BlueOak

A repeat of my previous comment on it: Activism achieves nothing without overt display. It achieves little with overt display but something is better than nothing. People only remember spectacles or grand gestures. It's a very basic way of approaching a problem, but some of that energy is required for any change to happen. Most climate protesters then have no further plan, which is why this doesn't change a lot. But again, something is better than nothing. You can relate it to the emotion or anger you might feel upon encountering something you don't like in your life. As people point out they still use cars, planes, and/or energy, and the same systems we do. Over time some will realise they can make progress from inside these systems more effectively, as opposed to always being outside of them, some won't. They will have to learn to adapt or make small adjustments where they can within those systems to achieve any lasting or measurable change. The spectacle is useful to get through to people who are completely unaware that anything is wrong or needs attention, especially given how our media operates, he who shouts loudest or makes the most spectacle is listened to the most. *Going beyond this sort of gesture activism does require some personal sacrifice of ongoing time and energy. Also a realization that things won't ever be as you want them in your lifetime, even in the rare case that the majority of society were moving in that general direction. You have to be willing to do things for others, as you won't necessarily experience the results. Climate work, or the work to better it, can be a good example of that ethos.

Every AI I use is still improving its usefulness to me, so for me personally this is objectively false, but I understand my sample size is only 1. I use Chat GPT 4 (Free), AI Dungeon (Currently subbed to Mythic on the Mixtral model), and Novel AI occasionally. What you have to remember is, as with the millennium supposedly ending all computer systems, AI will not end all jobs, its just what people do, they make things overly dramatic.

Though I'll take a shot at this. Stop and think what this means. Really think How? How can they possibly win without needing voters?

Well if this obvious statement is being excused, I see I need to keep highlighting America's slide into fascism a bit more yet. Apparently, he made these points four times during his speech there, at least that's how Vaush covered it.

Infinite love is unconditional. Whenever you are saying: Is love this? The answer is yes. Realisation of this is all. I say all because to give it a descriptor or condition wouldn't help. I could say journey, path, process but all of those would be conditional. You are already love, you are all of this. Realisation is the best word I have for it.

Well finally he's making the point for me I guess, so there's that. I don't have to shout into the void over and over to highlight what is happening to America and most of the world. Now people can see the choice they can make it, which is all I can really ask for.

I realise another visual example of what I am talking about might help: Here is an auditor, someone who either pushes buttons, pushes boundaries, or does a variety of different things to test security, police, companies etc. Whatever you think of them, him or what he's doing is irrelevant to my point: We have two security guards, who I actually think had a point when they initially approached him, his bike was on their land. One guard is trying to fight the auditor, and the other is not only acting as a calm security guard protecting his site, but he's also having to keep his own employees in check, so he's dealing with three people, himself, and the other two. This is what I mean about personalities that are a good or bad fit for a position of authority, its perfect exemplified here in the extreme duality.

You need a certain mindset in these types of jobs, where you engage with things that will stress you any moment of any day. No matter your emotion, you have to be able to contain it, and often calm other people's too. There are always anomalies or things that blindside even perfectly healthy or well-adjusted people. There are people who carry personal tragedy and still perform well under stress: I was just working with one guy today, something broke down, people were getting frustrated, and I was in his ear with questions too. Later, I realize he was going through a breakup with a kid involved and getting no sleep, yet he kept his cool and just needed a break afterwards. Then there are some personalities who make situations more dangerous or add to stress not less. That is why the people working with men or women involved are best qualified to make these calls. My father, for example, explodes every 5 seconds at the slightest thing going wrong, he'd make a terrible police officer yelling all day every day at everyone. However, even in your example of someone having a rough time: The person might lose their cool, then realise and correct themselves, the wrong personality wouldn't and would carry on in anger, that would be the difference. What do you do when stress hits, calm it down, let it run, or indulge in your anger?

Yes but reasonably easy to see when stress-tested. The right type of guy will try and calm the situation, the wrong type will agitate it. You can see this going on in all types of police or security videos. Which is incidentally why I love the auditor movement on youtube. Not because they will achieve any measurable lasting change, beyond some minor photography awareness or procedural adjustments, but because they stress test people in positions of authority on camera before they are tested in situations with serious consequences. When you work alongside someone like this you know it, you see them day to day; If I can see them in a 5 minute youtube video losing their cool, while their partner is the one settling things down, I can see who the right and wrong man for the job is. These people work with them for many hours a day, they can see patterns. if the police force or security company was run correctly, they'd never be the ones holding the guns.

