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Everything posted by trenton
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@Michael569 I wanted to thank you for this solid advice. I didn't know vegetables behaved in that way. I like adding a mix of vegetables to a lot of different meals so that should be fine. One problem is that I usually go for whatever is convenient and quick to prepare. This is how I end up eating a lot of junk. If I find healthy meals that are quick and convenient, then that would be great so I should look out for that.
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trenton replied to trenton's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@Mason Riggle I think you summed it up very well. Even when I am struggling there is some sense of nobility in the struggle. In this sense I desire to be in conflict with myself. This happens with people who criticize themselves a lot considering it a virtue. From this point of view that everything I do is what I desire, all reasons that I can't do something are self imposed so that I can stay in the desired status quo. -
I noticed that there are different types of wanting. One form of wanting is coming from a place of lack. This kind of wanting clings and feels painful as we insist that we need something. It could be money, a spouse, a new job, or anything else. In my case I feel stuck in life because I am telling myself to live up to my full potential by getting a better job than the one at the grocery store. This desire is coming from a negative judgement of my self image. The other form of desire is one that comes from a place of gratitude or abundance. A simple example is how I have been finding a lot of loose change lately. You could say that this is a little bit like the law of attraction, but I think something much more profound is happening. The universe can sense my true desires and it manifests itself accordingly. I call this intelligence. An example would be how I wanted to wish people good luck knowing that there were many factors beyond our control that could influence where we go in life. The thought I had was "may the force be with you" because I was referring to intuition as something almost magical. About an hour later a woman came up to me at work and said "may the force be with you." Some people would call this a coincidence even though this never happened before in my life. The way I interpret these things is that our minds our connected and ultimately one. The universe then speaks to me through other people in response to sensing my desires. It could also mean I am the universe. What are your thoughts on the types of desires? Are there others? In my experience desires from gratitude and hope seem to be much more powerful than ones from lack as I should myself.
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@BipolarGrowth I didn't clarify my body type. I am actually thin compared to others in my family. In fact my sister body shames me for being thin. If I flex you can feel my six pack. This has always been my body type for as long as I can remember and I'm 23 now. My legs are buff and my arms are thin. Thank you for highlighting the concrete benefits of taking health seriously. I can't become a chess master like this. In fact the world champion is a vegetarian.
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trenton replied to trenton's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@Mason Riggle I'm confused about something other than human desires. It seems like the will of the universe is all motion. For humans that could mean shifting into different states of consciousness. Our desires are included in what the universe wants. I think you got it exactly with suffering and desire being two sides of the same coin. My main desire in life is for effortlessness rather than being in conflict with my own thoughts and emotions. I have been journaling about these things for a few years while reading books on emotional mastery. One paradox is the fact that I am in conflict, granted to a much lesser extent, but I want to be peaceful. It is a bit tricky to resolve this paradox because the desire for peace carries the seeds of chaos. -
trenton replied to Razard86's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@Razard86 Very Powerful idea. I notice a lot of pain in my ideals of who I should be. It is almost like I am trying to force myself to be something I am not and as a result I end up being stuck in life with a lot of resistance. Pain is telling me that I could be something much greater than I think I am. For example, when I was younger I had the idea that I could think whatever I want because nobody could hear my cruel thoughts. The pain is in the falsehood that I am the ego mind and I am separate from the rest of reality. There are many other applications of this as well. Good message. -
If you are a Zelda fan, then you will be thrilled to discover that speed runners have used a combination of glitches to access data only previously available in beta ocarina of time. The triforce was originally intended to be obtainable, but the idea was scrapped. Speed runners are using these glitches not to destroy the game, but rather to make it even more complete. Enjoy!
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I am prone to making random noises. They are typically in response to thoughts which would be embarrassing or stupid if said to other people. Sometimes my mind gets stuck on one word and then starts to all of a sudden repeat it out loud. My typical reaction is "I need to hide." I don't want other people to see what I am like because I could easily be hurt. I don't think many people go through this sort of thing. I probably need to talk to someone. Other thoughts include "I'm a monster." This kind of behavior made me fear that I was going insane. I know these thoughts are not really true and suicide is not a problem. I have an abnormal brain development with autism, but I seem to have a hard time taking embarrassment. I plan on talking with a professional about this.
