RendHeaven

@8Ball Philosophy major here. You will most likely read "the great books" of the Western world starting with the Greeks up until perhaps the late 19th century (Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, etc.) This is useful for you in the sense that it gives you a full crash course on the perspective of hyper-intellectual thinking. You will stretch your mind to its limits. You will scratch at the horizons of the thinking mind and it will prompt you to think, "wow, the mind is so amazing, and yet look how lost we are!" At the same time, however, you will not transcend the mind in this setting, ever. The mind being king is assumed from the get-go. Awareness isn't even on the radar. You will be tooled for bringing up nonduality, as you will be pressed for "evidence." Explaining to a paradigm-locked college professor that "evidence" is secondary to "experience" is a losing battle, for they have been living the past 50 years of their lives under the illusion that evidence is necessary for something to be true (Which, in some ways, is true! But then again, what is considered evidence?) Besides, the second you start "battling" with someone over nonduality, you're lost. You've made it a belief. Not only is it almost impossible to convince your professor to begin with, but in the act of convincing your professor, you've made an ideology out of Truth. Very slippery. Expect them to press for "textual evidence" to "back up your claims." When you bring up eastern books, expect "that's not philosophy." (I've had this exact conversation!) If you have a true love of wisdom, an institution will never do it for you. (It's Ironic because my university's fight song goes, "true love of wisdom is sheltered in her halls!")

To clarify, I'm assuming you're talking about a sustainable, systematic online business instead of freelancing on fiverr or something (not that that isn't sustainable, but you know. It's far less consistent.) If you mean the latter, then that's fine but I suggest you make clear what is your life purpose and what is your side hustle. Don't mix those two up!

Your online business won't give any immediate returns because almost all forms of them require you to have some sort of following before you can make sales, and followings necessarily take time to build up. If money is what you want or need, don't rely on your online business to get that for you in the beginning. That being said, start early and go balls deep! I say do both, you can always drop the side hustle once your business becomes reliable but in the beginning you have to keep your expectations in check.

Yes, this. It's far more likely that you are orange and that they are green, rather than you being at yellow and them purple. If you were really yellow (tier 2), the gap in "development" wouldn't really bother you anyways, as you would understand that this is simply the way things are.

Oh the devilry

Shadow of the Colossus is the closest thing to turquoise I've experienced in a video game, I can't say why without spoiling a key plot point but if you have a Playstation, it is a must play. Hands down my favorite video game of all time.

@Inliytened1 Eben is stage yellow. Just because he doesn't teach straight up nonduality, don't write his teachings off as "lesser."

When your sexual performance with a real woman utterly fails, that's what's going to finally motivate you to stop.

I've never had an "awakening" while awake (haha) but I've had many dreams actually where I would go nondual.

A little off topic, but I find sprinting to be spiritual. Especially the 400m. It's short enough that you can give it everything and get that rush of thought-numbing adrenaline, but it's also long enough that you literally reach muscle failure as your body runs out of oxygen and starts producing lactic acid. When it's all done, you're a heaving mess but the presence you gain from that is indescribable. Extended, full body pain coupled with an inability to think will literally shift your perspective, The trees look brighter and sharper afterwards, so much so that I doubt that they are really trees. I think this is fascinating and nobody ever talks about it. To be honest, this effect can be achieved with almost any sport but it requires you to be really really aware, and you have to have basic consciousness theory under your belt.

He has a girlfriend lol chilllll

CHICAGO PLEASE!! DURING DECEMBER O:

LOL!!!!

So what's the question? lol

In my experience, acne is 100% dependent on sleep quality and quantity.

HAHAHA

My college is highly philosophy-based, and it has a wonderful bookstore chalk-full of philosophy books. They all have wonderfully juicy titles having to do with metaphysics, truth, humanity, values, and yada yada. Based on the titles alone, I want to buy and read all of them. However, I'm also starting to see that 99% of these books are filled to the brim with shit. None of these people know what they're talking about. They're all lost in fantasy land. My instinct is to disown the bookstore and to do some contemplation/meditation on my own, haha. Self inquiry is king. However, a small part of me feels like I might be missing out on a hidden jewel in this bookstore. Furthermore, how will I know that these people are actually full of shit until I actually sit down and read through the books? My dilemma is that I want to dismiss it all as a sham and work on myself by myself. But I'm also aware that I don't actually know if it's a sham or not. I have to go out there for myself and check. So here is my question: Is it worth reading metaphysical books by Western authors? If so, which ones?

I'm currently studying loads of Plato in college. In every dialogue, I see Socrates putting on the facade of epistemic humility, but I see him consistently falling into duality traps and conceptual shenanigans with no grounding (such as claiming the existence of a soul as if each person or object has its own unique soul which is separate from the body and separate from other souls). After investing so much in consciousness work, and starting to get small breakthroughs (finally!), I'm starting to slowly see the delusion of conception being undermined by actuality in my everyday experience, even in something simple as standing in line. My question is this, and I'd love it if @Leo Gura would answer personally (seeing how you went to college for philosophy, Leo ). Is Plato and Socrates worth studying at all? I'm trying to read this stuff with a really open mind, but I'm starting to think Platonic dialogues are a whole steaming load of horseshit which is actually really profound considering how revered and legendary they are. This stuff is the basis of ALL Western tradition! My college philosophy professors certainly seem to hold them on a pedestal.

fapping is encouraged. Porn is NOT encouraged.

^

Yeah cause mathematicians are typically stuck in their own paradigms and don't realize their own self imposed limits lol

Oof.

You're not as spiritual as you think you are. Just look at the way you refer to her as "that bitch." Everything you've written on this thread screams "I've been hurt. Help me." But of course, that's not actually what you're saying, rather you're acting stoic as if you're in the moment and on a path of some sort. That isn't spiritual. My guess is that you're full of shit. Try to see that for yourself. I'm being harsh here out of compassion. I wish you the best

I think it really helps to go through with the actions but to keep your mouth shut. For example, I'm starting to be a vegetarian (been a meat eater my whole life and never really had interest in changing until recently) but I've been vigilant to not run around telling people about it. It might seem like there's no harm in sharing it with a few people, but I can tell that sharing "I'm vegetarian" is massively validation seeking, as if to say "act surprised! I need to fuel my sense of identity!" At the same time, I'm also vigilant to not form an identity around "someone who's self sufficient without having to seek validation." This one is more broad and subconscious, it's harder to articulate. Anyway, thought I'd share this because stuff like veganism have real value. There's nothing wrong with committing to it, the problem, as I'm sure you know, is merely attachment itself.