Vrubel

OMG! I can't believe this, are you seriously not aware that 20% of Israel's population (Israel proper) is Arab and they are even represented in parlement. I expected better of you, maybe a little less Venezuelan state Tv will help(;

@Leo Gura You are making me laugh! I am well aware of the dangers of the religious right. If you are interested in a more nuanced view of Israelis check out this Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CoreyGilShusterAskProject/videos It's about a guy that goes around asking normal Israelis and Palestinians questions. Some of the questions are very touchy and instagating. Here is just a little example. You will be shocked to see that most Israelis are reasonable and compassionate human beings and not monsters like the Venezuelan government would like you to think.

@Leo Gura Well Israel was founded by dirt-poor pioneers and refugees and now it's a prosperous and technologically advanced state where a lot of people would wish to live if it had open borders. I get what you are saying but keep in mind that most Israelis come from places like Iraq, Yemen, Russia, Poland and Morocco. Israel will envolve when it's ready. I do not live in Israel but I was actually born there in a town where Arabs and Jews live together and enjoy the same rights (healthcare, voting, payment etc.). I won't deny any inequalities nor the need for a Palestinian state. At the same time, security for Israel is paramount.

@Leo Gura I found this: "Einstein was a prominent supporter of both Labor Zionism and efforts to encourage Jewish-Arab cooperation. He supported the creation of a Jewish national homeland in the British mandate of Palestine but was opposed to the idea of a Jewish state "with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power." He did support labor-Zionism which was the prominent stream at the time of Israel's inception. But he was against temporal power and having an army. I just think that if the jews didn't have an army they would be totally at the mercy of stage red/bue Arabs and therefore creating the possibility of a second genocide.

@Leo Gura Do you think that Jews do not have the right to their own state?

Einstein was Jewish though so he wouldn't be accepted if he wanted to with his "wicked Jewish pseudoscience". (But yeah he had very high integrity) Thank god he escaped.

@Leo Gura If you were a 1930's German would you be a Nazi? (;

@Leo GuraMan, I could not disagree more with this statement. It's highly problematic precisely because the Nazi phenomena was not just a stage-blue nationalism. It was an absolute extreme of its most toxic form. You gave the example of a kid-boxer and Mohammed Ali both being considered boxers and went on saying that this labeling is misleading. Now, you are doing absolutely the same thing with stage blue nationalism. Nazi Germany is nowhere near the same class as for example stage blue societies like The Philippines, India or even fascist Italy. I don't care how spiritual or progressive you are, 'Nazi' is a highly slanderous and libelous term. Pretty much the most damning you can put on a person. Criticize Trump or American conservatives all you want but calling them Nazis will turn off a large portion of reasonable people who would otherwise agree.

Let's not forget the highly romantic aspect to stage blue: being chivalrous, having gracious manners, respect, politeness, extreme cordiality, heaving a sense of honour, not attacking the enemy when they are clearly weaker (because there is no honour in that), loyalty stemming out of deep love for the land and people, selflessness in service of king and country, being fine with modest living, having a sense of duty and responsibility, having integrity uncorrupted by wealth and personal gain. Here under is just a little example I find kinda admirable and beautiful:

@ItsNick John Brown was a radical abolitionist, that's the historically correct term. For me, it has a very positive connotation. The video is not saying something outrageous or "justifying slavery", I just think their arguments are not very convincing. In a sense, they are being too honest. The video says: "Lee believed that freed blacks should get an education but not the right to vote". This actually illustrates the nuance of the men. Whether you judge him as good or bad for that is highly relative to the place and time you live in. The video is very open to interpretation and rather than just stating the positives they also include the grey area. Apparently, PragerU wants to show that Robert E. Lee was not a blatant slavery defender but that he has done some "good" and was against slavery but admittedly he was against black (voting) rights. Saying that they are "insane pro-slavery" is very libelous and does not constitute a good argument against Robert E. Lee statues.

Yeah, John Brown should be the real American hero. And to me, the video does not make a convincing argument for why his statues should remain. But to be fair the video was historically accurate, people in the mid-1800s had another outlook on life. Almost everybody was racist back then, it was just a matter of degree. Robert E Lee was a modest gentleman with very high integrity but also very much so a man of his time. He was against secession but his loyalty to his home state of Virginia trumped any of his personal convictions. That's just mid-1800s morale, there is some beauty in it. Don't look down on these people because you have no idea how tough life was back then.

@Hatfort Sure he uses some offensive language and some discussion etiquette is kinda lacking(; But it is not directed at you personally but rather at the arrogance of people that lecture down on him in the exact way you do. You are just taking personal offense. He is actually more aware of the rift between you two than you are. For him the Iraq war was a life-saver, get over it.

He is doing none of those things. He wants to point out the insanity of you pushing your worldview and morals onto him, you fail to respect that he grew up and lives in a completely different world than you.

@Mesopotamian Nobody can choose where they are born and you have definitely been dealt a bad hand. As a westerner, I will probably never understand your struggles and I can only give you my sympathies for I can see you are trying to be the best you can be and that is damn admirable. While I see how many of your points are very valid and that green and Marxist dogmas sound very cringy trying to "lecture" you. I will ask you to reconsider your position on the Kurds. The Kurds are not a purely tribal people, in their region they have stable government and security. This is the product of a healthy stage blue organization. I have actually known some Kurdish people and as I understand the Kurds see themselves as one nation and are loyal to that nation more so than to their individual tribes or religions. Not to mention they did an outstanding job kicking out ISIS out of their territory. I sense some antagonism you have towards the Kurds, perhaps due to your upbringing in a tribal society. Please forgive me if I sound ignorant or out of touch but can you choose to live in Kurdish territory? As at least there they enjoy stability. (or is this not possible due to tribal tensions and the autonomy that they have there?)

Well, it depends on what the official narrative is. Columbus used to be a brave explorer that connected to words (stage blue). Now he is a genocidal maniac (stage green). Those are two examples of so-called official narratives. Personally, I think both of these are very simplistic, partial and laced with judgement/bias. but at the end, you can't escape the relativity of perspective, that's where awakening comes in. But quite frankly considering that the masses of people are very selfish and are not interested in (honestly studying) history, it is helpful to have at least an official narrative that is considerate of multiple perspectives and does not tolerate things like Holocaust denial. Hell... even on this forum I have seen people relativizing the Holocaust because they think they are being intelligent and edgy for going against the grain. This is where upholding an "official" narrative can be handy. Official narratives are for the masses who are not interested in history and can't think for themselves.

Of course! history is entirely built on perspective(s) and therefore highly relative. It is basically a story we make up to make sense-of and to contextualize the world. (For me a very fascinating story though, I love getting lost in it) Having said that it is still problematic from a societal point of view when people deny or are blind to other narratives. Denying or relativizing the holocaust, saying the civil war was not about slavery or completely refusing to acknowledge an "opposing" perpective is not exactly a sign of high intelligence and moral integrity.

It happened only 80 years ago not in ancient times, we literally have millions of witness testimonies from nearly all perspectives. History is not necessarily written by the victors, that's something that edgy teenagers say to sound intelligent. History is written by whoever writes it. For example the narrative of the civil war in America war was for a long time dominated by the south as they falsely stated that the war was about states rights and taxes, not about slavery. And how do you explain the bad press the Babylonians got in the bible despite conquering the Hebrews. Over time as peoples became less attached to their history being righteous and sacred, they become more open to a less biased, more honest and a more multi-perspectival interpretation of history.

I hear spiritual masters talk all the time about love, bliss, selflessness but never so much about holiness. Of course, mainstream orthodox religions talk about it all the time but they are not exactly helping in explaining what holiness is and what its role is in the bigger picture. I myself have experienced the radiance of holiness during trips. If I had to describe it in a visual metaphor it is like a golden radiance that feels divine, indicative of a higher power. In orthodox religions, people worship the "holy" because it humbles them and I can definitely understand why. Is holiness an absolute or when everything becomes holy nothing is? but most importantly what is it and why?

I am in this very peculiar phase in my spiritual life journey. It seems that whenever I go to bed my ego gets significantly weaker because it calms down and hasn't much to distract me with. For example, I become more conscious of the fact that I am headless in my direct experience. This can feel very good but lately, a recurring thing that happens almost every night for the past weeks is that I also experience a fear setting in, my body becoming cold and shaky and feeling nauseous. Almost like 5-meo in the coming-up phase. And it becomes intense! like it's hard for me to fully surrender to it. I try my best but I have noticed that I have some attachments that are keeping me down, attachments to this life "being real", my "sanity" and also not to puke all over the bathroom floor. This brings me to another thing: often recurring nausea waves. I always used to have a strong stomach and I haven't had to throw up for many years (with the exception while on psychedelics). I even traveled for months through third-world countries and my stomach was mostly fine. And now I get constantly nauseated even though I eat very standard food that I have always been eaten. Another aspect of this situation is that I became "fascinated" with dying, for lack of a better word. For example, I have had a very vivid dream where I received a mortal wound that was bleeding out intensely fast and I was fascinated to know what would go through my mind on such a moment. Also whenever I watch a movie and a (main) character goes through a serious life endangering survival situation, I get supper immersed and empathetic. Like I feel some of his fear and how he desperately wants to survive. It makes me literally sick to my stomach and I get nauseated again. My personal take on my situation is that my psyche is catching up with my new-found consciousness as a result of the relatively decent number of psychadelics I have been doing this year and my ego is just resisting in all these ways. (Even though the last time I took a psychedelic was over two months ago and as of now, I have never broken through to awakening.) I would love to know the take on this situation from those who are experienced in this field. Is this normal and did you had to deal with these kinds of things? How did you deal with them?

@Nahm Thank you for these inquiry questions, guess I must not go with the stories that my mind conjures and instead focus on direct experience. It's not exactly clear to me what is meant by this part

I don't have a regimented meditation practice but I do it on occasion though. None of my spiritual practices are done in a regimented way, it's just when I feel like it. For example, when I notice I am full of worries and negative thoughts I practice self-love. I also did it after failing to properly surrender in the aforementioned situation. Sometimes spiritual moments just come over me but most of the time my mind is grounded in my life (work, family, hobbies, etc.)

@Juliano Zn @Leo Gura I own carnivorous plants in my house. I find them very cool but the insects trapped by them die a slow agonizing death. They are literally digested alive. This is not very easy on my mind, at least when I slap them they die in an instant and do not suffer. The trapped insects do sustain the plants though so that gives me some peace. But yeah, nature is damn cruel.

If you look at the main reasons why Europeans went to war with each other since the 17th century it was basically to maintain the 'proper' power balance on the continent. Of course, everybody had its own ideas of a proper power balance hence the wars. Ever since German reunification in the 1800's, it became clear that the Germans will become the most dominant power on the continent because they were industrialized, had a massive population and a large territory (Germany used to be way bigger than it is now). Britain and France were particularly very uncomfortable with a strong Germany. These tensions led up to ww1 where Germany was defeated and forced to make concessions. You probably know about the treaty of Versaille. The treaty was harsh but in those days harsh treaties for defeated nations were the norm. For example, the Brest-Litovsk treaty where Russia had to give up the Ukraine and large parts of eastern Europe was arguably harsher. But nonetheless, Germans suffered a lot after ww1 mainly due to high reparations costs that led to hyperinflation. This gave them the resentfulness and bitterness that eventually would lead up to Hitler's election. If we look at things from the perspective of a 1930's German, he will still think that Germany deserves its place as a top European superpower. And within the general paradigm (Zeitgeist) of that time, he was not necessarily wrong because the Germans were indeed a cramped in nation that had the potential to become Europe's big superpower. Of course, this resentfulness and the feeling of deserving to be a superpower was expressed by scapegoating the Jews, becoming fascist and subscribing to the theory of racial superiority and a to the vision of a grand divine destiny for the German nation. Or in short, becoming a Nazi. After ww2 Germany was again defeated and this time the Germans could no longer have any self-righteous nationalist ideas. Why? Because of the sheer cruelty and inhumanness of its conduct of war and of course most importantly the Holocaust. After the Germans sobered up from their ideological intoxication. Germany owned up and took responsibility for this low-point in the history of humanity. This feeling of responsibility to maintain the truth of the holocaust and its war crimes is what defines the modern german people today and is also something that makes them more mature and developed. I hope I addressed some of your points regarding the reasons for the war, how Hitler fitted in, and how the war changed the world forever, well enough.

@Space I will! with the emphasis on "work my way up". My last dosages that produced the strongest trips were within the 20-25mg range. But before that, I have done even bigger dosages but they were not as strong. I think that incorrect technique had something to do with that but I also feel that the trips gradually become stronger and stronger because with each trip I confront some kind of fear that allows met to go to the 'next level' so to speak in my next trip, even when I am lowering the dosage.

In the last 6 months, I have done something like +-12 (plugged) trips with 5-meo-dmt. I started with low dosages and my first few trips were rather weak but as I upped the dosages and improved my plugging technique the trips became stronger. Now to be clear I have not yet broken through but in my last trips, I definitely felt close to losing an I. For the time being, I have decided to go on a winter-stop with my 5-meo use to integrate more and getting used to my new self. Also, I very much so enjoy tripping in my garden and this cannot be done in winter. Now the dust from all the trip-anticipation and ego-backlashes has settled I can see very clearly how I changed as a person due to the healing and added consciousness from the trips, here are three insights: 1. How I view my future: I remember from truffle trips that I had that whenever I thought about my future I literally could see an ominous void (this is by the way a good example of how psychedelics reflect and amplify your own psyche). Now I realize how deluded I was to think my future was some kind of ominous void. It is in the ego's interest to paint the world, in general, and your concept of the future in specific as something dreadful and frightful. This is self-preservation 101. Now after the 5-meo trips, I have the wisdom to realize that my future is exactly the opposite of dreadful: it is shining white! Having a genuine and deep optimism in life is a big strength and has nothing to do with naivety. 2. How I relate to nature: I always was a big lover of nature but like many other modern humans, much of my life I was disconnected from it. But in the last few years, I got a big passion for plants and gardening. This drove me to create a garden with all kinds of vegetables, berries and flowers on my terrace. During my trips, I would marvel at the wonder of nature and get incredibly excited when I discovered a newly blooming flower. Also in some of my trips, I became very ape-like and I moved around through the garden as if I was an ape foraging for food. I actually ate some berries and grazed on the basil. But because my terrace is closed off by walls I could imagine how an ape would feel in captivity and this made me empathize with all animals that are confined to small living spaces in captivity. I feel that I also integrated a lot of my stage purple side that was largely repressed in my life. I got a spiritual connection with soil and plants and a new appreciation for natural foods like vegetables and fruit. To me, the growth, flowering and fruit production of a plant symbolizes the miracle of life. 3. I am so utterly nothing and insignificant yet I am so utterly blessed. In one of my 5-meo trips I made the insight that God plays the Uncle Iroh archetype from avatar the animation serie (of course his character was basically a highly conscious human being). Even though you are a devil "that lost his way". God loves you and is nonetheless always there for you, blessing you in all kinds of ways. His blessings, you take for granted or may slip under your radar. I am a person who says thank you a lot and I usually appreciate other people for example helping me. But nonetheless, during one my trips I also realized that I am really an ungrateful little shit for being so blind to all the ways I have been blessed. I am so blessed it is literally unbelievable to the ego-mind. These are the 3 insights I want to share for now, but really I got many more, and maybe I will make a part 2. The last thing I want to say is that you too are incredibly blessed and that you need to be grateful for what you have. Chances are that the most valuable things you have are the people you love. If they are alone a lot, spend some time with them, and if that is not possible give them your attention via skype or something.