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@Breakingthewall one of the things I find very embarrassing is the fact that I think I'm smarter than other people. I sense that this is emotional rather than logical because the reality is that other people likely know something that I don't. This is why the thought that I'm smarter than other people would set me up for disaster if I ever acted that way around others. The cockiness would lead to stupidity. This would be a possible way in which my ego could show itself if other people knew that I think I'm smarter than them. In reality there are many ways in which people could be intelligent and I am intelligent in one of millions of ways. This seems trivial and funny now that I wrote it. In cases where it seems obvious, I don't think of it as much. For example, I'm the only one in the family who plays in chess tournaments so of course I beat everyone in the family. Likewise, my grandma thinks the 2020 election was stolen and Obama was an Arab, and I become more interested in her psychology than the fact that she is wrong. When I have nothing to prove I don't feel the need to think of myself as smarter than others. The most embarrassing of all would be philosophy and spiritual ego. Sometimes I feel like I'm advanced, but this conflicts with my logical mind. If I get cocky over this stuff, then first of all it shows that I am not as developed as my pride makes me feel. Secondly, it doesn't even make sense to think of my worldview as better than other worldviews because they are all imaginary And based on very partial information. Of course I don't know everything and no philosophy I imagine can objectively be better than other. In this case the function of my logic is an effort to distance myself from my feelings. They become suppressed and my body becomes more tense. Perhaps this is why I occasionally burst out like "I'm a monster." I don't want people to know that I think I'm more advanced than them. That would be the most embarrassing thing since I lost a chess game in the sixth grade because I got cocky and I haven't done that ever since. Emotions cloud my logic and logic suppresses my emotions. This is the conflict at play when I think that I am more advanced than others and the thought scares me because it may not be true, making a double whammy.
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I would compare a lot of this behavior to an abusive relationship, but on a collective level. The one who is cheating will accuse the innocent one of cheating on them. This is the case with the 2020 election with most of the voter fraud coming from republicans. There are republicans who openly admit to cheating and they justify it by saying "the democrats do it too." Republicans are excellent when it comes to capitalizing on this false equivalence to obscure the truth further. Of course the Republican party would use fraudulent signatures to crack down on the nonexistent voter fraud while claiming it is a both sides issue. Not to mention that many Republican candidates are being pulled from elections because of fraud. It's not just "a few bad apples" because it's the entire party. One deeper lesson in how hypocrisy works is that when we judge someone for anything, it creates an image in our minds. We then may subconsciously mimic what we judge. We therefore become that which we condemn. Had the Republican party not attacked the legitimacy of the 2020 election, we would not be seeing as much fraud coming from them. Let this remind us to me mindful of our judgements and notice our resentment toward the selfishness and devilry of the Republican party.
