LastThursday

I would define the supernatural as those things not having a natural explanation. That gets around the problem of a supernatural thing being common. Maybe before science came along explaining anything and everything, our natural inclination was supernatural. We still have a strong vestige of that way of being in our psyches. Science can only explain a consensus repeatable reality, and so a lot off stuff slips through that net. But we all have our own individual science of how the world works, so there is room for atheists and wizards.

Certainly the history of science is super interesting, most folks think it sprouted de novo from the minds of a few, but really it's just a continuation of much older ideas. I suppose the guy is Jewish so he could be cut some slack for focusing on Jewish mysticism 😋

If interested:

This is what I meant, somewhat obliquely, by: From a more detached perspective it's possible to see that life is completely arbitrary, which implies that it has no inherent meaning. If you really look at reality it's utterly absurd. However life forces us, whatever us represents, to be an intimate part of that absurdity and as such there is meaning in every little thing. We're lost in a sea of meaning. It is only the "us" that conspires in that meaning, outside of that there is no meaning.

I mostly veer into his alchemy and sorcery/magic/witchcraft stuff, but I'm omnivorous. You?

How dare you. I'm not like you lot! I'm a special snowflake❄️😁

I agree with you @VeganAwake that there is no ultimate meaning to life. On the other hand life is so in your face it's hard to ignore. If there is meaning then it's: we're not meant to just sit passively and watch it all go by, we should constantly push ourselves to be active participants in it. The top things I seek are: beauty, intelligence, love, connection and all those things are Truth.

I'm reading The Master and His Emissary by Ian McGilchrist. It's a chunky dense book about how the two parts of the brain function, and how studies of the right brain have been neglected, and the greater ramifications on society. I'm also reading The Alabaster Girl by Zan Perrion prompted by one of the topics on here. Will I become a master seducer? I doubt it, but it's a fun read into the mind of one.

Having two feet firmly in two different centuries I've seen a lot change over that time. I am both a 21st century man and a 20th century man. Language changes and I remember some of these words used to be used regularly when I was a kid. I'd say they're all Britishisms and rarely if ever used any more: Palaver - a dramatic, messy, complicated or difficult situation. Typically said in the phrase "What a palaver!" Cowson - a derogatory term similar in vein to "son of a bitch" nowadays. Watcha - a greeting like hello, but meaning more along the lines of "how are you doing?". Possibly coming from medieval "What, how?" or "What ho!" Git - still in common parlance, but much much less. Refers either to an unpleasant person, in the phrase "what a right git", or to a smug or uncannily lucky person: "what a git how did he win the race, he was well behind?" Reckon - in place of "I suppose" or "I guess". My Gen-Z nephew finds it funny when I say "I reckon you should call home" At the moment - this is going the way of the Dodo, everyone says "Right now" instead and it's like fingernails on a chalkboard to my ears. "Right now" used to mean "immediately".

Hug her of course (if I know her). Be present. Listen. What else?

@Olaf one way is through direct feedback. You believe you can't do a thing for example, you try it and find that you can. A lot of limiting beliefs are just narratives running around in our heads. Find ways to change the narratives and your limiting beliefs change with them. Questioning your narratives is the way to start. There's a bunch of techniques for that. The harder nut to crack is if you have an embodied reaction that stops you from achieving, such as traumas or phobias. But there are also ways to overcome those, such as exposure therapy or CBT or disconnecting the triggers of those physical responses (NLP).

@OBEler Does a character in a novel experience suffering if the writer puts them in difficult circumstances? Is the character conscious? You have to distinguish what the AI outputs - something akin to the character in a novel - from how that character is generated (written). AI is basically like any other computer: it's a stimulus/response system. The user enters stuff, the stimulus, and the AI processes to produce a response, then it stops processing. If it is conscious then it's only conscious when it processes. It's hard not to conflate the output of the AI with its internal processing, which is completely deterministic and down to mathematics and physics. It's organisation is nowhere near as complex as the brain's. Nobody knows the exact relationship between matter and consciousness, and even if one generates the other, or how consciousness might be "attached" to matter if it's independent. Some philosophers can't even agree if others are conscious (they might be zombies). We don't have a consciousness detector.

Is gospel bending the rules? The stalker's anthem:

This is only part of the picture. Depression is a systemic problem. It involves the mind, physiology, hormones and environment. These all feedback on each other maintaining the depression in a kind of equilibrium. Exercise helps because it pushes the system out of equilibrium, but so does affecting hormone levels (e.g. taking SSRi's), or talking through the mental aspects (therapy).

You're right in a philosophical sense. But you're conflating the ability to choose with the option to choose. Being depressed takes away the ability to choose, much like a tired person finds it hard to choose anything other than being tired. Being depressed also puts you in a state where you become blind to the options available to you - hence the need for external intervention. Much mental illness is like this: you could choose from an outside perspective, but you don't or can't from an inside perspective.

Only if the option is available. You can't choose what you don't have. That is the problem of depression and mental illness, you're unable to choose because there's nothing to choose from. That's why outside help is often needed: to make acceptable options available and "visible".

Thinking you're different, broken and misunderstood.

I second that, his channel is superb and I haven't found another like it for quality.

Consolidation II Yes Guillermo. But notice the irony. You are already pretzled by having to maintain a mask. Your mask has holes in it any case. How do you escape this double bind eh? Hmm? If anything mate this masking business has got worse over time: you've actually got more bi. You pretend not to look. You brush off your friendliness towards some men as just that, hoping it doesn't get noticed too much. If you're going to mask do it fucking properly or don't do it at all. Much love @LastThursday

That seems like stating the obvious to me. How specifically?

@Joseph Maynor what is your take on the meta-physical aspects of depression?

This is exactly true. For me there was a large physiological component to it. I felt very detached somehow. My vision become washed and out and nondescript, with a strange blue hue to it. I had a very distinct feeling constantly like it was winter inside my body - very odd. Existentially I was completely restless to the point where I wanted out. I wanted to run far away and hide from everything. Nothing I did could shake any of those feelings. It was also very existential depression though, less about my circumstances and more about my place in the great scheme of things. I felt literally detached from existence itself and wasn't sure I even wanted to be re-attached.