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I want to know if this new exercise routine that I invented, if it’s potentially dangerous? I have a timer on my computer that every hour will tell me to exercise, so I’ll get up and do five pistol squats, each leg full body weight and then I’ll go back to doing work for an hour until the next notification and then I’ll do again very heavy pistol squats five each leg. I’ve never heard of anyone talk about doing heavy weight right after an hour of being sedentary all day. So I’ll do this for maybe 10 hours straight. Thats about 100 pistol squats a day. The benefits I found is that whenever I do the activity, my blood pumps and I get a shot of metal clarity and mood boost over and over again. I just don’t know if this kind of routine is potentially dangerous?

Interesting, thanks for sharing! Are you generally sensitive with sleep or was this routine unusually overstimulating? Also, how close to sleep do you finish your last set? I've been curious about this sort of routine for the last 10ish years, but I didn't have the time, energy levels, or persistence for it back then. I have actually heard of people doing this type of thing for pistol squats or other callisthenics, but also sometimes for kettlebell and other weight lifting exercises, though it's usually more like 3-6 sets spread out throughout the day. I've heard that it's a good way to build strength very quickly because you rarely get fatigued enough to have to take whole days off for muscle recovery and DOMs, though I imagine long-term fatigue must build up anyway, just at a slower rate.

Pistol squats are easy it's just technique and balance that's difficult about them, once you got those down they are easy. But due to technique and balance factors it also makes them fairly ineffective, you could train the same muscles with couple of much simpler exercises, what are you training to be an athlete or to flex calisthenic tricks in front of your friends LOL If you gonna exercise you should exercise effectively. Not just do random stuff

Pistol squats arent easy. If you cant do like 20 in a row then doing 5 every waking hour on every day seems like overtraining. Whats your goal with it? I get like an afterglow the whole day when I exercised in the morning, I dont have to do it all day.

@integral It's not dangerous, don't worry. It can be healthy if you're untrained, because you'll put on some muscle (it will eventually get easy, unless you add weight to the pistols). It's not dangerous because you can only overload pistol squats so much, between them being one-legged and unbalanced. So it's hard to get hurt (if your knees hurt stop though). You can do 5 pull ups or 10 push ups if pistol squats give you problems, I guess. Until they don't, you're good though. And they may never give you problems, even if you were to do this for 30 years.

30 pull ups yesterday 50 pull ups today. I also did 50 elevated slow push ups yesterday and my routine workout. I dislike Abs exercises but they are important too. I do flying squats. I can do 40 flying squats in a row. I can do 2 pistol squats. I see progress. I get lazy sometimes and want to skip working out. I can motivate myself to do it anyway with bad feelings and half ass way. I'm also lacking discipline for my work and not putting nearly enough efforts. I'm struggling and not feeling good overall. Lacking vision probably. Getting cynical lately. I contemplated today for 1 hour. But I feel like I use contemplation for scapegoating real problems. I know what I should be doing. But not feeling to do it. Feel tired, unmotivated and stressed. Maybe I should meditate and do affirmations to get into positive state of mind. I'm skipping today's workout. I did pull ups in the afternoon. I'll binge watch GOT and then wake up in the morning feeling bad about yesterday and do bad at work and cycle repeats.

Backup secret mini pistol

Kaizen is a principle of gradual improvements over time leading to massive change. The idea is that small improvements are preferable to larger, more unmanageable changes that shock homeostasis and cause you to relapse. Over the past few days I've quit weed, Caffeine and pornography. I've even been to a narcotics anonymous meeting, which was incredible. Of course, doing this all at once is huge, and flies against this Kaizen principle. however, I believe that the stress of recent events will propel me forward and keep me righteous. My low self worth has always been an issue, punctuated by brief periods of self-love, but always hovering around the 'I'm a failure, I'm a bad person, I'm selfish' paradigms. The recent verbal assault by Lucie had sent me crashing down lower than ever. She called me many things. Narcissist, manipulator, liar, weird. Of course she was angry but I have to take stock. For whatever reason I have certain traits that are anti social. I believe many of them are either caused by or exasperated by the drugs. The only thing to be done, was to change. So here I am. Further up in this journal there are posts written during a previous attempt at sobriety. I'm glad to be back there again. I feel bored, slightly depressed and I still feel pretty shitty as a person, but today my new friend from NA, Pat, told me he was proud of me for attending my first meeting. I feel very hopeful that this is it for me. I cannot go back. I feel overwhelmed, out of sorts, afraid and shameful, but I am sober. I don't know what led me to a place where I shared intimate details about my ex at a place where people knew her. I'm not sure I thought it through at all. It was just me acting like me. Nothing new, just the same old perverted sense of humor, just the same old desire to make people laugh and be the clown. I've been like this since I was a teenager. When I think back, it's been causing me problems my whole adult life. The jobs I've been fired from, the people I've offended, the reputation I've achieved as being perverted, or weird. Being called 'weird Alex' at work behind my back is so awful for me that it can barely be processed. It's impact is being reduced by everything else that's happened, but it's a disaster. I have had amazing periods of growth pending these awful life events, so I'm looking forward to developing a new mindset, a new kind of maturity, a new way of living and hopefully in time, real financial freedom. The draw back to homeostasis will come, once the dust settles, but my determination will be waiting there at dawn, pistol in holster, ready to throw down. Right now the shock of recent events are keeping me true, but a storm of desire is coming, there can be no doubt. My resolution will be tested over and over again. I will keep going to meetings. I will keep riding out the cravings. I will keep praying for forgiveness and mercy. Lucie has an image of me right now that I believe to be distorted, to some degree. I am not the devil she thinks I am. But I have been thoughtless, immature, selfish, insensitive, unwise and disrespectful. Now my mission is to grow and become a better person, through service, coming outside of myself, daily practices, abstinence, faith and self-love. Here's to a new day. I'm sorry Lucie. I let you down. I let myself down. I wish I could have the time to really tell you what's going on, to try and help you understand why I am how I am, but I've wounded you too deeply, and now I can never show you. But I will show myself. I've been doing that for the past five days, and I pray for the strength to continue. Today, I am proud of me. I am enough.