I understand anyone can snap, or be out of control when drinking, but normal guys trained to understand mental health and handle firearms are not going to shoot someone in this situation. Because why? 1, Don't direct a mentally unstable person to boiling water. 2, Keep them in a safe place. 3, If the officers are stupid enough to ignore 1 and 2. Pull a taser not a gun 4, De-escalate. This is a mentally ill person, screaming at them is stupid. 5, What did firing the gun achieve? They are saying the water was thrown? Was it going to get put back in the pan to be thrown again? This is a lack of training in mental health situations, it's an unstable personality (on both sides), it's poor procedure in the initial approach, it's a lack of de-escalation, and its somewhat cultural hotheadedness in the American psyche, it certainly is a systemic cowboy nature in some of the police forces. You are correct though, a lot of people have mental health issues, only some of them revolve around violence. The people who make situations more dangerous don't need to be in a position of authority and carrying a lethal weapon.

Be prepared that he might slide off on a tangent to draw god into social constructs, and religion's impact on society, the functioning of the state or home as he sees it. I would, and he's better at vocalizing his entire worldview into conversations than I am. Just so you don't get blindsided, maybe have a few ideas on how to draw it back to the topic when he does.

First off: Do they not carry tasers? If yes, the cop should be up on charges for pulling a firearm vs a steaming bowl of water at a distance. Second off: De-escalate first before using force. This is basic. It's the difference between a good security guard, police officer, or anyone capable of using force in a situation; they need to be stable, calm, and trying to calm the situation, not agitate it. The cop is a danger to everyone around him. He has the wrong temperament to be in a position of authority. Third: This is why all police officers need basic training in mental health conditions. The woman was clearly unstable and he not only allowed her to go to the stove, he encouraged it. Then shot her at the result of his error in judgement. It was pure stupidity to encourage her to walk toward the potential threat to him, but also a lack of awareness of mental health. I could go on but yes it's pretty bad. Choosing to go in the premises at all, should have started with them asking her to sit down, while one man remained with her, and the other searched the house. It should have ended (or preferably started) with a visit from properly trained social services and or other trained professionals.

I know, third post about health issues recently; life's hit a few bumps to be sure. I think this one is designed so I don't sit down as much in life, but it's creeping into other areas, such as my ability to rest after work now. Just did 10 hours today and I can't sit down at the end of it without a low level pain, which builds to moderate if I sit too long. When standing, I am fine. I've been doing very light Yoga again to try and reverse it. It's most accentuated when doing downward dog, but not in the bend as you might expect, its when going into an arch of the back upwards. So i've been doing that and related exercises to try and improve it. It often hurts a fair bit when circling the back in the morning while sitting. A common yoga move, especially when at a leaning point left and right when circling. I know on the meta why this is here but damn I can't stand up all day. I was planning to maybe switch to driving for a living eventually, so this sucks, one of the staff just left for a driving job which seems to be me mocking myself :D. Anyway any advice is welcome. I am not planning to take another issue to the doctor right now, so I am looking to do a bit of work myself, and seeking answers in that vain. If it gets to a 5/10 pain regular then I'll escalate beyond trying exercises, posture corrections, heat ideas, massage etc.

Pretty much infinite love in a nutshell.

This is a series of problems you can go through if you have a problem with limitations. It starts with I am limited and I don't like it. I want to blame someone or fight the limitations. It ends with you having a few irritations left that you just have to accept or gradually work to shift, but still bother you enough to get under your skin. In the middle it can have avoidance, spiritual moments, shifts in awareness, lots of BS etc. It's great to see, the uncertainty, the walls falling down so the words don't make sense. It's a stream of consciousness cracking at old structures, so if someone is in this state, one thing to accept is they are going through that process. It's better if someone gets through it quickly though, so they don't live in so many self-created fantasies. *We have plenty enough as it is. More broadly: Earth is a prison; it has prisons here. Earth is a vacation; it has vacations here. Earth is work; it has work here. Earth is fun... You get the idea. Even without institutions on a personal level you can make the earth a prison. Among other things, Earth is a prism for light so you can view the universe through its lens. I like this one because it sounds fancy :), detaches people from identity, can be drawn or illustrated, and gets people to think.

