RisingLane

That’s what I love about it. The Orphan of Kos is absolutely insane! The trick weapons are awesome. I missed them in the other Souls games.

No one describes the ego and the self-conscious mechanism quite like Bernadette Roberts. Her book "What is Self?" is an impressive achievement. She believed in free will, and she was a monotheist, but aside from that, her explanation of the self-conscious mechanism is unmatched. As a contemplative, she studied the interior movements closely and described them with precision. Check out this interview with her.

That would be the Godhead, right? The Godhead is What Is.

Has anyone played Beyond Good & Evil? It’s from the same designer as Rayman.

Roberts says the center is what’s left when the ego disappears, explaining it in the video above using circles. I’m not sure a desireless ego can exist. She believes the ego comes alive the moment we want something, and that it can’t truly accept. Only the egoless center remains unmoved.

Bloodborne was the first Souls game I ever played, and it holds a special place for me. I never enjoyed the Dark Souls games as much as I did Bloodborne—it's just so unique.

At least someone gets what it’s all about.

Fascinating! But isn’t God supposed to be omniscient? How could God not know about this place? And why does she insist that “I am God” is nonsense? She even had an “I am God” experience herself, which seemed to have really frightened her.

Her 13-step path is fascinating. Even after reading The Real Christ—her most challenging book—I still don’t fully grasp what she means by Christ. She never outright says “You are God” like Leo does, though she comes close. She seems to emphasize an eternal union with God without identifying as God. I’m not sure if she stopped short because of her Christian faith, or if Leo’s take is simply wrong.

@ZenSwift That’s so funny! 🤣

Interesting. It’s probably her most accessible and entertaining book.

Many fans of "The Experience of No-Self" don’t seem to enjoy "What is Self?" as much, finding it too technical, yet that book contains so many beautiful passages with clear and insightful descriptions of ego and self. For example: "The term 'ego' articulates a specific experience. Its best articulation might be this: the ego is what we feel when self-will is crossed, blocked or otherwise thwarted. It is the psychological pain that underlies all tantrum behaviors—anger, hitting back, revenge, anxiety and much more. It is the cause of true psychological and spiritual suffering and always symptomatic of an imbalanced, immature psyche. The ego is the interior movement we experience when we do not get what we want; it is also the experience of near uncontainable highs when we do get what we want. Obviously the ego is the experience of extremes—extreme feelings, that is—and for this reason it easily imbalances the whole psyche or consciousness. The ego is first and foremost the feeling-self—it is not, primarily at least, the knowing-self. Merely to know something exists—an object, a virtue, something good or bad—does not mean that we want it for ourselves. The ego springs alive only when we want something for ourselves and are determined to get it, possess it. This affirms that the ego is the experience of self-will, a will turned solely on itself that seeks its own fulfillment and benefit. When frustrated this egoic power or energy has given rise to all the evils in the world, yet the same ego in pursuit of goodness can give rise to great good in the world. Thus the ego is a particular self-energy or power that can go either way—negatively toward what is not good for self, positively toward what is good for self. If we believe that the divine is our highest good, then the ego (self-energy or self-will) goes in pursuit of the divine, and this pursuit is the ego's true, proper, developmental direction. The ego is, therefore, basically good; it is only bad when it goes against its own highest good."

Leo always said that documenting his transformation was part of his journey. I hope he considers bringing back the couch vlogs.

I believe there’s a transcendent aspect to God, as God is both immanent and transcendent. I agree that the body and mind must go through a process of transformation.

Isn’t that best achieved by loving God first? That’s all the quote I shared was suggesting.

That’s easier said than done. I’m going to focus on loving God first, as the Roberts quote suggests. When love for my neighbor comes, it will happen naturally. I believe David Hawkins said something similar: “Don’t try to love everybody. It will happen when it’s meant to happen.”

Good for you. I can’t say the same, to be honest.

So much for love of neighbor.

I ask myself the same question.

Here’s Bernadette Roberts’ perspective on this: "We go deeper when we strive to follow Christ by living his first commandment — love God above all things, above all people, above nature and, above all, love God above ourselves. Unfortunately many people settle for the second commandment — love your neighbor as yourself — which in and of itself goes round in circles and has no need of God at all. Self-love is incapable of true love of neighbor; it may even be bad for him. Furthermore, self-love can never reach Christ's ultimate challenge of loving our enemies or those who do bad things to us. We cannot begin to understand the second commandment until we have come to the unitive state and thereby mastered the first commandment. The unitive state gives us the ability to see God in others with the same eye by which we see God in ourselves; thus what we love in others is the same God we love in ourselves. This love bypasses the whole phenomenal self or the person that appears, be he good, bad or indifferent. So before we can truly follow the second commandment, we must first have mastered the first commandment which means that true love of neighbor is impossible until we first love God above our neighbor and our self."

Yeah, it’s bad. I was hoping to be one of the rare few who’d actually love this movie, but nope.

Not too surprised that Cameron experimented with psychedelics. I have never heard him discuss it anywhere else. Fascinating interview.

The only thing I miss is the couch vlogs.

Great season finale.

In a few years, devs will be too lazy to make games. They will just sit and watch AI make the game for them: