Joshe

Why don’t you guys start up a business? Do you have any marketable skills? If one of you knows how to build websites or something, and the other knows how to do marketing or sales, you can have your first clients within 2-3 months time. And you could use this forum to ask for all sorts of advice along the way. Of course it’s hard to escape when you’re in it because you don’t have much energy left to do things, but it can be done, and probably much easier if you band together. Channel all this passion into a business pursuit and it will work, no doubt. This is the same energy I used to escape my construction job. I quit that job and worked 14-16 hours a day making damn sure I would never work for anyone else ever again. How bad do you really want out? Gotta take some risks.

Yeah, I wouldn’t rule out some pathology 😂 What is it they’re trying to find in you that you say doesn’t exist?

Some guys would just like some pussy without a girlfriend. Such as myself, and Dr. House from House, MD.

They're not opposing socialism. That implies they are thinking. We've already covered that they aren't arriving at "socialism bad" from analysis. And they are not intuiting socialism is bad, as that cannot be intuited without knowledge. They say "socialism bad" because homeostasis, fear, propaganda, tribalism, culture war. They tribally adopt "socialism bad, liberal bad, capitalism = conservative = good" like a Pavlovian reflex, not from some magical wisdom that just happens to find them. I smell Jordan Peterson.

So are you saying the electorate has been getting it right?

Gotcha. It just sounded like you were saying the majority position in the electorate (conservative) is more accurate than the position of the one you're calling a socialist, and it sounded like you were using an appeal to popularity and/or wisdom of the crowd fallacy to prove that point. So I just thought I'd swoop in and remind everyone that the electorate is dumb af. 😆

Oh, I thought you said "They understand capitalism vs. socialism better. They understand human nature better." with "they" being the electorate. My bad.

Bro, most people who say they support capitalism do not understand capitalism. It might seem that way if you live amongst and surround yourself with intellectuals, but the average person in the US doesn't even know what capitalism is, even if they claim to support it. At best, they'd say it's where you're allowed to sell goods and services. But that's about as far as their knowledge goes, if it even reaches that point. I'd venture to guess maybe 25% of the electorate could demonstrate a somewhat satisfactory understanding of what capitalism is, and of those, maybe only 10% could tell you it's systemic effects and intelligently discuss the pros and cons. To understand capitalism does not come by way of intuition. It must be learned and contemplated, and this is an endeavor almost no one takes on. So your claim that conservatives understand capitalism is just absurd. I asked ChatGPT if I'm full of shit:

One difference is the width of their circle of concern. Of course, it's often tied into their egos, but that doesn't change the fact that in general, republicans have a relatively narrow circle of concern. Most republicans don't have much empathy outside their immediate family, community, church, etc. So their economics really only factor in what's good for them, not the nation. At least young, idealistic socialists actually care that people in general have relatively comfortable lives, while the conservatives in general don't give a t-total fuck about that. I'd say that's the main difference. Whether the socialist's position is logically sound or feasible is, IMO, not the point. The HOW of solving a problem can be adapted, but without the right intent, the problem will never get solved. That's the difference. Just because they don't have the answers doesn't mean their position is inferior. And when you say the electorate understands capitalism, socialism, and human nature, IDK where you live but this doesn't come close to my experience living in the US for 39 years. The electorate doesn't understand any of this.

The truth is though, many here are very different, like aliens inhabiting different realities than that of the average person. For the longest time, I avoided this about myself because I didn’t want to be special, separate, or superior, but I did want to be seen and understood. But due to the differences, to be seen and understood was rare. So how is the one who lives in the deep to be seen when the vast majority live in the shallows? Well, they can toss some bait out into the shallows to see if they can bring anyone out, or they can abandon their natural habitat and go into the shallows, or they can wait for another deep creature to make themselves known and hope for compatibility. For me, there has always been some force that keeps me in my depths, even at the cost of isolation, but I would hope others would find me there. IMO, these differences between our realities need to be understood, lest we be confused why we can’t be seen or can’t connect. And the reality is, many here are incompatible with the vast majority of the population, and if they’re to connect, they will most likely have to act out of alignment with their true nature. That said, of course the ego loves being special and can easily get lost with it. But to reject or deny or minimize the differences is an even more subtle trap I’ve seen highly developed people fall into from trying to avoid anything that hints at ego.

