SaWaSaurus

Necessary, no, but I can't think of a better and faster way to have experiential proof of divinity. That may take years with non-psychedelic methods, and once you have a taste of it at least now you know that you can't trust beliefs about reality, and then can pursue whatever method you prefer thereafter. People refuse a 15 minute DMT experience because they think it's all nonsense, they're even less likely to spend hundreds of hours meditating for one peak experience that might all be nonsense. They'll likely give up before any spiritual awakening.

@Leo Gura have you contacted Destiny for a discussion? Among the debate lords I think he's quite open minded to non-political discussion. He's also had an interesting character arc over the past few years where he used to be 'straight edge' (zero drugs/alcohol/etc), but is now open and into psychedelics. He's currently in the 'how do I really know anything' stage where some of his concrete beliefs were shattered with mushroom experiences.

I've never been too into metal but this 1 band I listened to a lot when I was younger. Don't know what genre of metal it is, but sounds kind of like the power metal you linked.

Agreed! Sunshine was my absolute favorite movie as a teen. Still the best soundtrack of any movie I've seen. People give the movie shit for the final act being sub optimal, but the movie as a whole is 10/10. Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream has one of the best performances I've seen from an actress. The movie is an experience. Donnie explains the smurfs. The movie is much more bizarre and heavy than this scene conveys. 10/10 movie. If anyone hasn't seen the BSG remake, highly recommend

Ok here it goes. You could have been like @Scholar and provided any sort of context, instead you just make outlandish claims and condescending one-liners instead of giving me anything to reply to. My conclusion is that your avatar is extremely ironic.

Much better context. And it's basically about what I was assuming his position, but haven't seen a ton of stuff from this guy, certainly not a clip this old. Some incredibly awful rhetoric, but his underlying point seems clear: political violence can be justified depending on the circumstance. If I were a Jew in Nazi Germany, I'd be justified in murdering an SS officer, obviously. Does anyone legitimately think vaush wants all capitalists to die because he disagrees with them? That would be next level bad faith interpretation of his position imo.

You have to be trolling right?

lol.. so he never actually says what you originally posted. If people were to take what you said at face value, Vaush would want to kill like 98% of the population. This is why you were called out for bad faith. 'Political violence' is so broad you'd have to get him to narrow it down, and then you could nitpick at him if you wanted, but that's not what you did. Every war fought is political violence. Bombing up Nazi facilities during WW2 is political violence. Native Americans forming hit squads to attack the colonizers is political violence. Uyghurs Muslims fighting the CCP is political violence. Your original statement was not this, and so laughably far from this that I can't take anything more you say seriously. Yes there are criticisms for Vaush, and if he believed in like killing all capitalists, or assassinating republicans in congress, I'd say that's taking political violence wildly too far, but I seriously seriously doubt he believes that.

Did it ever occur to you that when Vaush said this he might have been like, joking? The fact that you can't tell it's a joke shows your extraordinary bias against this person.

I love this metaphor. Also ironic since your username is 'holygrail'.

I highly recommend the book The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey. It applicable to all disciplines, not really about tennis. The inner game is all about increasing concentration, being in the present moment, stilling your mind. To the degree that your ego mind is active, you will be less able to concentrate on what's happening in the game. Thinking about the glory of victory and the torment of defeat, and the feelings that accompany those thoughts, will take you out of the present moment and hinder your ability to concentrate. When you're 'in the zone', you have no time for anxiety, anger, fear. The idea of winning or losing is just an afterthought, something that doesn't even pop up until after the game. You feel joyful and at ease, and your effort is effortless and graceful. All the cells in your body sing with joy, commanding you to move faster. It's like you love the game so much you can't hold it in.

If you're saying that competitive gaming as a life purpose doesn't do much good for society, then I agree. However if that's your point of view, you're going to have to lump in a lot of different life purposes into that same category of which is something I'm not sure if you'd agree or disagree with: things like art, dance, sports, culinary arts, music, comedy.. with the caveat that these aren't used as mediums for political or ideological messaging (George Carlin, Pink Floyd, etc.). Competition is something that is misunderstood, especially in the spiritual community, and understandably so. For 99% of people, competition is an ego game for feeling superior to other people. People get off on the thrills and dopamine rushes of winning and losing, and the idea that they're more special or talented than their opponent. Observing this in people would make it seem obvious that that's all there is to competition, but there exists another perspective of competition that very few will experience. At the higher levels of competition, an inner game develops where ego gratification becomes the obstacle. In order to reach higher levels of concentration, the ego mind must be silenced. Competition then becomes an avenue where the stronger your opponent is, the more concentration is required. The strongest opponents let you fly the highest. Winning and losing no longer have much emotional weight on them, and in the moments of competition you feel a relaxed joyfulness and effortless effort. You'll be so 'in the zone' that you aren't thinking about what's happening, you're just letting your body act on its own. If someone asked you details about what occurred while in the zone, you'd have to go back and think about it because you were so focused you'd be unable to remember. Competition can be a powerful tool for increasing concentration, which is useful in all areas of life. If we're talking statistically and generally, then ya video games are a useless time-sink that can potentially become a life ruining addiction, something to distract yourself from greater aspects of your life. That's not where it begins and ends though, for a small minority of people these games (heavily depending on the type of game, btw) can be useful tools. I find this true for sports as well. Neither will be sufficient for a meaningful life purpose, but tools for honing concentration, yes.

