7thLetter

Pfizer After several forum threads questioning the vaccine, I finally decided to take my first dose. I wouldn't say I've done enough questioning and I haven't fully understood both pro & anti-vaxx perspectives, but I went ahead with it anyway and took it yesterday. Mainly because it's time to go back to work and vaccine passports are now required to enter certain businesses where I live. Soreness in the area that was injected. Fatigue, a 10 minute nap turned into a 5 hour sleep session. Chills. A bit of muscle & joint pain and that's about it. As I'm writing this it's been about 19 hours since I took the jab.

Should psychedelics be limited to certain age groups for consumption (or purchase if they were legal)? Of course in the US they have the legal drinking age at 21, or 19 years old here in Canada. Should this type of minimum age requirement be applied to psychedelic drugs? Or would you personally recommend psychedelic drugs to anyone at any age? Basically I'm just asking if there's a consensus when it comes to what ages should or should not take these drugs. Personally I was thinking of an age limit for each individual drug based on the potency of the drug. For example: LSD, Shrooms - Ages 19+ Peyote, MDMA, Salvia, 2C-B - Ages 21+ Ayahuasca, DMT, 5-MEO DMT, - Ages 25+ I've only done LSD & Shrooms so I might've done a poor job with these age limits. Maybe 5-MEO could even be age 30+? I write this thread because I often believe that younger ages are more susceptible to delusion or other serious side-effects with these drugs compared to those who are older, generally speaking. This is all hypothetical of course, but what are your recommended ages for these drugs? Do you believe there should be these limitations or do you think these drugs are fine for anyone like teenagers to take as well? We would assume that Leo's work attracts an older audience in their 30s, 40s, or older, but it seems to me that there are some teenagers or people in their early 20s in this community. And I was one of those people (still young today though), I found out about Leo when I was 19. Once Leo started talking about psychedelics that's when I started using them, around 20-21 years old. I sort of wished that I waited a bit until I was older to take them but I took them anyway. Not that it was a huge mistake or anything but I wouldn't say I was mature enough back then. I think this is a pretty important thread and I don't think anyone is talking about this.

@Leo Gura Any tips on how to find those popular and mainstream topics? Google Trends is the only tool that I know of and use.

Thanks, going to take this advice into consideration

Exactly, how about you ask others instead of assuming that they don't know? All I can tell you is what I know through an ego-death experience that I've had through LSD. Just imagine what it's like to exist, but you exist with no human senses. No thoughts, no feelings, no sense of touch, sight, sound, hearing, taste, smell. Lights off completely, and all that is left is your awareness. You exist but you don't exist as a human being, you exist as nothing. Your sense of self is completely non-existent. And since there's no human thoughts or feelings of suffering or needing anything, then what else could there be? People will say nothing, love, consciousness, infinity, or whatever else. But what I personally experienced through that recent experience of mine was just pure bliss. There was no memory or thought that physical life even existed, it all just disappeared as if it were just a dream that I had. How else can it be other than this? So, this is what I know. It's been a while since I've watched Leo's video on death, but I recommend that you watch it if you haven't. I believe he mentions in the video, the same exact thing that I just mentioned here.

Okay, so your position assumes that it's impossible to know what death is unless you physically die. And how do you know that it's not possible to know through higher states of consciousness or spiritual work? How do you know it's not possible through meditation? How do you know it's not possible through self-inquiry? How do you know it's not possible to know through asking existential questions? How do you know it's not possible to know through psychedelics? How do you know it's not possible to know?

How do you know that anyone here doesn't know?