What exactly is it they understand better?

It was such a long time ago and I was so young that I don't remember exactly what happened but I think what happened was at some point during the 3 days, I had lapses in suffering and I realized that in those lapses, I was not suffering. So I inquired into that and asked what was different about those lapses, and I was able to trace the suffering back to how I was using my mind, or how it was using me. Then, I tried to not suffer and it worked. I remember walking out the room with a smile on my face. I recently discovered that deep suffering is possibly the largest contributor to increased consciousness and/or metacognition, but only if the suffering is not resisted and the epistemology used to process it is solid. It has to be fully felt, and there can be no one or no thing to rescue you. You have to be the one.

Because I was young and didn't understand how things worked. You're funny with this mirror effect. I was thinking the other day I should ask you about it. Can you point me to some info about it?

What are you proposing here? There’s no roadmap. Only vibes. Empowerment makes one feel better but will slump back down again without a plan and execution.

Yeah, my entire family is like that, except for my dad. So everyone but him would sneer at these concepts. Years back, my sister wanted me to watch some Christian video and I told her I would if she watched a video on enlightenment. Showed her one of Leo’s hour-long videos and her responses to it were funny af. She did not have nice things to say about Leo. I remember trying to engage people on these topics in my 20s and people just aren’t interested. It’s hard to find people interested in anything deep.

He did it all for the nooky

You’ve got to accept the possibility that humans could self-destruct. What can you do? You could ban together and get to work on solutions. Build a business that generates money for you to tackle the problems. Imagine a business that boosts existing signals of higher consciousness, or a shadow operation with the goal to sabotage/dismantle evil entities. You need capital.

I taught myself this level of emotional control at 15. I was heart-broken by my first trophy of a girlfriend breaking up with me. I was devastated, in fetal position for 3 days trying to get out of the suffering. Eventually figured out I have control over my emotions. It was a matter of realizing I didn’t have to keep them alive. Then, remembering that each time a situation came up. Over time, it gets easier and easier. I can leave it all behind because I can choose to. This doesn’t seem like very advanced stuff from my perspective. I get that most people aren’t metacognitive, but if you are, it doesn’t seem like next-level stuff. I remember telling my sister, “stop letting it bother you”, and she’d be like “people aren’t like that, Josh”, and I’d b like, “ you can be”. Lol. Anyway, I don’t know exactly what enlightenment is, but I always assumed it’s way more than metacognition + emotional control.

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Upward-Spiral-Audiobook/B00T3J3M54?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp

Credit card is the way to go. Debit cards open you up to being scammed. If a CC becomes compromised, you don't have to worry about your bank account getting drained. That's the main reason to use a CC instead of debit. Plus, it boosts your credit score, which can come in handy. Just be sure to pay it off every month.

At the least, it's def a collab with AI. This line gave it away: "That’s not empowerment. That’s cognitive dissonance in yoga pants." But I think it's best the tells are left unsaid, lest they adapt.

For me, that goes without saying. When I say live your life based on a small handful of principles, what I really mean is become intimate with those principles. I mean flesh them out fully so they are not vague. Comprehensively define what living in alignment with them looks like, come up with quotes, maxims, or pearls of wisdom that you can use for realignment, elucidate why the principle matters so much to you, etc. And then, review each day to make sure you lived in alignment with them. Also, it makes sense to choose just a few for each season of life. The problem with a long list is there’s not enough time to work on them all. Also, not everyone is in need of integrating the same set of principles, so my list would likely be different from yours. To put presence before principles that facilitate financial freedom is, for many, to put the cart before the horse. But maybe someone doesn’t care about financial freedom, and in that case, they can skip the principles that facilitate it. I chose those 4 specific principles because they facilitate financial freedom, which is my current goal. Once attained, I will pick new ones.

Interesting