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trenton replied to Ineedanswers's topic in Society, Politics, Government, Environment, Current Events
@MusicalMillipede Welcome to the club! One of the reasons I am the quiet type is because I am afraid of what people would think of me if they knew some of the horrible things I actually think. This leads to me having a lot of judgements toward myself as I instinctively try to hide everything that could embarrass me. The things which would embarrass me the most are all of my judgements which reveal the arrogance and pride of my ego. I can see how these judgements boomerang and ultimately lead to some form of hypocrisy. So if I stay quiet, then I won't embarrass myself. The problem is that it makes me very socially awkward. Basically, on the inside I feel like I am superior to other people, but this conflicts with my logical mind that tells me there is a million ways in which this attitude could backfire. Maybe this is partially OCD. -
trenton replied to Ineedanswers's topic in Society, Politics, Government, Environment, Current Events
@MusicalMillipede Morality is an imaginary constructed belief system designed to serve the survival an individual or collective identity. For example, murder does not serve our survival, therefore a common moral idea is "killing is wrong." This easily become a an expression of our emotions and fears when survival drives our entire ability to reason. Notice for example your emotions when you imagine someone pointing a gun at your head and saying "morality is relative." Your emotions could easily hijack your reasoning, this turning our rationality into another survival strategy. Hence morality is often designed to control undesired behaviors. Common collective moralities include nations and religions. Homosexuality is held in a strongly negative view because these people do not fit the traditional Christian ideology of God creating Adam and Eve. In this case what is being survived is a collective ideology when it's morality is made law. This is neither good nor bad per say, this is another expression of survival. In the case of a nation, you can look at patriotism and war. Soldiers in any country are put in a positive light as propaganda and described as brave. It serves the survival of a country to win a war, hence it must control the moral narrative as our national identity is survived. Other examples include suicide bombers today and during world war 2. In these cases, what is being survived is a collective identity whether religious or national. It can come at the cost of an individual sacrificing himself, believing that he is a hero. In truth, you are creating good and evil by imagining that it is so. A belief system is like the glasses you put on that makes reality seem a certain way to you. I encourage to look at yourself when you start rationalizing, and you will see what I mean. There is an even deeper truth that everybody is good, but this is beyond the scope of this question. It is such a beautiful thing to realize that it will be left in tears as you forgive everyone because you realize that there is no evil to forgive. Your essential nature is love and it is the source of healing, peace, and joy as you align yourself with your true nature. -
trenton replied to Ineedanswers's topic in Society, Politics, Government, Environment, Current Events
His typical answer will be " morality is imaginary." Judging by how he acts in his videos... Leo has showed his ethical positions in a couple of ways. I would say his is a mix of a utilitarian and a consequentialist. He applies this both individually and collectively. In many ways his spiritual pursuits look like egoism. Meanwhile he mentioned that he does not want to stay in the carnivore diet for ethical reasons. 1. He tells his audience that they have a collective responsibility with psychedelics, arguing that if we misuse them, then society will demonize them, slowing the expansion of consciousness and spiritual awakening. This makes him sound a bit like a utilitarian who bases ethics on consequences. He also weighs the criminal penalties in his decision to use psychedelics. 2. A similar example is when he uses the example "oh morality is relative so I can rob a bank and it's not evil." He points out that there are consequences and you will be punished by your fellow humans if not God. Leo never says these actions are evil in any sense, but they are not in one's own favor or In the collective's favor. 3. The closest thing to an ethical egoist would be his pursuit of awakening. He goes off on his own away from everybody to seek love, truth, and selflessness, but paradoxically this is very selfish. Leo has experienced levels of awakening that allow him to forgive himself if he sets of a nuclear bomb and kills billions of people. In this case forgiveness is good for Leo, but not for humanity. The reason Leo seems so selfish in this last example is because his pursuit of selflessness goes full circle, making it identical to selfishness like a psychopath who becomes a mass murderer with no shame, yet Leo forgives himself out of love while arguing that guilt is not a very resourceful emotion. This makes it seem like Leo's position is "morality is imaginary." Typing this makes me feel like I should love myself more. It sounds very powerful. -
@jimwell I find it fascinating that scientists can grow meat like that. I read a little more about this and found two brands are beyond meat and impossible foods. The difference in environmental impact is too much to ignore not to mention all of the health issues and cruelty that can be avoided. If I had to choose a type of meat, then I would want to support a cause like this while fighting climate change.