Or is it... Life is the Devil Life is Hell Life is Separation Life is the source of all fear, suffering and evil Should have been obvious.....Life is the opposite of death

So this is what's happening in my city right now: https://www.citynews1130.com/2021/09/01/protest-blocking-traffic-vancouver-general-hospital/

This is just a thread to appreciate Leo's demeanor. It's clear to me that Leo is just very blunt and it seems to me that most people don't fully understand or recognize this about him. Being a member of the forum, I sometimes see people complain about how Leo is too serious in his videos and/or on the forums. I've also seen others talk about how Leo has a fragile ego saying things like, "He's quick to criticize others but he himself doesn't like being criticized." I was curious as to why this one person said this and the only thing Leo said to him was, "Your epistemology is sloppy." In response to this, from what I remember this individual was somewhat freaking out about it. Here's another clear example of Leo being blunt taken from a forum post: "Why you sleeping with such deluded girls? You enjoy torturing yourself? The correct move was to dump her as soon as you found out she was a fundamentalist Christian. This is a disease of the mind that you will never be able to cure." To me I find this to be hilarious, but it is quite blunt and I can see why some people might find this offensive. One guy on the thread responded to this suggesting that Leo might've just been projecting his own delusions. There's another instance where Leo's views on religion triggered someone to say that Leo is acting out of a place of ego but I won't get into it, you get the point. Again this is not a thread where I'm complaining about Leo, I'm simply just shedding some light on Leo's personality because some people don't really seem to understand this about him. This is just who he is, or who I believe he is at least. I actually resonate with this about Leo, this is what I find compelling about his demeanor & teachings. It's blunt, it's very forward and straight to the point. There's no sugar-coating, he just gives us the honest truth. What also motivated me to write this is because I can relate. I'm quite a blunt person as well, I give people the straight up truth without any sugar-coating and they end up getting all defensive and offended, which is irritating. They take it as an attack and then they start gaslighting, deflecting, diverting attention, etc. Over the past several years I've lived on this earth, no one really seems to truly understand the person that I am. This often just gives me a reason not to like other people to be honest. It's difficult when other people don't understand what I understand, they just have such surface-level thinking. Anyways, this is my opinion on Leo, do you agree or disagree? I truly find that his personality definitely suits the work that he does here and I wouldn't really want it to be any other way.

Objectively speaking, assuming that we all know the definition of the word "blunt" and how a blunt person behaves, I do view him as a blunt person based on how he sometimes is on the forum, and his videos too but not so much. I do somewhat agree that he doesn't appear to be a blunt person based on how he is in his videos but I wouldn't say he's "Sweet and soft-spoken" like you just described, that's why it was funny. Comparing him to an actual sweet and soft-spoken little girl, yeah no I wouldn't say Leo is that way. And I get it Nahm, from the posts of yours that I've read, you often seem to speak in a way that suggests you may be enlightened and all you see is the good in anyone and everything, but I'm not at that point yet I still live life in an objective physical dualistic reality. I'm just saying Leo appears to be blunt, straightforward, brutally honest, however you want to put it.

Haha

I'm not saying that I need to be understood, I'm just saying that I'm not and that I've never been understood. So I sort of would rather just be alone rather than deal with people who don't understand. True. Same here, but then watching Leo's videos over the past couple years changed everything for me

100% For the most part in first-world countries, vaccine mandates only restrict the unvaccinated from entering non-essential businesses such as restaurants, gyms, hotels, etc. Non-essential, yet the unvaccinated go on to complain about their freedom or how they're being forced or "my body my choice!" Nobody has to enter a restaurant, go eat at home. There's a reason why these businesses are deemed non-essential. We're lucky we're not a third-world country like the Philippines. I heard that the President in the Philippines threatens to jail those who refuse to get vaccinated, they're not even allowed to leave their house if that's their decision. Now THAT'S coercion. Yet everyone here in first-world countries cry about not being able to sit in a restaurant where they overcharge you for a piece of bread. And definitely, speaking up or protesting isn't really going to do anything. "OMG I'm going to fight for my freedom, we will not comply!" The government doesn't give a shit, the government understands the seriousness of this situation more than some random citizen on the streets. The government will do what they believe is necessary to handle the set of challenges that they've been given. Period. Anyone can try to twist it or create all sorts of conspiracy theories about their intentions all they want but at the end of the day that's all just speculation and the government is just doing its job. If people want to complain then they should just start their own country or move into outer space, maybe Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk will have a place to put them in the near-future. People are just so entitled and self-centered. They have no real solutions when you question them, all they have is their selfish opinions. I'm pretty sure working on our own health isn't going to help reduce the spread of the virus. And what about all the unhealthy overweight people who smoke? Should we just tell them to go work on their health and problem solved, pandemic over? Another thing I keep hearing from anti-vaxxers is, "The government doesn't care about our health, if they did then they would shut down McDonalds or ban smoking." How the hell does that have to do anything with the pandemic? "They keep promoting vaccines but they never promote healthy lifestyles like fitness or eating healthy." It's not exactly about our health per se, its about containing and mitigating the effects of a freaking virus. I often hear them talking about how they're "woke" and how more people have to "wake up." So maybe that's what it's about. They're trying to "wake" people up. These are the types of people who believe in conspiracy theories and start to believe they're all spiritual and woke. And then more people start to catch on and it looks like enlightenment gone mainstream, a bunch of people who hear cool ideas and are all of a sudden superior to others. At this pace if we keep spreading these same ideas we'll have a new religion. I just realized something, maybe this is how anarchy comes about. Keep opposing the government then maybe everyone will get what they've asked for, which will then turn into complete chaos.

