Carl-Richard

I just found one of them, but holy crap, the music video is revolting. It's the descending melody in the chorus that I like (like at 0:53)

@thisintegrated I never actively listen to lyrics. Never approached music that way (except for some rap songs). If I ever understand what the song is about, it's on accident

I love understanding the historical contexts of musical genres and pinning songs against them For example, I like to think of Tool as the King Crimson of the Grunge era (the Nirvana age). There is some obvious 90s Rush in there as well (there is one part in the song "Animate" from Counterparts that sounds so much like Tool, it's impossible to miss it).

I've thought about this a lot too. I don't know what I'll do when I surrender completely. I'm just doing whatever I can to get there, and it seems to involve me becoming the best version of myself in a worldly sense, which means maturing my intellectual side, interpersonal, professional etc. You'll only let go once you see no other alternative, and I'm going to exhaust those alternatives. I think there is a chance I'll probably get tangled up in my work due to petty humans things, like wanting to preserve my identity as an academic, maintain relationships with colleagues, being immersed in the latest research etc. So I might never choose to pursue awakening again, but also considering how much my mind has changed the last 2 years and how it's not all pleasant, I might start meditating again regardless. Other than that, before I get to that point, I think my main obstacle is my level of openness vs. conscientiousness. Jordan Peterson once said that conscientiousness is the main predictor of success in grad school, and that openness can even be detrimental (your ideas are way too out there). I know that I've always been a conscientious person (I got it from my mother), but it was repressed in my earlier days due to trauma and emotional problems. I just need to work a bit on that, and I've made a much tighter schedule for myself these last two semesters before I start my masters.

I'm only arguing against complete abstinence and Stage Blue style emotional repression. All the so-called benefits of nofap are achievable by just fapping moderately. You should fap just as much as you need to fap; not more, not less.

Not necessarily. The effects of emotional repression can be severe. You're conditioning yourself to act a certain way in response to a stimulus, and this creates lasting changes that may only be reversed through a lot of effort and rehabilitation. Also just generally, the act of ignoring the meaningful content behind a feeling is inherently neurotic and will bleed over to other aspects of your psychology. Your body is intelligent and knows exactly what it needs, and it tells you this through feelings. You just need to be able to distinguish between mental compulsions and organic stimuli (what you want vs. what you need). It's easy to know when you're fapping because of true horniness or because of habit, but less so if you're used to repressing all the feelings related to it.

@Raze That's a lot of videos

I just think it's a weird way to motivate yourself when most people report a dip after 2 weeks. It also fits with my personal experience.

No

Hahaha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography#History

You don't notice a dip in sexual urges after 2 weeks?

Ok. Try this: notice if you feel more or less uptight when talking to women while being on 2+ weeks of nofap vs. having masturbated the day before (granted you're regularly masturbating, not straight after ending a month-long streak). Your hand is an auto-regulation mechanism

Jerking off and porn has existed since the dawn of time. The information age is just an amplifier, which is a more general problem that needs to be addressed (e.g. through ways of increasing general resilience like physical exercise, spirituality, meaning etc.). However, completely shutting down your sexuality is not the answer. Internet porn is not the only source of hyper-salient stimuli in your life. You're fixating on sexuality for some other reason (unless you're actually living in a cave).

That is what a wet dream is. Why are you afraid of your feelings?

Just do it ?

Incel dogma.

I'm going to do a masters with emphasis on neuroscience research, then research. If that doesn't work out, probably clinical psychologist.

"Don't go to the toilet. It's such a waste. Real men retain their shit."

He is saying he wants both. He doesn't just want to have sex.

As I said, the last few moments have been easier. The endgame is that I get my degree, apply my skills, get a long-term partner and stop trying to prove myself for my parents. At that point, I might take up spirituality again. If the fear still persists, then I've got more work to do. I guess there is such a thing as too resilient for your own good.

Yes. Everything counts: sub-optimal posture, shallow breathing, tensing up my stomach, distractions. It's the main reason I'm on the forum so much. It takes a lot to maintain an ego.

I choose to eat differently in order to lower my baseline consciousness.

She wants him to stop watching porn because of her psychic whatever feelings and I guess jealousy. She is the one withholding sex. The guy is fine with having more sex. He just doesn't want to give up his porn.

I sort of wish it was like that. For the last 2 years, all up until the last few months, I've spent every waking moment of my life trying to reconstruct my old sense of self, because when the oppurtunity presented itself, I realized I was not ready to finally let myself go, but also in giving up on that mission of enlightenment, it ironically enough started forcing itself onto me. I could just be relaxing and doing nothing for a few seconds and I would automatically burst into an awakening experience, and I fear it so much. I gave up my daily meditation habit, my perfect health and diet, even my passion for music (because that also throws me into a meditative state), and I tried everything I could to get back. I'm sort of there now, and it sucks, but it feels much better than perpetually dying. But yes, the potential for a radical and permanent shift in consciousness is there, if only you're ready for it. I'm certainly the fuck not.

He said it's easier than having sex, not that he generally prefers it over sex. It's not like he is thinking during sex "I wish I could just masturbate instead". To treat masturbation as distinct from sexuality is ridiculous. I cba with this forum sometimes with how people constantly have to redefine common concepts to make a point. Like, just talk like a normal person Porn is not cheating. Porn is not going to steal your boyfriend or make him lose his loyalty to you. Worst case scenario, he will take longer to cum, which is a win-win. If you have more sex, then maybe he'll watch less porn as well. However, if you're going to withhold sex from him because he watches porn and then complain about not having enough sex, then that is your problem.