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This is popping up a lot nowadays and I can't quite put my finger on this. I feel like this talking point about freedom of speech is commonly used to deflect from all of the misinformation and conspiracy theories being spread by the right wing so they can whip up a culture war and obscure the truth further by hiding behind the false pretense of freedom. This seems like a very annoying talking point to challenge because it is simplistic, dogmatic, and absolutistic. It leads to various straw mans such as "you are censoring me" "I have as much of a right to speech as you do" and other nonsensical arguments. This seems like such a stupid distraction from challenging incorrect statements. It is not about silencing you, it is about deprogramming lies. This talking point is designed to shut down reasonable counter arguments through a straw man of "attacking my rights." This is kind of like the "America first" pseudo moral argument for turning refugees away among other short sighted dogmatic positions to undermine globalization, racial equality, and more. It is almost like a pseudo moral argument for somebody harassing you, calling you the n word, spreading slander, and inciting panic. The freedom of speech talking point is like a false front of genuine concern over censorship in order to enable explicit racism, hatred, bigotry, through falsely equating it to all forms of civil speech, thus normalizing blatant lies, hate speech, and alt right ideologies which would allow the Republican party to maintain power by pandering to these hate groups. It seems like one of those fake moral panics like critical race theory, Dr. Seuss books, trans gender pedophiles, Satanists, the commies, the illegal alien pedophiles, and more. Freedom of speech is just the most prevalent and stubborn pseudo moral panic that the Republican party is pushing. I can't see this game being sustainable for the Republican party because by making the hatred of its base more explicit, it will only further radicalize the popular support against them. They already struggle with the popular vote constantly, and they must pander to a hateful minority in order to keep power which can't be good for them long term, especially considering all the other unsustainable tactics they use to maintain tyranny of the minority. The idea that the left is pushing an Orwellian ideology to destroy America seems completely overblown utterly ridiculous as the Republican party desperately struggles to survive its low information, racist and bigoted base through crusading against social media and creating widespread moral panic out of thin air. How would you try to put what conservatives are doing with this talking point into words?
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I'm back from the chess tournament and have the same pattern of not winning won games. This part of my practice may need more of my attention than endgames and I may subordinate studying endings to converting won positions. The thing is that these topics are entangled. If I improve my endgame knowledge, then I could use that as an additional way of winning won games. It is just that in my games I often allow my advantage to slip in either time trouble or a complicated middlegame. I have also been debating whether or not to return to the chessable daily streak. On one hand, I don't want it to become an unconscious habit of merely surviving a streak. It places an uncomfortable pressure on me during my studies. I might decide to kill my streak on purpose once a month just to make sure I'm studying consciously rather than as a survival machine. It would be a 600 day commitment to hold a 1000 day streak just to get a badge. I'm leaning toward killing my streak on purpose to send myself the message that I am not there for badges and points, I'm there only for the most relevant courses to my chess growth. These courses are relevant opening courses, endgame courses, my current tactical drills, and potentially computer or championship studies. I see my mind subtly blurring the boundary between badges and improvement because in many indirect ways, these badges could be related. The badge that bothers me is 1 in 100,000 achievement. Once I get that I should be happier when it stops bugging me. In other news I have deconstructed my self image as an anti conformist. I feel much happier, more peaceful, and joyful. I am more authentic without the underlying neuroticism beneath my creativity. It was a need to be different and stand out. I can be creative without this underpinning negative motivation of being conformist, mediocre, etc. Perhaps this is the reason why I often set unrealistic expectations for myself and became depressed. I will share the story with my brother because he may find it instructive.
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I will be writing in this journal everyday to remind myself of my mission. I have a cognitive dissonance in spite of finishing the life purpose course. I am mainly split between spirituality, politics, and chess. I must know what I want. This topic makes me cry when I write about it, yet I feel determined. I work at a job which does not allow me to exercise my full potential. It also does not pay enough money for me to live on my own, and even if it did I would be working so much that I could not be a chess player. I would need a part time job which allows me to be off on weekends. Otherwise, I cannot play in as many tournaments as possible and I will continue to lag behind. I know it is possible to play in a tournament every week. As for spirituality, I understand the truth can radically change how I see the world. I would rather live knowing than not knowing. I will have to place a schedule to the best of my abilities and stick to it when it comes to meditation and eating foods that help my mind. I don't know how effective psychedelics are, but currently it is impossible for me to use them legally and epilepsy is a possible issue. I must rely on books and meditation on this front. As for politics, I am concerned about my contribution to mankind. I feel like I need to do something that matters. If there were such a thing as a job about Decriminalizing psychedelics and marijuana, then that could be cool. I know that I value doing something significant with my life so my existence can be felt. Otherwise, I feel like my life is meaningless in a bad way. This may also require a lot of work to get a bachelor's degree and go to law school and such. This would be far from being a chess player. One plan is to move to Kentucky, but my family is hesitating. I can't go to another country and try psychedelics because my family does not want that. I can't move out unless I have a full time job that prevents me from competing in tournaments and working in a job that fulfills me. These can'ts are not the end all be all. I might have to move to another country to become a chess player. At any rate, I want to resolve this cognitive dissonance that interferes with my life purpose. I can't tell what field of master I should go for. I will figure it out somehow, and writing here everyday will be my reminder.