@ZenSwift How's the book or the videos going now bud? I should just check up on your progress randomly to catch you off your guard

@BadHippie I think you're confusing me as a pro-vaxxer. My post was created to express uncertainty around the vaccine. I'm currently unvaccinated and I'm somewhere in the middle, but if the government is going to mandate it then fine I'll probably take it. But then you got all these people who are outraged with these vaccine passports which reinforces the doubts I have about the vaccine. And its funny you say this, because from what I've seen yes they actually DO force their views onto others. They do it directly and indirectly by creating protests, writing all over the Youtube comments, Instagram comments, and creating all sorts of anti-vaxx videos like "DOCTOR WITH PH.D GOES VIRAL ABOUT THE RISK OF VACCINATION!!!!" As someone who is neither pro or anti-vaxx, anti-vaxx views have been indirectly pushed onto me even more than pro-vaxx views. From what it seems, you're mainly talking about your own personal experience here because you're saying that they don't but I say they actually do. But I mean you did mention, "At least here in Germany" so fair enough. Plus anti-vaxxers always say "they keep pushing it they keep pushing it!" We're in a pandemic, of course the pro-vaxxers are going try to push the vaxx because that's how we're supposed to fight the virus right? If your experience tells me that anti-vaxxers don't push their views onto others then of course, it's because it doesn't benefit them for others not to take the vaccine. But for pro-vaxxers it does benefit them for others to take the vaccine, to beat the pandemic so we can get this over with, right? That's why they would push it. But even with this they become all stubborn and say things like "If your vaccine works why should I get it" "My body my choice!" And it becomes this back and forth that creates a complete shit show. You're telling me anti-vaxxers aren't pushing their views onto others yet they're engaging in anti vs pro-vaxx debates all over the internet. Anti-vaxxers disliking all the vaccine videos, filling the comments up with anti-vaxx views. And you also have all these conspiracy theorists trying to 'warn' everyone about the vaccine telling us it was created by Bill Gates and he wants to inject microchips in us, or it'll kill us in 3-5 years, or the government is using it for mind control, and on and on and on. My mind is filled with all these anti-vaxx views because I see them more often. With all their information that they've spread, at this point I probably could convince you that I'm anti-vaxx, but I'm not. And if you tell me you're not anti-vaxx you're just 'anti covid vaxx', I say that's honestly the same thing. People always say that one too, "I'm not anti-vaxx I'm anti just this one vaxx! Because um you know its different and idk why the government keeps pushing it on us" "I don't know what's in it, it was created to quickly" Edit: And I don't think the amount of anti covid vaxxers out there in the world right now wouldn't have been possible if they didn't push their views onto others. All those protesters out on the streets had to get their information from somewhere, where? Maybe they got their information from Facebook or the Youtube comments, a video, or from social media. I doubt they did their own research, they just hear things from other people and take it as truth, then this information spreads like wildfire. What about all the Bill Gates vaccine 5G conspiracy theorists, did they not push their views onto other people? Did they all individually coincidentally come to the same conclusion that Bill Gates wants to inject people with microchips and then later found out that other people came to the same conclusion so they created a Facebook group and started protesting?

My province in Canada just announced a vaccine passport mandate that requires us to show proof of vaccination to have access to certain non-essential services. People are so outraged by this I don't really understand why. The amount of vaccine hesitancy out there somewhat leaves me doubtful, but I might as well get it anyway to get this thing over with, I'll probably go with Moderna. The odd thing I've noticed though with anti-vaxxers is that they often talk down on the vaccine but they never really mention anything about the virus? Do they just believe that covid doesn't exist and the government is just pushing a vaccine onto us for no reason? Do they believe that any potential risks of the vaccine outweighs the risks of the virus? And why do they all say the same exact things? It's like one person spread his own beliefs to thousands or millions of other people like a religious cult. I always hear people ask, "Why was it created so quickly" "If your vaccine or mask works why do you care about others who haven't got a mask or vaccine" "Ivermectin, ivermectin, ivermectin!" "Why does the government push it onto us so much" "A pandemic with a virus so serious that you need to take a test to know if you got it." And blah blah blah. I'm tired of all this.

Just remembered another instance where I've been scammed, I once got scammed with a modified iPhone a couple years back. I got into phone flipping back in the day, buying phones below the market price and selling them for a profit. I was on Craigslist one day looking for good deals on iPhone 6's & iPhone 6S'. I found a rose gold iPhone 6S for about $400 (At the time I believe the average price for this one was around $500-$550). So I instantly messaged the guy to meet up & buy it. I knew it was a great deal, the ad said he was selling it for his GF who upgraded her phone. But of course if its too good to be true, maybe it actually is. I told the guy to meet me at an Apple Store before 7pm so I can have an Apple employee check it out, before they close the store. Which he agreed to do so. Everything seems fine at this point now since he agreed right? Wrong. He basically manipulated me into believing he was willing to meet with an Apple employee with his agreement, but he actually showed late up AFTER 7PM. 7pm is when the stored closed, so I believe he purposely showed up late so we didn't have to get the phone checked out. I was like whatever, so I inspected the phone on my own, everything seemed fine with it until I was about to test out the camera on the phone. At this point he grabbed the phone out of my hand, not in an aggressive way but in a way that made it seem like he was trying to be helpful. Grabbed the phone out of my hand, acted like he was just trying to show me how to reset the phone, then he actually reset it. And if you own an iPhone, you would know that if you reset the phone you can't really use the phone at this point until you set it up again. So, the phone was reset, I couldn't check the camera or anything else because the phone takes a few minutes to reset, it was stuck on the loading screen. He made it seem like he was in a rush, so I handed him the money and he walked away. I later found out that the phone's camera was replaced with a shitty camera, so then I had to get the camera replaced for $100. Everything else with the phone was fine though luckily, and I sold the phone later at break-even, or a $10 profit.

I'm only 25 and I'm starting to notice that my hair is starting to fall out when I'm in the shower, a lot more than usual. I'm also clearly starting to see my scalp in the mirror when its directly under a light. Is this just a phase or condition? Or is hair loss just common for men entering their mid-twenties? I try not to be rough on my hair when applying shampoo, and I switched to a natural shampoo not too long ago.. Could that be it? Maybe there was some sort of chemical in the unnatural shampoos that strengthened my hair and kept my hair in place. I've also been engaging in work that could be causing me stress and so I wonder if stress plays a role in it too. Thoughts?

Yes I did, on my face, back, & arms. Acne always seemed to appear after I consumed dairy products so ever since I found out about that I gave up on the dairy. I've been thinking about this lately, maybe this is it. Lately I've been taking zinc supplements along with my daily multi-vitamin, which might be quite excessive because the multi-vitamin contains 10 mg zinc and the zinc supplement contains about 30-50 mg zinc. Google says the recommended amount of zinc for men is only 11 mg. And I mention this because I read that excess amounts of zinc inhibits iron uptake.. So, I'm going to stick with the multi-vitamin only for now.

