master.

Making new, finer distinctions within your experience is what learning is about.

In that case then, I think his booklist plus contemplation are enough, yes. Also include the Actualized video catalogue, if you want.

What's true, especially what's existentially true, isn’t confined to any domain or paradigm of human knowledge, which are conceptual in nature. It isn't even limited to our faculties and senses. Why would we presuppose that the truth is accessible to such means in the first place? What is is already the case; it is not limited to the mind, language, or experience - not even to the brain or perception. Personal preference, criteria, and cosmology aren't relevant in this pursuit either - as if you could somehow fit the truth into a conception of existence. What's true is itself - prior to the conception of the human organism! For example, a thought about something is a thought about something. The thought isn't the thing, therefore no belief is or can be true. What are the implications of this fact?

What do you want it for? If you want to become a therapist, university is needed. If you want to learn about psychological topics, then read books and contemplate yourself things like emotions, mind, awareness, cognition, etc.

Effectiveness is a dynamic relationship defined by the purpose of the interaction and demands aligning yourself with what is happening as it occurs. For example, imagine you are eating ice cream, and your purpose at that moment is simply to enjoy yourself. In this case, you are being effective: your actions align with your purpose. But if your purpose at that same moment were a different one or were inconsistent with the activity of eating ice cream - say, improving your health or saving money, perhaps - then you wouldn't be effective in that regard. This is a rather lame example, but hopefully it gets the point across. This might sound obvious in theory, but in practice, recognizing, in one's experience, this principle as it is occurring can be surprisingly subtle and challenging. Most times, we aren't really aware of why we act the way we do, even though we think we are.

Have you ever seen how a cornered rat behaves? We generally despise having our fantasies destroyed; we want them to be validated and widely-adopted.

It is not the truth that hurts you, but rather your relationship to it - your unwillingness to acknowledge it.

Dwelling on what something means to you may obscure the possibility of realizing what it is for itself.

Wordpress, it seems, and Community Software by Invision Power for the forum. I think he designed the website himself and perhaps even coded it, too.

You're way over-intellectualizing it. Get clear on what you want, stop the mental masturbation, and go kick ass in music or whatever you like.