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For the first question, it is about popular support. Restaurants would have a lot of controversy drawn to them if they said "whites only" or they seemed transphobic. An example is my job at a grocery store where they gave us this kind of lesson in gender identity. If workers at a grocery store argue with these people, then it will kick up a lot of controversy which is bad for our reputation. Hence corporations want to be seen as tolerant and accepting of as many customers as possible. "The customer is always right." As for the second question, you can look at recent history for evidence. Nowadays republicans are opposed to trans people in the military as they were with "homos in the military." Similarly, homosexuals used to be lumped together with sexual predators as is happening with trans people being harassed in public. You can compare the support for same sex marriage sense the 1980's for further proof or you can look at landmark supreme court decisions. The key term is "compelling interest." There were some supreme court cases in which police officers broke into the wrong home and arrested two gay men. The court argued that police officers lacked a compelling reason to prosecute homosexuals if they are not hurting anybody. Of course with the overturning of roe vs wade there might be other terrible decisions with the politicized supreme court. Here is an example of how republicans used to behave.
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I would like to add one more thing about low consciousness. In this case, low consciousness also claims that it is for the sake of truth which is being oppressed. In fact "truth" is being weaponized to hurt other people because low consciousness can get away with it. Therefore, "truth" as a false pretext of the true motive of hurting others is also falsehood. This would appear in cases like libel, slander, and calling a Trans woman a man in the name of truth. It is difficult to argue with low consciousness when it claims falsehood is truth and truth is falsehood. This is common in free speech when conspiracy theories about the election are being spread around and causing violence.
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This issue seems to get a lot of attention and brings a lot of controversy and division. People become very ideological when one side argues that they are "free speech absolutists" almost like a religious moral argument, a second side argues that the issue of regulating misinformation is misguided and backfires, and a third side argues that "free speech" is a stalking horse for violence, hate speech, defamation, slander, libel, and other forms of baseless conspiracy theories which are illegal. It reminds me a little bit of the abortion debate in which people become very heated while framing the issue in drastically different ways. One side says it is about stopping murder and the other says it is about women's rights and public health. In the case of free speech, the issue is being framed as a moral dispute regarding censorship of what one side calls truth and the other side calls lies. I can see why this issue is deeply misguided if it provokes these kinds of responses, thereby amplifying the problem rather than solving it. I'm trying to imagine a more conscious approach to this kind of discussion, but I am not seeing a way at the moment. I think the issue is that people are sitting at different levels of self awareness and are trying to bring others to that same level. If I were to describe low consciousness, I would say that it feels light and pleasant. This pleasantness often comes from the sense that we are in control of other people's emotions and we choose to make them upset because we can. It is a little smug as we get what we want by pretending to be something we are not. A few examples include people seemingly forcing themselves to say the n word, call trans people by the incorrect name of pronoun, or taking out assumptions for granted as if everyone else should hold them. This would be something like "owning the libs" or the schadenfreude of the fact that republicans are dying of covid. If people are unwilling to see this low consciousness and evolve beyond it, then arguing becomes fruitless, controversial, and divisive. In the case of free speech, the problem is that low consciousness is very addicting hence Tucker Carlson is the most watched news host and the daily wire is the fastest growing conservative podcast while white supremacy is on the rise with over 600 white supremacy organizations active in America today. I would say this controversy concerning free speech is perfectly designed to serve low consciousness, hence it looks so much like a stalking horse to me. It creates an alternative fact or reality that they are being oppressed and it is difficult to argue with these absolutistic positions. Could there be a different way of framing this issue? What would higher consciousness look like In this discussion? I'm not sure of the answers at the moment, but I can see how devilry and selfishness flourishes in the framing, assumptions, hidden motives, and implicit manipulations of other people and the context of the issue.
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@Manusia I have recently been contemplating my judgements of religion and How it creates a shadow. I have gathered some good insights which have helped me to relax my judgements as I become more peaceful and happy. At the root of my judgements there is an image I am attempting to survive. When I thought of something like religion, I would think of things like conformity. This conformity would strip away our authentic self as we become vehicles of an ideology rather than what makes us most happy. This is a well meaning approach of pointing to God by sacrificing the ego self. Furthermore, religion tries to lock you into one perspective. This dogmatism rubbed me the wrong way since I was a child. I felt that in order to live a beautiful life, it requires looking at the world from many different perspectives. This would enrich your experience whereas in the case of a fundamentalist Christian for example, he would be locked into on perspective until he dies. In many cases he may only be pretending to be religious anyway because he thinks it's good for a number of reasons. It seemed somewhat tragic and saddening when a fundamentalist lives out someone else's life. I should mention that I was sceptical of the genocides as well. I reasoned that Christians believed they were good and Muslims were evil and Muslims felt likewise. This would be moral relativism and it became more foundational to how I think about reality when I looked at people fighting In politics. My brother feels this way as well In that politics could be a good and interesting educational opportunity, but it just gets so heated. In response to this possibility, I decided that my values would be things like open-mindedness, creativity, individuality, and other things like this. Perhaps these are good values to have, but a lot of This is coming from negative motivation, and only some of it is the positive motivation of seeing the beauty of life from many angles. This creates a shadow out of state blue religions in that they stunt creativity through a conformist paradigm lock. This becomes the root of all kinds of different judgements we have of religion. Most of the judgements we have of stage blue are surface level issues which are only for convenience. The reason I call them convenience arguments is because we give plausible reasons as to why we dislike religion, but they are not out true reasons for our judgements. For example, suppose the Catholics get busted for a sex scandal. If someone was a Catholic all his life and divorced himself from his religion after discovering his six year old daughter was molested by a priest, then for him the sex scandal is the true reason why he judges religion. Meanwhile, the simplistic ego mind wants to just say Catholics are bad because of the sex scandals and I want nothing to do with religion. In this case the sex scandals are retroactive. My true reason for judging religion is that threatens to strip away my originality. Other convenience arguments include religious intolerance and persecution, indoctrination in public schools, righteous anger in response to these things like my atheist friend, the stupid arguments Jehovah's witnesses make, and many more. These reasons are plausible, but they are critical of surface level corruptions and are only manifestations of dogmatism. This low consciousness arguments are likely not your true reasons for judging religion. A similar example in politics just to give more examples would be to say "I hate Trump because of x incident." If this is coming from a progressive, then they probably hated Trump long before whatever else he did and their true reasons are probably deeper than this surface judgement. The problem my psyche is trying to cope with stems from the fact that I have good values, but for negative reasons and it snowballs further and further into the inauthentic self. We could almost say it is analogous to a fundamentalist Christian who became that way because he didn't want to go to hell, rather than because of beauty of being a Christian. this can spiral into all kinds of fraud and hiding skeletons in his closet while wall papering of his doubts. From this level of self awareness, I started thinking I hold these values, but it is as an anti-conformist. What if I could hold these values, but as something other than an anti-conformist? This opened my mind in this not knowing and as I began to wonder, "what could This something else be?" I felt more peaceful, happy, joyful, and playful. This is closer to why I find my values beautiful and it does not require judging religion in order to maintain the self image of an anti-conformist. I would like to expand one how this anti-conformist image influenced my life and behavior. It would come up in school where I would want to stand out and be weird. I was creative in many ways, but there was a neurotic underpinning to this creativity. One example would be the outlandish stories I wrote for school projects. This would catch your attention as you witness my imagination explode in all kinds of ways. Another example is my fear of mediocrity. It makes me judge myself harshly for not living up to my full potential and working a job that does not fit my passion. It makes me bitter and resenting of my life as I regret my indecisiveness in pursuing a life purpose or making one that works. For example, I wanted to be a chess master, but it is hard to make it and hold down a job that exhausts you. My family wanted me to go to college, but there was nothing in college about becoming a chess master so I was indecisive. My resentment in my job and life situation comes from the sense that I am failing to live life to the fullest and it is linked to suicidal thoughts. We could say that judging religion serves an image of an anti-conformist, but this is not who I really feel I am. The judgements which stem from this identity burn on the inside because it does not best represent who I am. But rather the not knowing and mystery of this "something else" makes me fascinated with reality and points me to my authentic self and to who I really am. Of course I don't have to be a conformist an i can still be creative, but what I truly want is something beyond this image. I wonder what my life purpose would look like if I lived like this. I hope you found my story and input helpful.