Lol can't wait for that episode

Would you consider becoming a grandmaster at something like dance, music, slight of hand magic, surfing, to be no difference than jerking off in terms of flow state? There's a reason people love to perfect these types of arts. There's nobody who loves to perfect the art of jerking off, that's pretty much the same old schtick, nothing to be mastered.

This is not true for tomatoes, but true for pretty much everything else you get in a can. You can get get high quality tomatoes from a can if you choose the right brand, like San Marzano. Canned tomatoes also contain more glutamic acid, the umami taste. Store bought fresh tomatoes are picked before they're ripe, so they don't get the benefit of extra sun and nutrients, resulting in a tomato with inferior flavor. These tomatoes are also breaded for commercial reasons like shelf-life and disease resistance, further screwing up their flavor. Canned tomatoes however can be picked and stored when fully ripe, and aren't required to be bred for shelf-life. For quality fresh tomatoes, you'd have to go to the farmer's market during the few months tomatoes are in season, or grow them yourself. There's a stark difference in flavor between those and supermarket tomatoes. When buying canned tomatoes, always go for whole peeled tomatoes, not the diced ones, since those generally contain calcium chloride that prevents the tomatoes from turning into mush, and it makes them unable to break down properly when cooking. There are dishes where canned tomatoes won't work because of they require the texture of fresh tomatoes, like salsas or bruschetta, so in those cases you'd just have to just go with fresh. I have some concerns about canned tomatoes though, but not because of the quality of the tomato itself. Tomatoes are highly acidic, and that acid breaks down the plastic chemical lining inside the can, mixing plastic and BPA into your tomatoes. Glass containers would be preferable, but afaik the high quality canned tomatoes are all in cans.

What do you all think about Chomsky's analysis of the education system, that it's broadly a system that maximizes for obedience? Not to say that no education system is better than the current system, but that the way the system is designed is not to create human beings who will innovate and progress humanity, but to create humans who will conform and fit in place with the current hegemony. I'm interested in hearing your takes on the education system, and if Chomsky is on to anything here.

The whole simulation thing just begs the question. Ok, so this is a simulation within some other higher level universe, and that explains existence. So what about the higher universe, is there another universe simulating that universe? Seems like simulation theory is just a byproduct of modern tech, where we theorize that maybe future tech could simulate a universe, therefore we might be simulated, etc etc. Just keeps begging the question.

Don't be afraid, it's only love Don't be afraid, it's only love Don't be afraid, it's only love Don't be afraid, it's only love Love is simple Love is simple Love is simple Don't be afraid, you're already dead Don't be afraid, you're already dead Don't be afraid, you're already dead Don't be afraid, you're already dead Love is simple Love is simple Love is simple Love is simple

I was assuming that the changing of vocabulary you are referring to and concerned about is the 'woke vocabulary' coming from the LGBTQ+ communities. Is that correct or did I misinterpret your message?

Newspeak does not just mean 'changing vocabulary', that would be a very limited understanding on what Orwell meant by newspeak. In 1984, newspeak was meant to establish a simplified vocabulary that would limit people's ability to think and express themselves. With modern language we have all sorts of words and ways to express ourselves and our ideas. Fantastic, excellent, great, amazing, astounding, stunning, breathtaking, staggering, etc... In newspeak, you'd have: good, plus good, double plus good.

You can't boil the drug war down to just racism, but it seems very likely that racism is one root element of Nixon's war. Nixon was an open anti-black racist who also hated hippies, but he also hated drugs and drug users. The anti-war left got in the way of Vietnam war, and the continued movement for black liberation were problems for Nixon's campaign and the right. So the issue is multi-faceted, but that's my basic understanding of it. You could say that John Ehrlichman was just making stuff up for person reasons, but then you still have to explain the reason for the drug war. People don't just do things for no reason. As for the drug wars in Asia, you're talking about completely separate societies now. I don't think anyone is saying the drug wars in Asia are rooted in racism, because I've never seen any evidence for that. What seems to explain those drug wars is a collective backlash against the social havoc created by The Opium Wars.

Except the drug was originally politically motivated and based in racism.

Twilight zone called: "A Nice Place to Visit" A man gets murdered and finds himself in a world where anything he wants comes true. He wishes for beautiful women and instantly they walk through the door. He goes to the casino and wins every gamble. He shoots pool and every ball goes into a pocket. Weeks go by and he gets frustrated, and begs for unfortunate things to occur, however for him it doesn't feel right knowing he's the one arranging it all. It's a good episode, and really drives home this idea of not being able to appreciate things when they're unlimited.

If you're thinking about making money, wait for the market to fully crash.

@Blackhawk Why is Obama black and not white?