If he was biased with Ukranian dogma, the response would be 50 times stronger against your points. Russia has bombed, blackmailed, tortured, and killed the civilian population of Ukraine for over two years. BRICS are their allies. Again I have to tell a pro Russia, pro BRICS spearker that fear and violence push people away from you. Rather than listen to them scratching their heads as to why NATO and western values are preferred. How can it be possible that people prefer money to fear ????? At its core, that's what you are asking. There is no need to reply to tell me of all people that America has created plenty of fear throughout the Middle East for example, yes is the answer. A Ukrainian bias who had lost family, and friends, and seen his towns wrecked repeatedly by missiles, would have hatred in his words towards your point of view. Something you can't see or don't want to understand in all our discussions, because it means acknowledging Ukraine instead of 'the west', and the realities on the ground. You have to actually focus on the region, which was almost impossible in every post I made to you (and there were dozens) because of your anti-American bias. We had a lot of discussions I enjoyed, and you brought a lot of points I had to consider, but this was a fundamental point I kept bringing back. The problem becomes you then have to frame everything from an anti-American standpoint, and anything that doesn't fit into it you can't answer or discuss. Its pretty much the same with everyone who is pro-Russian, I have met maybe 5 people in all these years with a BRICS bias who can focus on the region itself. There was a great speaker, which 'the west' and Russia both silenced who said many Russians saw this as a civil war for example, and nobody can even consider that salient point because they are too busy talking about America. Anyway, that's just one flaw of many in not being able to focus on the region, the main one is we never get peace because we are never dealing with the people involved.

If she runs hard on abortion rights in the swing states she can tip it. She has the personality of a plank of wood, but that might be enough. Remember she's running against an older criminal, and always remind the Republicans of it. I would build age into the strategy as well, as they used Biden's age all the time, now Trump's the older guy and it uses their momentum against them somewhat.

Leo this is in part your bias towards centrism and the limitation of speech counter to the center or current status quo. So this will be my bias towards hearing all sides of a thing to understand them reflected to you, and a my usual mild kickback to authority. Maybe I am also resisting the natural evolution of the leftwing of politics to be more authoritative and organized, which is required. If we had more than a simple one-dimensional left/right definition of politics, then I'd see it more clearly. First off I understand limiting simple posts that are repeated by a user with no attempt to connect them to anything but the person's experiential or worse second hand observations. That might be a bias of mine toward detail, though, so that might be an incorrect approach too. This central space you and the moderators hold allowing for discourse, is also required to have regulations or a code, so all this highlights that it's a very difficult job for moderators. All I can advise is that if you feel something (an emotion comes up), check with another moderator first. I'm not trying to be disrespectful, you run a place I genuinely value here, but removing something doesn't often help the discussion. It can do if that thing is deliberately overly belligerent, inflammatory, or meant to be disrespectful to the people posting, but limiting ideologically held beliefs on the already correct forum for them is only going to give you a more limited representation of something. I have long been fed up with the Gaza topic. I understand everyone's position. I understand the limitations we all have to change anything because they are the fears of those involved manifested, and the wider world playing out there. I also understand how horrific it all is, even more so now with no substantial representation counter to the violence due to monied interests, and so I stepped way back from it. The materialistic nature of the world really has skewed everything as bad or worse than the 80's did. We are always going through a shift. Not a dig at you, I also understand the more conscious of a thing you become how it can be irritating to address the same opinions over and over. Though if that thing is not represented how can it be addressed, even if the poster doesn't go away at all differently I DO, YOU DO, we and those reading benefit. Thank you for this space. All the best.

The left is often focused on the wider country, as much as they are on their own direct experience. You may say this is at odds with the thread title, and some of that is justified to say, but it becomes part of the identity. I could go through a lot of what the conservatives here did to make my life worse, for example, but there is also a wider social conscience that I and those I speak to have.

Meta about the thread. Some say it's about expansion. Others, the removal of the ego. Then we have survival states like this which both narrow or reinforce the ego, while showing us the limits of it. I am in a tight squeeze at the minute, like the walls are as narrow as I've ever felt them. Anyway, not to get off topic, just an observation of it all related to my current experience.

No I understand. Trouble is ego, or the I, cannot stay dead in these stress-filled survival states. It might be worth another go though, I have a couple of patterns in the way of it but I know what they are. Appreciate the reminder.