Btw Leo described "Holding a pistol in your mouth" wondering if to pull the trigger Idk the background/history/truth Dude, I literally wish I had the gut to summon the will to pick up a pistol and put it in my mouth. I've sliced my wrists to pieces with knives once so I don't know how similar that would be but dude, I'd slam all my finger power down on that trigger dude. It wouldn't even get in my hands nor my mouth cos im a shooter and daddio, i shoot proud

@Leo Gura We protested in 1999, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022, In most of these years, over 1,000 innocent protesters were killed simply for protesting. The reason the Islamic Republic maintains control is that there are three different military groups within Iran, all heavily armed: Sepah, Basij, and Artesh. Two of these groups have the mission to "protect the Islamic Republic with their lives." We lack leadership and cannot form any militia groups since it is essentially impossible to do so in most Iranian cities. You'll get a death sentence if authorities find any weapon, even a pistol. Regarding Iranians leaving Islam, this is a recent phenomenon. I myself was a Muslim just five years ago, but things have changed rapidly. People are becoming more radicalized; even without leadership, they have managed to kill over 250 government-supported militants, especially in underdeveloped regions like Baluchistan and Kurdistan. This marks a record since such events have never occurred before. I have to ask, Why haven’t Palestinians in the West Bank been able to end the occupation? Why have they been run by Judaism for 60 years??

@shree The quote i responded to: was a response about his claim that he read the benefits of NoFap -- not about how NoFap is making him miserable due to his constant horniness. Jesus fucking Christ. Can GOD just fucking put the barrel of a gun in between my eyebrows and pull the trigger as hard as he can? I have $500, enough for a 9mm pocket pistol to just fucking dome me to infinity.

@Vibes Therefore most likely the attempt is real. I also think it's not a rifle, some other type of gun, not a .22 caliber because that's too noticeable even in Colorado. Apparently 2 found dead after the shots rang out, and shooter is one of them, so it had to be some pistol or revolver or maybe a smaller rifle of some kind.

Imprecise wording from my side. The potential for Awareness is there throughout. But if nothing appears there is no self-consciousness and no consciousness OF. Yet, Infinite Being can't "go" anywhere, and is always the case. https://www.actualized.org/forum/search/?&q=Water Pistol&author=Water by the River

Mostly. There are different versions of what Wilber calls Causal States. Cessation/Nirodha: Totally appearanceless "film-break" like cessation. Timeless/always here/Nothingness nature emphasized. Time needs appearance/objects/"movement"/change, no appearance/objects is timeless/always here. These states also clearly show that if nothing arises there is no self-consciousness. ( https://www.actualized.org/forum/search/?&q=pistol&author=Water by the River , thx Benthino for the water pistol). Pure Infinite Awareness/Being with the potential of sentience, but not self-consciousness. That comes later. Which is pretty much a shocker, since it shows that any form of self-consciousness ego/separate-self is a) arising/appearing b) temporary c) True YOU is always "there", existence itself. Even if nothing arises/appears. That empties out the remnants of the separate-self/ego as appearing/constructed and removes the remaining separate-self-identity pretty effectively when coming out of cessation. Nirodha is the big/longer brother of cessation. Causal states with awareness (Infinite (timeless) Darkness suffused with light): Then there are causal states that are infinite/timeless, but self-aware. For example what Tibetan called the Clear Light state (Tummo, Bardo, Near Death). For example something a Neurologist (who had an NDE) for example described as "Infinite Darkness suffused with light". These states can also be experienced passing from dreaming to causal states to dreaming to waking up. One can have these states also with psychedelics, see Chris Bache Diamonds from Heaven. Aware Deep Sleep: Then there is Deep Sleep as not loosing awareness (and hence timeless, no duration experienced) as described by Thisdell, above. Causal States eyes open. And then you have totally empty impersonal states with no separate self arising WHILE the visual field appears. These are also linked by some to Nirvikalpa since there is no separate-ego-anything left, its the totally impersonal Totality/Reality arising by Itself. That is why Ken Wilber called the total empty/flat-lining state (EEG) some kind of Nirvikalpa "eyes-open". These are the true nondual IMPERSONAL states of Enlightenment. Only when having passed these causal states is it truly nondual impersonal Enlightenment/Infinite Impersonal Being. Before that, it is a Unity with the Infinite Nondual Field, and the character/ego hijacking that experience and interpreting it. Very common with certain substances, and easily confused with the final outcome of the total transcendence of the ego/separate-self purified by the experience of these totally empty states (hey, "I" wasn't there, what am I really? For sure not that temporarily appearing character-gig, because that wasn't there. And what I really am has to be the case always, even if there is no self-consciousness or consciousness OF anything at all, aka cessation or deep unaware sleep. That paves the way to true impersonal Enlightenment, realizing ones identity truly is this Infinite Nothingness which can never be any arising/appearance at all. The Infinite Absolute Being/Reality beyond any expierence/arising, timeless and eternal). And the Awareness of that Infinite Reality/Being can also be kept alive if the character reappears, the EEG shows something again. But then, this character/personality has a similiar status as for example your car: It appears in your Infinite Being/visual field, you look "out from it" while driving, but most definitely you are not (only) your car, but the whole appearing show/Infinite Being/Infinite Existing, the screen and the appearing show. Wilber Nirvikalpa eyes open/eyes closed: But the term Nirvikalpa has been used for millenia, so you can for sure find cases where its used for cessation/Nirodha and eyes open causal impersonal states, deep sleep, and anything in between. What is more important is what these causal states really can do: Kill the ego/separate-self-arising-illusions for good, because they show that these are temporary arising illusion-clouds, nothing more. Not by having these a few times, aber after experiencing them often and coming out of them and seeing the ego reassemble itself in real-time often enough can even get the hardest ego-illusions to wonder about their "reality". See below. When training via concentration meditation, it is easier to reach Cessation than reaching True Nondual Enlightenment while the visual field still appears. Because the mechanism of the ego-cloud-separation-arisings is not yet fully transcended. The mere appearance character, the Infinite impersonal field, the eternal/timeless background-nature of True Being is not yet reached while the visual field is there/daily life. That comes later. Later developed forms of Buddhism (Zen, Mahayana, Tibetan Buddhism, aka Mahamudra/Dzogchen) directly aim for the Nondual Realization. They know cessation states and achieve them, but don't value these as ultimate goal. Which makes sense, because if one can enter Nirvana/Nirvikalpha on command, its nice then, and later on the still well and alive ego and its cycles of contraction/suffering kill all the oh so nice Nirvana again. But shutting the whole enchilada including the ego down in causal states is a very good tool. Not necessary, but very useful. These statements are in line with the statements and experiences of modern Theravada-teachers and realizers like Ingram, Yang, Burbea, Taft, Thisdell and so on. And that is why I prefer Mahamudra/Dzogchen (for example Pointing out the Great Way, Brown). More on that below in the footnote 1. The relations of these states get clear once the timless Absolute Reality/Being is intuited as always here. Deep Sleep is so to say is always right here. Since what you really are is always right here, as it is in deep sleep. Infinite eternal Consciousness/Being which is totally empty and impersonal if no separate-self illusion arises. The tree watching itself, fully aware of its temporaray/passing/illusory nature. And that which is always the case, eternally so, True Being, fully understands itself then. Because there exists nothing else that could understand itself besides THIS of which nothing can be said, only pointed towards. So what is it that reads these words right here, right now? What is IT/You truly? Starting out to write a short answer answer, ending up with a Filibustero. Oh well, maybe its helpful for some. Selling Causal States as the final coup de grace for the separate self-character-gig/ego by The River Ok, it had to be coming: WtbtR now with footnotes. Guess not for the faint of hearted. Footnote 1: The original "Buddhas" Enlightenment-doctrine was Cessation/Causal-based, not Full Nondual (impersonal) Enlightenment in daily life. The original Buddhas Enlightenment was Cessation/Causal-based (Nirvana-based, "Nirvana separate from Samsara"). Which is still a conditioned state, bringing a lot of liberation from grasping, but not fully and in daily life. Separate-Self/Ego not fully transcended/dead in daily life. The breakthrough to True (impersonal) Nondual Realization in official doctrine came later with Nagarjuna and Madhymaka/Middle Path: True Nondual impersonal Enlightenment which could be sustained in daily life/with visual field. And while Madhyamaka tended to not say anything at all about the Absolute (neti neti, no concepts can be applied for the Absolute, which technically is correct), later forms of Buddhisms like Yogachara said that (in truly enlightened impersonal nondual states) Infinite Consciousness/Infinite Being IS an expression of the true state of things, and everything appearing is mere appearance (or "imagined"). See for example "Consciousness only school", for example Huang Po's Universal Mind, or the (very humble) Supreme Source "I am the teacher, pure and total consciousness, whence everything manifests. Pure and total consciousness is the supreme source, it has created the Buddhas of the three times, from it have arisen the beings of the three worlds and the whole animate and inanimate universe". God-Realization (TM) approved. Forms of Buddhism stemming from the original buddhist teachings (causal teachings, sometimes called Hinayana school, which doesn't exist anymore), like for example Theravada/Thai Buddhism Forest Tradition (and Ingram/Yang/Burbea/Taft) mainly trace themselves from these forms (although all are adding some form of Dzogchen and similiar stuff), don't stem from the the Mahayana Revolution of Middle Way/Madhyamaka/Nagarjuna), and YET end up at Nondual Enlightenment and not only cessation. And for sure in the original Buddhism some realized Nondual Enlightenment and not only cessation, but that didn't find its way into the official doctrine until much later. And that (besides that the original Buddha probably didn't exist because its the same story Jainism tells about its founder) makes me smile when there "Buddhism"-trashing. Its like trashing "religion". Which kind of religion? Polytheism? Ancestor-cult? Monotheism? Polytheism? Who cares, lets trash the rodents... So, now WbtR made it: Neither "Buddhist" like him anymore, nor the no-rodent crowd. Guess its "Viel Feind, viel Ehr!". Something we Germans are quite talented in. Oh well...

