Kubia

If Super Mario was a conscious character, it will be useful for him to know that "he" was made out of pixel? That everything he know was made of pixels, and ultimately he doesn't really exist, and everything is an illusion, a hologram? That will drop his motivation to save the "princess"? Or he will just do it anyway but knowing it's just a game? At the end of the day, there will be some difference in his path?

It's a possibility! But his nature of pixels will change his path, knowing there is no princess to save? If everything is just pixels why the illusion of Super Mario and the Princess in the first place? It can be. Maybe if you have infinite computational power, you can predict the environment and the brain response, ultimately there is no free will at all. It's like a super complex chemical reaction. Why? Yeah, i was writing this down not necessarily to have an answer from the others, but i'm glad someone shared his 2 cent.

Why do you ask? I know right! Is the kinda situation that happen me the most.

Hi guys, i just wanted to share my experience with meditation, and see if someone can relate to this. The first time i heard of meditation was from an article 2 years ago. After reading a bit I said "Mhh, strange but seems interesting, let's give it a try". I was really stressed for various reason, so the the prospect of peace of mind was tempting. In a lot of videos about meditation it's said that at first try is hard, and the result will accumulate over time gradually, of course this is true BUT...the first try for me was groundbreaking. After only 15 minutes of meditation (a super-newbie version of vipassana), i opened my eyes and i noticed something very strange, the object that surrounded me seems more 3D, my head was so light, i felt almost a different person. It was like a new whole world opened in front of me.After that i went out of my house (i lived in a crowded city at the time), and it was like i watched everything for the first time in my life. I cried for no reason. Normally i am an introvert guy, but it was like i wanted to talk to every person. Very strange. Then i went to the nearest library and bought the first book i found on meditation (it was one of Osho), and finished in like 2 days when i was at the park (normally i never do a thing like that). Anyway...long story short, i continued with the practice more and more, and every session was more powerful, and the experiences more profound. Every object felt alive, every conversation felt meaningful, for the first time in a long time i was really grateful for being alive. In this golden period i made a ton of new friends, and girlfriends as well (not that i was trying!), even sex sensation was magnified, i felt like a porn god (lol). In synthesis everything was possible for me, and i was doing it effortlessy. The most profound experience was after a session in my countryside. I opened my eyes and watching the tree moving in the wind, that felt alive, vibrant, with a personality. The trees was like God, that moment itself seemed God. That was my peak, i think after 1 month of meditation). Anyway, this period ended, it lasted almost 2-3 months, and I never felt like this again. I don't know why but, even if i meditate harder than before I've never accessed the super conscious state that i obtained the first time. I was lucky? Newbie gains? I don't know, i know simply that the first times it was like zero effort and max result, now it was like the opposite. Now, don't get me wrong, i continued to meditate anyway because my baseline level of well-being and consciousness was raised above my original state, but it needed much more consistency, and fade away more quickly. Plus i was watching Leo's videos, trying new techniques, reading a lot of book, but sometimes i think of that time when knowing zero about meditation i obtained that incredible peace of mind and consciousness expanding. Anyway....today was different. I normally do vipassana, so i concentrate on my breathing and when i access a very deep state of concentration a point up my nostrils kinda vibrate (it's a strange sensation) and i concentrate on expanding the sensitivity on that point. But today i remembered the first time when i forced to breathe from my diaphragm. I know that is the norm, but i noticed that when i concentrate on the sensation on my nostrils i breathe more from the chest, so today i totally forced my diaphragm (and it was rusty, it almost hurt) and concentred on it. After 2 session of 20 minutes i felt the EXACT mind-blowing sensation and state of mind that i experienced the first time. And the meditation was far more effortless (after the first minutes of course). So the theory is that i was doing it right the first times, then i overcomplicated it and lost it. Anyway i will continue this way and try to write the right things that work for me. Do you guys think that i'm just "gifted" for this? Or is totally normal? I was just trying to relax and i found God itself, without even knowing it. ps: sorry for the grammar, i'm Italian. Cheers!

Don't get me wrong here, I said enjoy life in your way. I'm trying too to see deep in my life experience, and i'm doing spiritual work too. But this path can be enjoyable and rewarding. In fact, many people began to do spiritual work after painful experience, so they try to change their paradigm to life. But it isn't to 'avoid' more pain in the future? To detach themselves from the 'content'? In fact, consciousness is the more enjoyable thing to me. One thing does not exclude the other.

I think that ultimately the only things matter is to enjoy your life as much as possible, in your way. Self-Actualizing is a game, that is gonna reward you, but is always a game. Everything is perfectly meaningless, unless you want to add meaning to what you do. Understanding the way the universe/infinity works, can be also a good way to entertain yourself, to open (a lot) your mind in the way you live. And of I think it's fantastic, but really, it have no intrinsic meaning.

It's both psychological and physical in my opinion. The more you masturbate, the more the body will get ready for a new session, but of course the mind has a main role here. The mind if addicted to this would be triggered much easily in doing the PMO cycle. Some times i interrupt my nofap chain just because I wanted to remember what fapping is (ah-ha), so without real urges, but when I did it ONE times my genitals would be triggered to do that again, like i awakened my willy from lethargy and will send a message to my brain to do that again. It's connected. That's why many suggest cold showers to get rid of urges...is a physical sensation that calm body and mind. If it easier i think is for both less mind addiction and less physical stimulation overall. But who knows, is only my assumption.

The good news is that with time you will better control the urges, if before 2 days without PMO was a nightmare to me now i can go straight to 1/2 weeks without so much effort, after that time i began to feel the urges again. With no doubt if i force myself to go any further the time span will increase, but i think the issue is to get rid of the porn addiction. For me it was like going from being an alcoholic to having a beer with friends on the weekend. I could get rid of that too, but the benefit wouldn't impact my life so much. Anyway now i started a new streak, and for curiosity/experiment i will go further i can.

Hi! Im new here, im interested in all of the topic of the forum but this is quite controversial to me. I've tried doing nofap because of my addiction (i tought PMO was a totally normal behavior) and i've experienced the known benefits, whit huge surprise. Now, i've not be able to do this for more than 20/30 days straight, beacuse the urges become greater and greater, and if too much masturbation made me lazy and unmotivated, the total abstension made me too much hyperactive and "aggressive" and the urge too much present. So, lately i would go to a middle road, not too much masturbation, let's say 1 times a week (vs 1/2 a day before). I wouldn't be too lazy and still motivated, but the urges dont catalyze all my attention. I know this can be self-deception, but i thought that if mere orgasm can distrupt my will to do things in life, when i have a active sex-life whit a GF is basically the same thing, you keep relapsing over and over. So whats the point? Isn't body supposed to work like that? The only things i'm sure is that whatching porn isn't healthy at all, and and we all agree here, but is the total abstension from orgasm the answer? Or is the dose that make the poison? Thanks for your attention (and sorry if i've made some grammar error, i'm Italian).