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@Hardkill true that is a risk. There are many great movements that failed through history like MLK and his poor people's march. Many of the failed movements are rarely discussed in the educational system today because these movements are still incomplete and threaten the status quo. Perhaps you think that I am being too idealistic with the progressive movement. At the very least there are a couple of issues that will soon enough chip away at the evils of corporate greed, the Republican party, and religious bigotry. If these ideals are too grand for you, here is my alternative. The Republican party is starting to have some In fighting with "woke corporations" who are lobbying them. This is happening because of the culture war against LGBTQ. Corporations are currently evolving toward progressive values because their profits improve by separating themselves from bigotry. Unfortunately for them, this attracts progressively minded workers. These are the kinds of people who want to unionize in order to improve their wages and working conditions. These corporations which have been feigning progressive values are being strongly pressured to keep their word. Starbucks and Amazon for example have been backed into a corner and have broken hundreds of laws in their anti-union campaign. Even so the workers are coming out on top. If you feel pessimistic because of my idealistic approach, then I should mention that I actually feel optimistic about the progressive movement at this slower rate. The Republican party failed in their culture war against homosexuality, and they will fail again in their transgender bigotry. Meanwhile, if we continue to unionize across the nation, then corporations will evolve and wages will improve. On this front corporate greed and religious bigotry are losing to progress. The issue I am most pessimistic on is climate change and environmental issues. There are so many geo political factors at play and deep governmental corruption because of oil companies and the CIA. In terms of getting money out of politics and making the several necessary constitutional amendments, progress is coming at a snails pace in climate change and it will lead to water wars. If there is any hope on these issues, then just maybe, by pushing corporations to evolve into progressive values through mass unionization, we could get more concessions out of these companies by exposing their green washing campaigns to cover up all of their pollution. Does this make you more optimistic? Progress may be slow this way, but we might have a realistic chance if we are not discussing movements on the scale of the civil war.
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@Hardkill unfortunately, I think this is the case. When I think of a movement, I am thinking on the scale of MLK, Ghandi, and others. Another example of bringing about change, although a bad change would be the events of January 6th. I am not saying that we should be violent, but if you look at the scale, how many people showed up in that massive hoard united under one purpose, then that is roughly what the size of the progressive movement should look like across the country. Another idea for a movement I have in mind is about climate change and the rampant human rights violations of oil companies who are responsible for many tragedies across the globe. Chevron owes over 50 billion dollars in lawsuits for their environmental destruction, they pretend nothing is happening, and they use judicial harassment on prosecutors trying to hold them accountable for their actions. Meanwhile, Shell is manipulating entire governments and militaries in order to kill environmental activists in South eastern Nigeria. This oil companies will stop at nothing to slit your throat if you get in the way of their profits. You can just look at the history of union busting and How they used to use machine guns and WW1 planes to bomb protesters. There is even the use of financial terrorism to remove people from their homes using PMCs to damage cameras arguing that you owe them money when you don't. Even the judges will ignore these blatant crimes because they fail to recuse themselves when they hold stock in the companies involved. This atrocities are not gonna be fixed with a couple of protests because there is way too much money and political corruption tied to environmental issues. As MLK would put it, humanity needs a revolution of moral values. We have subordinated the well being of mankind to the dollar and by tying the dollar to oil we have locked ourselves in endless militarization to place puppet governments in power across the globe. America is using its military power to subvert democracy in many nations which would otherwise flourish. The CIA admits all of these things as they use the pretense of stopping the commies all to maintain global domination by monopolizing oil and water to maximize profits. This is the attitude that the progressive movement needs, and this is roughly the scale of the movement we should be thinking of if we want change. These are the kinds of politicians we need to be supporting. Minutes 10-11 are what I'm talking about. https://reason.com/volokh/2021/09/28/federal-judges-failed-to-recuse-in-hundreds-of-cases/#:~:text=Over 100 federal judges failed to recuse themselves,a company involved in a case before them. If you want change, this is the scale I have in mind. Of course dont be violent and murder people, but we need a "revolution of moral values" as we properly confront these crimes against humanity.
