UnbornTao

Any answer would be worthless. You can definitely contemplate and dialogue, that is encouraged.

147 hours played later: [a nerdy explanation of every aspect of the lore, plot, and characters.]

@Breakingthewall You are missing the point of koans. They're not meant to be answered but rather to precipitate breakthroughs. You seem to be filled to the brim with "knowing" and might as well leave some space for contemplation.

I've never been particularly interested in Souls-like games or medieval themes in general, but I'm going to give Skyrim and Elden Ring a try. They seem fun.

@gettoefl Now, what's true? Not what's concluded, wished for, assumed, experienced. What works is a different pursuit.

Nice. Probably one the best laptops out there.

@gettoefl Getting philosophical doesn't make it real for oneself. Tell the truth about what you experience, it's fine. Acknowledging we have no idea is more productive, and from that investigation can occur.

I have no idea how I would start making this decision. Visiting a bunch of cities first, perhaps. Austin sounds like a good place, though.

Why adopt such a disposition? It's just what's true now, no negative or positive.

Truth is what is now, about any matter--unveiling it is the goal. You may be overlooking that freedom and bliss often come about as side effects of increased consciousness. Pursuing them by themselves hinders an open investigation, which is essential in this work. It is easy to fool oneself--what you might be after is a better experience or an ideal. Also, one can't free himself from something he's not conscious of, ergo what's true about it. Using an extremely inaccurate metaphor, you are asking for intimacy and emotional closeness while foregoing communication. It seems the former can't occur without the latter.

Humanity in a nutshell.

It's self-consciousness, not awareness, what you seem to be describing.

Clarify the purpose of your actions. Why am I doing this? What is its function, and is it meeting it? How much of what you do at any given time is on purpose, and how often does it fail to align with that purpose? Notice the discrepancies between the two.

Politics

What's meant is that what you are is and "has always been" the case now; what's required is unveiling that.

Even dismissing the possibility of actual knowing is based on conjecture rather than personal experience. So maybe it is possible. That possibility is the basis of any inquiry.

Another way of saying "I don't know". Good state to question one's self.

No. Who's the you that's claimed to be the source of existence? If it is your self, ay ay ay!

@Sugarcoat You are still considering suffering to be created by a source external to you. This disposition is the one that's worth challenging. "Yes, I am creating it. It isn't just that I'm participating in it, but rather that I'm actively doing suffering now." To be clear, I'm not referring to the pain of losing a leg or something along these lines, but conceptual-emotional suffering. For example, fear is implicitly suffered--it is enduring an unwanted experience. Yet it is produced by our imagining of the future, among other things. If we weren't imagining a future, fear could not occur. Easier said than done, of course. We obviously live as if self were an immutable reality. Where is it found, though? And can one get to a point where she recognizes that it doesn't exist on its own? Seems to be the result of an active process, hence if that process is stopped, we could postulate that self would be largely transcended. We could, for entertainment's sake, contrast the invention of language with that of self. There's valuable observations to be made with this exercise. Tricky and fascinating subject. And more profound than we think.

Cheer up. I never heard Newton complain

Again I don't get why any belief system would provide any consciousness into the nature of the self that is asking the question. In fact, it is an intellectual indulgence and a distraction.

Do both!