What if I am a wholesome person and I have in front of me a men violently abusing a child and I have a pistol in my hand? Shot the man would be me acting from lack state of from Love for the child and to Free her from that situation? Extreme case yes but contemplate that one can be wholesome and still make actions that would sound terrible for many. This example came I think from a Old movie from Nicolas Cage who chasse and kill a abuse ring group. Live can sometimes present moral challenges that demand one to be fast in making value decisions. I never had extreme ones but I keep aware that some day I may need to make such choices.

Love this video, a lot of great stuff about the false god of materialism.

Lyrics [Intro / Verse 1] Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall She sees the bartender in a pool of blood Cries out, “My God, they killed them all!” [Chorus] Here comes the story of the Hurricane The man the authorities came to blame For something that he never done Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been The champion of the world [Verse 2] Three bodies lyin' there, does Patty see And another man named Bello, moving around mysteriously “I didn’t do it,” he says, and he throws up his hands “I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand [Chorus] I saw them leaving,” he says, and he stops “One of us had better call up the cops” And so Patty calls the cops, and they arrive on the scene With their red lights flashin' in the hot New Jersey night [Verse 3] Meanwhile, far away in another part of town Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around Number one contender for the middleweight crown Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down [Chorus] When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road Just like the time before and the time before that In Paterson that’s just the way things go If you’re black, you might as well not show up on the street Unless you want to draw the heat [Verse 4] Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowling around He said, “I saw two men running out, they looked like middleweights They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates” [Chorus] And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head Cop said, “Wait a minute, boys, this one’s not dead” So they took him to the infirmary And though this man could hardly see They told him he could identify the guilty men [Verse 5] Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in They take him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs The wounded man looks up through his one dying eye Say, “Why did you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy!” [Chorus] Here’s the story of the Hurricane The man the authorities came to blame For something that he never done Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been The champion of the world [Verse 6] Four months later, the ghettos are in flame Rubin’s in South America, fighting for his name While Arthur Dexter Bradley’s still in the robbery game And the cops are putting the screws to him Lookin' for somebody to blame [Chorus] “Remember that murder that happened in a bar?” “Remember you said you saw the getaway car?” “You think you’d like to play ball with the law?” “Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw Running that night?” “Don’t forget that you are white” [Verse 7] Arthur Dexter Bradley said, “I’m really not sure” The cops said, “A poor boy like you could use a break We got you for the motel job, and we’re talking to your friend Bello Now you don’t want to have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow [Chorus] You’ll be doing society a favor That son of a bitch is brave and gettin' braver We want to put his ass in stir We want to pin this triple murder On him He ain’t no Gentleman Jim” [Verse 8] Rubin could take a man out with just one punch But he never did like to talk about it all that much "It’s my work", he’d say, "and I do it for pay" "And when it’s over I’d just as soon go on my way" [Chorus] Up to some paradise Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice And ride a horse along a trail But then they took him to the jailhouse Where they try to turn a man into a mouse [Verse 9] All of Rubin’s cards were marked in advance The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance The judge made Rubin’s witnesses drunkards from the slums To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum [Chorus] And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigga No one doubted that he pulled the trigger And though they could not produce the gun The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed And the all-white jury agreed [Verse 10] Rubin Carter was falsely tried The crime was murder “one”, guess who testified? Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride [Chorus] How can the life of such a man Be in the palm of some fool’s hand? To see him obviously framed Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed To live in a land where justice is a game [Verse 11] Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties Are free to drink Martinis, and watch the sun rise While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell An innocent man in a living hell [Chorus / Outro] Yes that’s the story of the Hurricane But it won’t be over till they clear his name And give him back the time he’s done Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been The champion of the world

You have not addressed any of my actual point and kept talking about guns instead. I guess you are just not interested at considering another point of view... But since you want to talk about guns so much, lets talk about guns? Why is it that in countries where gun laws are much stricter than in the US there are much less gun crimes? Even in less developed countries, like Russia for example? Why does a shithole like Russia has maybe one school shooting in a couple years while the US they happen basically every week? Are you going to say that the fact that any idiot can buy an assault rifle in America has nothing to do with it? Once again, I am not even comparing America to some fancy European country like Switzerland. Russia? America can't do better than Russia? I wonder why. Maybe because in Russia it takes more effort to get a pistol with rubber bullets or a hunting rifle with two shots, than it does in America to buy an RPG...