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There are multiple websites on this issue. Not only is there PTSD, but there is also PITS. Here is one of the sites and quotes. https://www.surgeactivism.org/articles/slaughterhouse-workers-and-ptsd “Perpetrator-Induced Traumatic Stress” (PITS) syndrome, such as increasing dissociation and nightmares: “One day I dream that the cow gets out at the stunning box. It was alive. Then, I think that I am crying and running, and that time I am not running. Down here! Down here! [motioning that he fell down]. The cow is coming and you fall down! You fall down!” “I dream about the cattle, when you stun it, it just fall down, after falling down, when you open the door it will ask you: ‘Why are you killing me?’” I see what you mean about the psychopaths being dissociated with what they are doing, and there are many ways in which this unusual way of thinking could be a talent. Perhaps working in a slaughterhouse is another way if they love it. Interesting idea. Glad to hear it! Good for you! This is the balance we need to strike with such ugly realities. This is a misunderstanding of what I meant. When I mean framing this as a health issue, I don't mean we should become vegans. There are some people in this forum like that, but not me. I am referring to the fact that the EPA and FDA guidelines are outdated and poorly enforced. The food industry is deeply corrupt and responsible for all kinds of health issues aside from just meat. I am not saying we should get rid of meat, but if you want to improve the quality of meat, then we can start by not feeding animals plastic garbage. As for a meat alternative, I don't know what that would be, I never looked into that so much. What do you have in mind? Other ways to reform the food industry require a widespread movement to challenge the lobbyists who stand to gain from the lead, mercury, pfas, arsenic, and micro plastics in our food and water. The treatment of animals is only a small portion of what I mean by health issues, as the concern is about putting cameras in factory farms and not feeding animals what we are feeding them. The rest is well beyond animal treatment, but such a movement would likely improve animal treatment a little. Sorry if I was not clear about all of this.
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One way I think of government is that it never brings about deep systemic itself. The best you will get is policy reform. The government is naturally resistant to change because it is stuck in previous survival strategies that and must demonize the "radical left" in order to maintain its sense of order. In many of the examples you mentioned, these changes were not thanks to the government, but rather the mass mobilization of millions. Real change comes from changing how people think, rather than fighting in the futile back and forth of passing progressive policies only for it to be stripped away by the next conservative in office. Perhaps abortion is an example of this with roe vs wade. And remember the abolition movement was only successful thanks to a very bloody civil war, not peaceful election and persuasion. If you look at progressive members of Congress, you will find further proof that government is not designed for deep systemic change and it has a heavy bias toward the status quo. Many progressive members still take money from oil companies, this causing them to over promise on environmental issues and there are pressures on place causing most progressives to vote on favor of military spending, security, and the war on terror which is rarely referred to as the oil wars or water wars. Most progressives in office are limited in the kinds of changes they are able to make because of these pressures. I can think of many necessary movements to bring about change beyond public policy. Challenging the FDA and EPA guidelines on pfas, heavy metals, and micro plastics, arguing that the food industry is responsible for 80% of American health issues comes to mind. There is so much money on the line that change will never come from the government hence the safety guidelines are both dated and poorly enforced. Only wide spread mobilization can challenge money in politics. Mass polarization in America does not help as we are the most polarized nation in the world and it makes it impossible to reason with a very partisan Trump supporter.