Someone here

No . I'm a bit all over the place lately. Very confused about big life descions that I have to make (career wise ). And also I'm getting older (I'm 26 now ) and still have not had my shit together. My health sucks because of the fucking cigarettes and my conscience is shit .

Do you mean intuition rather? Is it weird that I just don't care? Like everyone I now could die and I wouldn't care shit what happens to me .. I feel nothing except maybe bordem when I hang out with family and friends. My family was never mean to me. The only reason I've tolerated their obsessing with laundry and whatnot cuz I feel like I'm suppose to and the other people always ask me out. I'm honestly happiest when I'm at home doing my own thing.

I suppose everyone expects or desires a single moment when, bam, they have a new reality, however, I suspect for the the majority of people, it is an extremely gradual awakening to truths, an endless series of "two steps forward and one step back," ending with the scenario of a desire to not return to a prior level. So, are their definable stages when it is so long and so slow? Only in very large general terms, for we each walk a different path, each with different unlearning along the way.

Because people are being mislead about enlightenment. But enlightenment is when you let go of your need to understand infinity. For example im able to enter a stillness that I could only by accident enter for a very short time before, and it usually came after an extremely depressive mood. Now I can do it willingly, although still only for short periods of time, and do so whenever I remember to. Up until now I have been attempting to 'improve the dream' but realised that is my error, and in this stillness or awareness there is no dream, there is just awareness. Everything seems clear, and there is a sense of lightness and a subtle feeling of joy that it is similar to feelings I had in childhood. I'm more 'myself' than ever before. At the moment I bob between this level of awareness and being lost in my mind. My mind feels sharper though, and I'm more aware of my imperfections. Of course. Because we are all one . I'm you and you are me. What's left after this realization than to fall in love with each other for the rest of eternity(I mean unconditionallove not gay love ?)? If you've reached a state of pure joy and bliss, you don't need to go anywhere from there. That is the state of Brahman. The outer world won't change, but your inner world is no longer the same. You will keep coming back to the state of Brahman because it is your real identity.

You guys have a good squad . I expect Belgium to make it at least to the quarter finals. This is the last chance for both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo..I think Argentina can make it at least to the semi final . While Portugal might not make it further than the knock out stage of 16 . I support Brazil anyways.

Yes I'm recently thinking exactly like that ⬆️. All that matters is the quality of the present moment. Because that's all there is to reality .it's just a present moment. That's all you ever have . I found that Fantasy is an excellent way to help yourself feel better. I’ve recently started being intentional about using my imagination to boost my mood. For example, if I find myself ruminating on negative thoughts I choose to change the thought to a fantasy. fantasize about wearing a beautiful dress. Being with an attractive glass girl . I fantasize about being on a tropical beach or beautiful location. I’ve been depressed at the beginning of this year and couldn’t clean my room so I lay in bed and imagined I was in a beautiful resort. That was a much better place to be than my reality. imagination is free. Be intentional about putting it to good use. The mind doesn’t know if the situation is real or imagined anyway.

OK. I agree . I'd just say that Happiness is a combination of both external and internal. But the external happiness is temporary, and internal happiness is a state of mind. To fully enjoy the outer conditions of happiness, you will need to first become happy with who you are on the inside.

Amen ?

Might work .Might not. Needs testing So you are suggesting that You are devoid of happines because you are linking your happiness to a lot of other factors. It is coming with terms and condition? I will be happy if I earn so much money, I’ll be happy if that person is there with me etc etc What we do not realise is, happiness is not something that will come to us. It is something that comes from us. Is happiness a result or a choice? (Think deeply about this question).

Scary .

Your might have come to realise that your happiness does not depend on external factors. This is in ultimate sense indeed true. However you do depend a lot on external factors for life in general. From the people providing food to you to the people who create homes or for example people working in medicine. Those people all do things that benefit you. And those people might not have discovered what you did. So they depend for some part on the influence you have on their life. So getting good grades on your exams and because of that getting a decent job, doing any work or even just living and giving a helping hand here and there will relieve others of stress. It's not that you are a lonely man or woman living in a remote forest fed by nature itself, right?

I call BS ?. In truth ,you are aching for all sorts of material pleasures . Be honest

This is called Depersonalization-derealization disorder. Seek a professional therapist to help you out with the appropriate medications and provide you an outlet to express your problems . Be well?

When I was 5 yrs old I was so obsessed with boobs I started drinking out of baby bottles in order to pretend I had one in my face. When I was 9 yrs old I would steal my uncle's Playboy magazines and stare at them for hours. I was forbidden from playing with Barbie dolls because Ken always ended up headless in the corner, and Barbie and her friends naked and humping each other. I just felt that this was how things should be done, and didn't understand why adults kept asking me if I'd been molested. Despite my obvious nature, I did try very hard to be straight, or at least bisexual. I was very bad at it.

I do not mean believing in the religious aspects of Buddhism like rebirth etc. . Rather, i am referring to just their lifestyle of long periods of meditation, helping others, learning and doing meaningful work. If there is a chance to be relatively happy and cause minimal suffering in the world through living like a buddhist monk why would we not do it? Is it because temporary/materialistic pleasures (new cars, fancy computers, good food, sex) ARE NEEDED for some people's happiness? Are things like music and movies/stories/art needed for your happiness? If these things were not available in the world and everyone just meditated, socialised, volunteered and lived simply all day, there would be MUCH less non-human and potentially human suffering AND we could still possibly attain happiness? I guess in a broader sense I am after opinions or research on what is needed for a human to be happy. Obviously there will be variation in what is needed between people but there must be some general requirements shared by all. With this information, we would then be able to figure out how to live happily whilst minimising suffering of other sentient beings. Thanks in advance for your thoughts

Ah ..that's ⬆️ psychological analysis of dreams. Its not what I am talking about which is the metaphysical ground for dreams . I'm interested in questions such as ..what's the difference between dreams and waking reality? Whereas psychology claims that dreams are an outlet of the suppressed elements of your subconscious mind (which is what you said about whatever you think about often ..you end up dreaming it ). an observation: dreams and waking reality are identical manifestations. So whatever generates dreams is also generating your waking state right now. Ultimately, it's a philosophical question. I'd say the main difference is not in nature, but just in cohesiveness. Dreams are less rigid or cohesive; everyday waking reality is very strict and unbending. If you examine dreams, they are very staccato and full of non-sequiturs. Then again if you really examine waking reality, it's very similar. "everything we see or seem is but a dream within a dream " -Edgar Allan.

Like I said Because its gonna require the work of engineers and physicists and psychologists as well. science advances, most likely, but not for a while. Well I guess it already has, , if there is no brain there would be no mental illness. But besides that there’s not much else besides drugs like depression and schizophrenia meds. But as far as I know, that’s about it.

Could you explain why ? Did you get abused as a child? Do you suffer from unsettled trauma? I think it's a good idea for invention .but that will require hard work from both engineers, psychologists,and physicists . But I don't believe such a thing will be possible in our lifetime or in this whole century. Also consider...many people would rather retain their trauma… almost as a sense of identity, or be stuck in trying to make the trauma un-happen, or be stuck in blame and anger and seeking vindication, if not vengeance. Some people may even hold onto their trauma as a reason/excuse they cannot advance in their life. It’s hard to move forward when you are stuck in the past.

@Tyler Robinson have you ever tried to inquire into the metaphysics of dreams ? By asking questions like : What are dreams? And how they come about ?and where did they occur (in the brain or do we leave to parallel universes etc? Or is that just not of any interest to you ?

Enough of these mental masturbatory threads on solipsism..?‍♂️ You are god. And you are the only conscious thing In existence. "Other people " are like people in your dreams .

Well, for starters, how do you know it's boring? Have you ever lived a Buddhist monk's life? To you, life in the external world may be exciting. To Buddhist monks, maybe the internal world is even more exciting than the external one. For me, boredom is not something I experience just because I have nothing to do. I always have something to do. But sometimes, circumstances require us to be somewhere we’re not interested in being, engaging in mundane conversation that we don’t particularly care about and so on. Boredom can become a habit, however. So, we must be on guard. We are currently living a life mostly experienced in samsara. Consequently, we must attend to the well-being of our body, intellectual mind and spiritual nature. So, unless we’re trapped by circumstances, there’s no reason to be bored. There’s so much to learn, to do, to discover. How could we get bored?

Good points . I have also a question of how much it is beneficial to live the ascetic life and overcome attachments. With material possessions it can be a case of not having many but being extremely attached to a few. Detachment in relationships is difficult as well, and this is emotional as well as sexual. Also, sexuality may be a natural part of life and it is questionable to what extent a person should try to overcome this aspect of life entirely. In some ways Western culture overemphasises the importance of sex but for many people finding the right person is hard enough, but not having any sexual relationships is something that many would not choose intentionally. I think this is at the heart of finding happiness and joy. The Dali Lama called it a selfish compassion, the more you help others the more you seem to help yourself. You give joy and happiness away, and it comes back to you.

Meditation is something which I do wish for but I would not wish to renounce all pleasures and live as a monk. The reason why I don't think that I could live as an ascetic is that there is so much pain and suffering in life and it needs some pleasure to balance it out. Even in the monastic life in Christianity the monks and nuns are provided for and don't have to worry about supporting themselves. Strangely, not many people in Western life are drawn to the monastic life. In the past, many people were drawn towards it because they struggled with being gay. I have come across people who joined a monastery for that reason and left eventually.

If you see a person, out in a cafe or wherever, one day and you feel really attracted to them and you spend the rest of the day imagining and fantasizing about who they are, is this person all in your mind? Your fantasies about the person are in your mind, your stories, your assumptions are in your mind. But the person itself isn’t. The person exists, out there somewhere, independently from your fantasies. Do you agree /disagree? I'm trying to understand your worldview .whether is subjective idealism or objective realism. No I actually meant "mind " not "brain". Obviously you've got a brain inside your skull. But can you please point to your "mind "? It's just a concept. Zero actuality.

@emvipi you are God. So stop praying to yourself.