**Act IV: Mysterious Encounters and Lessons Learned** *Scene 1:* The vibrant atmosphere of the marketplace with the clamor of merchants and the distant sounds of a city in full swing sets the stage. Xian, deep in thought, and Bai, ever curious, meander through the stalls, occasionally pausing to inspect the myriad items for sale. *Scene 2:* A disagreement arises between Bai and a local vendor over the price of a particular item. As voices are raised and a crowd gathers, the situation threatens to escalate into violence. Bai's insistence meets the vendor's stubbornness, and a circle of onlookers forms, eager to see the outcome of this confrontation. *Scene 3:* Just as the first punches are about to be thrown, a calm voice rises above the commotion, urging peace. It's Pythagoras. He speaks eloquently about the interconnectedness of all beings and how even the smallest conflicts can disrupt the cosmic balance. His words, a mix of philosophy and spirituality, captivate the crowd, creating a momentary pause in the tension. *Scene 4:* Taking advantage of this brief reprieve, Xian steps forward to support Pythagoras' sentiments. However, some of the more aggressive individuals in the crowd remain unconvinced and threaten to resume their hostility. *Scene 5:* Suddenly, the mysterious stranger Xian had encountered before steps into the circle. The same stranger who had the power to destroy but chose to protect. The glint of the pistol catches the sun, and the crowd's mood shifts from anger to curiosity and awe. The stranger doesn't speak but instead fires the pistol into a mound of sand, demonstrating its power. The deafening sound and the impact in the sand serve as a warning, and the aggressive individuals back down. *Scene 6:* With the immediate threat neutralized, Pythagoras, ever the mediator, invites the stranger, Xian, and Bai to a more secluded area – perhaps a quiet garden or a scholar's enclave. Here, the four discuss the pistol's power, the responsibility that comes with such power, and the choice to use it for protection rather than destruction. *Scene 7:* Under the canopy of stars, Pythagoras shares tales of his travels, his experiences, and his beliefs. The discussions are profound, blending topics of destiny, power, interconnectedness, and the essence of the soul. The night ends with Xian and Bai having a deeper understanding of their own journey and the choices they make. In this Act, the confluence of Pythagoras' wisdom and the stranger's demonstration of power creates a pivotal moment for Xian and Bai, emphasizing the theme of responsibility and the interconnectedness of all things.

I give the monkey a laser beam weapon who doesn’t know how to ignite it and I give you a regular pistol. Who would win?

Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall She sees a bartender in a pool of blood Cries out, "my God, they killed them all" Here comes the story of the Hurricane The man the authorities came to blame For somethin' that he never done Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been The champion of the world Three bodies lyin' there, does Patty see And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously "I didn't do it" he says, and he throws up his hands "I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand" "I saw them leavin'" he says, and he stops "One of us had better call up the cops" And so Patty calls the cops And they arrive on the scene With their red lights flashin' in a hot New Jersey night Meanwhile, far away in another part of town Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around Number one contender for the middleweight crown Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road Just like the time before and the time before that In Paterson that's just the way things go If you're black you might as well not show up on the street 'Less you want to draw the heat Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around He said "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights Jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates" And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head Cop said "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead" So they took him to the infirmary And though this man could hardly see They told him he could identify the guilty men Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in They took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye Say "Why'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy" Here's the story of the Hurricane The man the authorities came to blame For somethin' that he never done Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been The champion of the world Four months later, the ghettos are in flame Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody to blame "Remember that murder that happened in a bar?" "Remember you said you saw the getaway car?" "You think you'd like to play ball with the law?" "Think it mighta been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night?" "Don't forget that you are white" Arthur Dexter Bradley said "I'm really not sure" The cops said "A poor boy like you, could use this break We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello You don't want to have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow You'll be doin' society a favor That son of a bitch is brave and gettin' braver We want to put his ass in stir We want to pin this triple murder on him He ain't no Gentleman Jim" Rubin could take a man out with just one punch But he never did like to talk about it all that much "It's my work" he'd say, "and I do it for pay And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way" Up to some paradise Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice And ride a horse along a trail But then they took him to the jailhouse Where they try to turn a man into a mouse All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums To the white folks who watched, he was a revolutionary bum And for the black folks he was just a crazy nig*** No one doubted that he pulled the trigger And though they could not produce the gun The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed And the all-white jury agreed Rubin Carter was falsely tried The crime was murder one, guess who testified? Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride How can the life of such a man Be in the palm of some fool's hand? To see him obviously framed Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land Where justice is a game Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell An innocent man in a living hell Yes, that's the story of the Hurricane But it won't be over 'til they clear his name And give him back the time he's done Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been The champion of the world

Hi Ima Freeman, maybe you find that helpful: Awareness OF something stops. But not the potential for Awareness/sentience, or "Pure" Awareness, or however you want to call it. That can't go "anywhere" or stop. "It" is always right here. "IT" doesn't have a name here, it is beyond duality, nothing can describe it. It is the Absolute, or True You. You can call it of Awareness, but not Awareness OF, since there is no of then. It is void, empty, silent, infinite, and can only be described in negative terms. Yet, It manifests the potential of all possible worlds. quote from the link: You (capital Y) are the whole Infinite Reality (imagined body, imagined appearances, imagined everything n+1). With nothing outside of it, because that would be an imagined arising too. Any boundary separiting IT from an imagined other IT would be an imagined arising, an appearing phenomenon. Infinite. Try to imagine everything gone, including thinking: NOTHINGNESS. Not big, not small, just NOTHINGNESS. A vast infinite Nothingness, that is not even vast, because there is no 3D-space or anything (no objects/arisings). Similiar to Deep Sleep. YOU are still there. YOU awake every morning after having been there. You already know that you can be totally something/somebody else in dreams, and have totally forgotten all the past you imagine right now to be your "real" human self. But IT is not Nothingness like nothing there at all, but Nothingness with the POTENTIAL for sentience as soon as anything is imagined, and with Infinite Potential to imagine ANYTHING within it, n+1. Imagine a water pistol pops up in this Nothingness (see example Massaro, Conversations with a Skepctic): Then you have a) an imagined appearance (water pistol) and b) "something" perceiving it, the subject. Or just the perceptions of the water pistal in case no separates self is imagined/arises. Just the waterpistol perceiving itself, perceptions perceiving themselves. Impersonal. Then you have a "world", and subject/object. So what are you then? a) The Infinite Field with anything that can possibly be imagined? Yes. Nondual/Totality/Oneness. The manifest/imagined side of Infinite Consciousness. Always changing, never stable, since no appearance/form lasts. NONE. But there is a constant: b) But even more so, you are that Nothingness that can be unaware of itself, Infinite Consciousness initially unaware of itself, but with the potential for sentience if something arises. The unmanifest side of Infinite Consciousness. The unchanging, Unborn and constant core of the True You/Reality itself. So empty that IT is the Abyss, Impersonal. NOTHINGNESS. But also Infinite Potential, since IT can imagine anything. and "Both"a) and b) is indivisible, nondual. Totally the same essence, ONE Reality. The Nothingness or the True You is already the essence/"substance" of every imagined arisings/phenomenon, including the water pistol, or all separate self arisings (they are all appearances within you). a nice book about that is Szyper, "Infinite Consciousness" Any name for it brings some problems with it, because Reality contains all pointers/words, and a word/concept only has meaning in terms of its opposite. But nice pointers are Absolute/Pure Awareness, or even better (in my opinion) Nothingness. Because IT is not the everyday Awareness with subject/object (Awareness "OF) duality. Of course, it is the same Pure Awareness throughout, but when containing the illusion arisings of a separate-self, Its true Nature is covered by clouds and can not be realized. And it can not be realized by thinking about it, only by waking up. But nice pointers give the space to practice, and practice makes ripe for the grace of crossing over or realizing IT, passing the Gateless Gate. Selling Water by the River