I've been doing videos for a while as a beginner, but I keep deleting them because I keep having brand new ideas for the type of videos I want to do. This time I have a brand new idea I want to get into for my Youtube channel, I've already recorded 3-4 audio files but as I'm sitting here listening to and editing them, its just a bit cringe. In the moment as I was recording these files, it seemed like the things I said were good but listening to them again I honestly can say they're just not that great. Am I falling into the trap of perfectionism? Should I just focus on quantity over quality in the beginning?

My current approach on generating views on Youtube is to get on Google Trends and search for trending keywords that are related to my video, to add into the title and description. For example I would search up a specific topic like "Money", then Google Trends allows you to narrow the search results down to a specific country or worldwide, specify the timeframe, and select whether you're looking for popular search terms on Google or Youtube, so we select Youtube of course. Then it shows you search terms that are trending on Youtube related to your topic, so I add those keywords into my title & description. This worked for me with other random videos that I uploaded, it got me a couple thousand views on them. Anyone have any other tips on generating views on Youtube? Maybe specifically tips for a channel that isn't too flashy or too clickbait-worthy?

I'm not going to say I don't talk to anyone at all, I still live with my parents & siblings who I interact with, but I don't socialize with anyone else outside of that. I've had friends but I'm quick to let friendships go if I feel that they're disrespecting me in a toxic way, I have a low tolerance for people's bs. I'd rather have no friends than have bad company around. I think what it is, is that I've already built that comfort of being alone during elementary & highschool. Naturally I've always gravitated towards hanging out by myself during lunch time, so being alone isn't anything new to me. And I've certainly had many friendships, I'm not someone who can't make friends. I've had a handful of great friendships and a handful of toxic friendships. I've dealt with so many people's BS that I'd rather not deal with it again so there's no need for me to befriend the next person I meet. I've created new standards for myself for who I choose to spend my time with. In your situation, the simplest thing for me to say is to move out or cut them off. I don't know if you have to interact with them because they live with you or they work with you but that's what I would do. When we grow as individuals, we create new standards for ourselves which lead us to automatically reject certain things that don't meet those standards. This applies to relationships, this applies to the information we take in, it applies to food that we eat whether its good for our diet or not, and so on and so on. Create some new standards for yourself.

I literally just messaged you this but I'm going to post it here too. It seems to me that you’ve already identified the obstacles that lead you to feeling stuck and what you need to do to get past the hesitation. As simple as it sounds, all it takes is for us to create or do more, which builds confidence. That’s pretty much all we need to do, there’s no way around it. Action leads to confidence, which leads to momentum, which leads to results. That thread of mine that you referenced, was posted a couple days ago. I got some encouraging words from people there and I sort of don’t feel that way anymore. I’m just going to create and release my content no matter what. In the beginning we don’t need our content to be perfect. This is just the perfectionist trap that we fall into, telling us that everything has to be perfect. If its only our first few videos, what’s the point of spending so much time trying to perfect something that will most likely only get 10 views? Lol You’ve already mentioned that you know this in your thread, start small and your videos, your skills, insights, presentation, will improve over time as you consistently create & release content. Its a bit more difficult if you’re literally just starting out or somewhat just starting out and haven’t done enough of those “small bets,” but all it really takes is more action to get past all of this. Me personally, I’ve already been releasing random content over the years which helped me become a bit more comfortable with doing videos. And now I’ve finally decided to pick a specific niche to stick to. This applies to anything and everything else in life, not only content creation. It applies to fitness, if there’s hesitation, you go to the gym, lift weights and do cardio. Hesitation around your first time driving? Well the solution is to go and drive a car. Getting dates as a man, hesitation? The solution is to talk to more women. The first girl you talk to, you don’t have to perfect all your pickup lines and everything. Allow some space for failure and improvement, because the first time usually isn’t perfect anyway. Overthinking it will lead to more hesitation and a higher chance of messing it up. I could go on and on with these examples but you get the point.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and advice, I'm going to continue with the recordings. If I find a specific part to be cringe, Audacity makes it easy to cut that part and re-do it.