according to my current understanding, which is recent and surely must be quite nuanced, reality is not a mind, it is the total infinity that it is. total infinity gives rise to a mind that has attributes such as intelligence and will, which limits and creates forms getting blind to the infinity and creating the finite. this mind is also limited in some way because if it were not, it would not create limitation. Ultimately, the absolute is undifferentiated, infinite, and total, without creation or activity. First, I am in full alignment with everything Moksha said. That description is precise, beautiful, and doesn't have the problem that many other pointers have. That said: I would have probably never gotten it from the usual very concise pointers. Maybe I would have, but much much later. Of that I am convinced. Looking back after got it, its totally clear what is meant with these pointers. What is written below would have helped me quite a lot back in the day. So excuse the length please. Topic 1: Why does Huang Po use Universal Mind? Why is Infinite or Absolute a better pointer, althoug Universal Mind/Infinite Consciousness is still correct? Better Pointer is: Infinite Reality. Absolute. Because no object/appearance = No Awareness. Infinite. Empty. Nothingness. Similiar to Deep Sleep. Not exactly the same, but by definition "one" is still existing then, else one wouldn't come back in the morning. And one can't say what Infinite Reality is, because it is infinite. Infinite Reality IS. So best pointer is: Infinite Reality. Nothingness. Not yet awareness or mind. But: Infinite Reality has the potential/capacity for sentience/awareness. As soon as something shows up, then its no longer Infinite. Massaros water pistol example of a waterpistol just appearing in Infinite Vastness (which was "the case" before the water pistol/anything showed up. The potential for awareness just showed up as awareness, because an object and duality appeared. So because of this potential for sentience/Awareness, one can describe IT as Universal Mind, Infinite Consciousness/Awareness. But even more precise is Infinite Reality/Nothingness. Because without anything appearing, it isn't really a mind. It is IT. Infinite. But also not different from Impersonal Infinite Consciousness/Awareness. It all depends on the meaning of the concepts/pointers. Wolinsky goes the hardcore-path: The Absolute/Infinity Reality/True You is NOT Awarnesness nor Consciousness. He described Awareness/Consciousness as Awareness OF, Consciousness OF. And rejects Awareness/Consciousness as Absolute. Because for him its always Awareness OF, Consciousness OF. Which is not incorrect, see the Water Pistol example. That is also correct. Same does Andrew Halaw, and his pointer Nothingness. So the problem with Awareness is: There is always (!) an Awareness OF, even if its a subtle formless object, like certain causal states. An infinite darkness suffused with light. Ok, what is the light? Ah,... . Without the OF (or the object appearing), Awareness is still there, but more as potential. Infinite. Or Nothing/empty. These Dualities collapse then. And that is the most important meaning of all of it. At the Absolute and Infinite Reality, any duality or any pointer just collapses. Infinite. Empty/Nothing specific. Potential for Awareness. And all of that not different things, but ONE without a second, Infinite. Real Nondual Infinite. Topic 2: And then, the separate-self, the self-reflective mind: Looking AT something thinking it is one self, or looking over its shoulds trying to see itself, and generating an EXPERIENCE of emptiness/Nothingness/Awareness/blank/whatever. JUST AN EXPIRIENCE, not real you/Infinite/Absolute. And next challenge is: The separate-self is a self-reflexive movement in Infinite Reality: Consciousness turning its head back to see itself, doesn't see itself of course, has an EXPERIENCE of Nothingness/emptiness/Infinity. And this LOOKING over its shoulder IS the Illusion of the separate self, of the self-reflective mind. And that movement of looking over its shoulds happens IN Infinite Reality/IN Infinite Consciousness. And all doubting/searching/reflecting/thinking that is it/what is it/that is not/do I have it/do I understand it.... ALL of that is "movement" within Infinite Consciousness, OBJECTS appearing, staying, disappearing. Moving within oneself. And even the understanding/realization/Enlightenment happens within it, within Pure Impersonal Infinite Consciousness/Infinite Reality that can be unaware of itself. One never can get "out" of this Infinite. And Infinite Reality is NEVER and object. It is not the experience of "oneself" or anything within it TRYING to see itself (the eye can't see itself). Jac O'Keffe: Primary Consciousness (her term for Infinite Reality and Infinite Consciousness) IS SUCH A FUNDAMENTAL that it CANT TURN AROUND AND SEE ITSELF. Cant look back over its shoulder to see itself. That would be a movement within it. Please watch this video a few times: "Primary Consciousness (Infinite Consciousness) is such a fundamental it CANT SEE ITSELF." Ok, I am rambling on. Please go through the links & video a few times. There are enough pointers in there to really get it. And sorry guys if it is so long. I can't make it shorter and still get the meaning across with any reasonable chance. If anybody can make it shorter, and still get the complexity of it across, please let me know. You get a few free beers from me while you explain me how to do it shorter. I also can do the frog pond plop, or Infinite Mind, or whatever in a one liner. Just probably nobody will get it.,, The way above, probably also nearly nobody will get it. Takes awakened states. But maybe some who are on the edge will, and others will have a better map up the mountain, and will spot and get what to do/where to go at certain stages. Bon voyage! Selling Water by the River

@Something Funny lol, this reminds me of this “When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease? No. When they drink a soup made from a poisonous mushroom!? No! It’s when… they are forgotten.” ― Dr. Hiriluk, One Piece

Yes, understand & agree. " the absence of limitation is absolute life, absolute freedom, absolute love, because it includes everything . whoever realizes the absolute is the only one that exists, but his infinity excludes any solitude. there is no other, but as in a game of mirrors, there are infinite perspectives. you cannot understand it in a linear or superficial way". That is beautiful. And the "one" who realizes the Absolute is gone... replaced by the Infinite Totality that was always already the case. The previous separate self is seen through/transcended/emptied out/dead. A functional character remaining, but the separate self gone. Because how could IT be the Infinite Totality when "anything" separate or individual/individuality still arise&moves in it.... That is why some say no one realizes the Absolute, and that there can not be an enlightened person. I use Nothingness in the definition of Andrew Halaw, to contrast it with Nothing. Nothing has a opposite: Something. Nothingness is neither existence nor non-existence. Madhyamaka-style. Neither existing nor non-existing, nor both, nor neither. Infinite. Infinite Consciousness, or the One without a second. But that already says too much "positive" about "It". Andrew Halaw in "God is Nothingness": "This book is about Nothingness, the great Void of the holy sages, not to be confused with the nothing of the ordinary person. Silence. A blank page or space in a book. A shout. Slapping the table or thumping the floor. These are all expressions of the ineffable truth that is theuniversal nature of reality. Since there is no way to directly capture the highest truth with language, all we can do is point to it. And “Nothingness” is the best verbal pointer that I have found." In the beginning, there was only Nothing. Now there is only Nothing. In the end, there will be only Nothing. There always was, is, and only ever will be Nothing. God is Nothingness Christ is Nothingness Buddha is Nothingness The Tao is Nothingness Brahman is Nothingness The Absolute is Nothingness Nothingness is neither something nor the common nothing; it is the Great Nothing, the eternal, magnificent, all-encompassing Nothingness that transcends being, yet is the ground from which existence itself arises. In truth, there is only Nothingness, for nothing else ever was. Beings suffer because they do not understand Nothing. Intoxicated by their senses and minds, they chase mirages, construct temples, conduct empty rituals, pursue wealth and status, believing that there is something —meaning, purpose, salvation— to attain. Fools are slaves to their senses and thoughts, caught in the snare of form and desire, unaware that all things arise from Nothingness, abide as Nothingness, and return to Nothingness. For nothing has ever happened. Existence and appearance are flashes of Nothingness superimposed upon Nothingness. There are no beings, no worlds, no minds, no consciousness, no souls, no events, no time, no space, no Buddha, no Christ, no Self, no God. There is only the not-‘that’ That— the Great, Magnificent Void, the womb of all existence. NOTHINGNESS. Bound by neither space nor time, Nothingness is dimension-less, time-less, and form-less. The Void is unborn, unoriginated, unconditioned, and deathless, neither coming nor going, ‘creating’ nor destroying, rewarding nor punishing. It has never set anything in motion nor caused anything to happen. Ultimately, there is only Nothing, which is the final and only truth. Nothingness cannot be seen with eyes, nor heard with ears, tasted with the tongue, smelt with the nose, felt by the body, or known by the mind. Do not look for it with your senses or mind, for the Void is beyond color, sound, smell, taste, touch, form, and thought. Transcend them and realize that you are truly Nothing, that in reality there is only Nothing. Then you are free to dance and play on the waves of Nothingness. " and " Nothingness is not sheer blankness, yet neither is it being-ness the way that we ordinarily understand existence; it is the source and true nature of all beings. This is the “vast emptiness, nothing holy” of Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Ch’an, Sǒn, and Zen Buddhism. Consciousness is neither present nor absent in Nothingness, for Nothingness is actually the root of consciousness. In truth, there is no such thing as consciousness; there is only Nothingness. Consciousness is instantiated Nothingness, as is all of existence. Frightened dullards, clinging to notions of existence, call Nothingness “nihilism,” unaware that Nothing is the exact opposite of deathly sterility; Non-being is the great womb from which everything arises, abides, and eventually returns. From a Buddhist perspective, “Emptiness is not a negative idea, nor does it mean mere privation, but as it is not in the realm of names and forms, it is called emptiness, or nothingness, or the Void” (Suzuki 60). Sunyata, as Nothingness can be called in Buddhism, or Tao in Taoism, sustains everything, including consciousness. It is the vast, empty void of Non-existence that the Buddha calls Nirvana, meaning “extinction” of all ‘being.’ It is what Nisargadatta Maharaj points to when he speaks of ‘Universal Consciousness’ or what Huang Po calls ‘Mind.’ Nothingness is prior to consciousness, as it is is with all phenomena. This is why Huang Po says, “Mind in itself is not mind” (Blofeld 34), meaning that the mind is truly understood only when its own emptiness is realized. For mind is Nothingness occurring as consciousness. When this is properly realized, mind become Mind with a capital “M,” not in the sense that some latent quality has been discovered that it is somehow beyond all conditioning, like some eternal super Consciousness or Witness at the base of our mind; but in the sense that when we realize our own universality as Nothingness, we awaken to our own unlimited nature. This is what sages mean when they talk about “primordial consciousness”; it is the realization that our minds transcend beingness alone, by extending into the core nor Non-being, into Nothingness itself. The mind, in effect, is simultaneously limitless (transcendent) and viscerally present (immanent). Hence, Nisargadatta calls it “Universal Consciousness” to express the insight into the universal Nothingness of our minds. Nothingness creates, supports, animates, and eventually recalls everything, yet is not bound to any single thing. It is the stars, but not limited to them. It is the earth and all of its inhabitants, but is not confined to them. Nothingness is the true nature of all existence. The Buddha, the Awakened One, is also called Tathata, meaning, “One who has arrived at suchness,” suchness being another term for the ineffable, mysterious reality of Nonbeing, sunyata, or Nothingness. We have risen from Nothingness, and to Nothingness we shall return. Therefore, ultimately there is no movement or nothing that ever happens, for everything is in fact Nothingness. “That which is before you is it, in all its fullness, utterly complete” (37). And yet the world continues to change and transform; the seasons come and go; people are born, grow old and die. Nothing changes and yet everything happens. Divinity expresses itself as an acorn, a mustard seed, a lump of coal. Humans, including their toils and vices, are all manifestations of the wondrous Nothingness. “Nothing[ness] is the inexhaustible, suprasensible power underlying all finite beings,” “the emptiness from which all beings are forged” (Chen 90, 92). Nothingness sings as birds, sighs as the wind, breathes as humans, and knows as mind. Once this is realized, there is nothing to worry about, for everything is an expression of Nothing. As the seminal Buddhist scripture, the Heart Sutra, says, “Form is Emptiness; Emptiness is Form.” Your truest nature is Nothingness. Mind and consciousness are in fact Nothingness. This is why Ch’an Master Linji called the Enlightened being a “person of no rank,” someone who can come and go freely. “No rank” means no fixed limitation, free and vast as the sky, bound by neither ‘being’ nor even Non-being. This is the infinite Nothingness of the sages. " and, maybe most important, Appendex I: Nothingness (Infinite Consciousness) has the potential for sentience/awareness, to have awareness arise if an "object"-arising happens. Or perceptions perceiving themselves, with our without separate-self arisings. So it is not Nothing, like in nothing at all. But infinite potential + potential for sentience of "that". See also Benthinos Water-Pistol emerging/manifested in an infinite empty vastness. " Appendix I Some readers may be wondering why I say that awareness is not the Absolute, despite the fact that so many ancient scriptures and eminent teachers say that they are identical. For instance, Nisargadatta taught that consciousness is rooted in (and therefore limited to) the physical human form, while awareness transcended the individual body and was actually the Absolute—that everything is Universal Consciousness. This is more of an instructive approach than a philosophical commitment. If pressed as to whether the Absolute is awareness or not, I would say, like Huang Po did, that, “Mind is not mind, yet neither is it no-mind.” In Nothingness, there is some degree of awareness present—it is not how most people imagine brain death—albeit unconditioned, object- and subjectless. The Consciousness (for lack of a better word) of Non-being is so subtle that the moment we try to reflect upon it to check if we are conscious, we are jarred back into ‘being’ and into our ordinary dualistic consciousness. I hesitate even to call this experience “pure subjectivity,” for that invites a metaphysical position that I am not willing to support. In the end, to paraphrase Socrates, all that I know is Nothing. This Consciousness has shed all of the characteristics that people normally identify with awareness, such as perspective, spatial and temporal contexts, objects, ownership, etc. Yet, if there were no awareness, then it would be impossible to differentiate the numinous Nothingness from how people conventionally conceive of blankness or being comatose. Personally, I think that differentiating between Nothingness and consciousness is helpful, and that is my ultimate goal—to help people realize Non-being or Absolute Consciousness. At that point, I can care less whether people call it Nothingness, God, Brahman, Buddha Nature, One Mind, Universal Consciousness, or a kangaroo. Names at that point, after the Absolute has been realized, are insignificant. " Since this is the first thread I started myself, I allow myself the liberty to blow it up with a waaaay to long ramling like the one above. Hope nobody minds... Selling Water by the River