Do you really want to know the answer to that? You love the part of yourself you are rejecting or pushing away. It can be the hardest part of spirituality because its directly going against a behavior or pattern you've developed, but it's the key to everything. It can also be the easiest part of spirituality, as a strong emotion is easy to see, while a chronic state you are unaware of can be much harder. There can be a lot of things in the way of this, for example loving someone who hurts you is very damn hard, so people usually start with something easier. Pick a poster on this forum that gets you angry, then go inside yourself for answers as to where the anger comes from, and learn to love those part(s) of yourself. Sometimes parts because associations and connections are reaching other behaviors and patterns that you can become aware of, and so the internalization of love goes through you with self-reflection, inquiry, and healing if you bring it there. *Note love is unconditional. Whatever is in the way of it is a condition. Whatever you think you need to love you don't. A long time ago I used to think it meant being a doormat or acceptance for example, but it doesn't mean X or Y it only means love. See teal swans completion process for example. All the best. Now can someone answer the unanswerable for me: How can I integrate infinity if it's everchanging? Only to become everchanging I suppose. I'll ask this again elsewhere in a separate thread if nobody has any takes, as it's been bugging me for awhile.

Yes. Most people stay roughly in their original income bracket. People will be triggered to tell me about the exceptions. But the above sentence will still be true for a whole host of reasons: Education, starting capital or financial support, patterns, behaviors, success/losses, social peer group, expectations, general mindset, environment, how conscious someone is in regards to things like health or work ethic, etc. If you've pushed up a bit you've done well financially for all those reasons. The trouble is, you'll see the 0.000001% on social media or TV and think damn I'm not doing as well as them, and not realise everything you've gone through. This is the long way of saying you're doing well, keep at it.

Life's a balance of emotions and logic. You have your emotional fears, but you also have your emotional ties too to consider. Logically, you must ask yourself: do my life's plans work better in America or another country? Have you visited these countries? If not, that's a good first step: spend time away from tourists and get to know the locals. Every country has its pros and cons, research them, ask about them, etc. America is full of drama on its media to the point its comical if you step back from it. So definitely having some time away from the TV or screen would be a good idea before you make a major decision. Don't forget these emotions or bury them but at the same time put them in the context of your life.

Biden has lost this significantly at this point. If anything, you'll see the establishment, as in those in power, trying to even things out a bit so it isn't a complete landslide for Republicans. They need to do this for your dual party system to function which they maintain at all costs. Biden should have gone years ago. Every time I post the following elsewhere: Boomers don't like giving up control. The post gets deleted. It's true, its a generational thing I've been dealing with all my life. Its not true of everyone, but each generation has common characteristics across it, and one of the boomers' worst ones is not training leaders and successors. The healthy dynamic should have been for Biden to pass the torch but to remain the mentor. That would be a sensible, natural evolution. We have a generation that cannot do that en masse. So Gen X gave up trying in many areas, not all areas or all people obviously, they are quiet workhorses, but Gen X dealt with this stubbornness all their lives. Now people blame Gen X for giving up on certain areas. When hardly anything they did made a dent on this stubbornness. Nobody can tell me that running an 80-year-old man in one of the most difficult jobs on the planet is a sensible idea. It's ridiculous. What happened to looking after the generation after you, mentoring, being a protector, and a guide? It's just that boomers have lost the ability to mentor the subsequent generations, and thus can't accept getting old. This mentorship is how you accept the natural progression of things while remaining part of it. Father to Son. Mother to daughter in the family, and then a relatable mentorship in life generally. I've seen it across my entire family, politics, business, everything. It's sad, and what's worse is they'll just blame the shooting, they won't even get to learn the lesson at the 11th hour either now. In the wider population, people cannot accept getting old, they resist it, and that resistance plays out in different ways, such as bizarre cosmetics, geriatric pregnancies, putting off life too long (not living in the moment), and not training leaders to replace us. Some of it also comes with the disconnect in families, with people working too many hours and thus not developing the aspect of themselves that would do this naturally, plus staying in the provider roles unnaturally without passing the torch for far too long, but hey corporations and 60 hour work weeks 'yay'. *Worse not having any connection with children at all, like me, and thus never developing the aspect of myself that would seek to teach a younger generation how to be a leader, provider, and self-sufficient man. It's all related. **I also realize with the age gap increasing, trying to address this is like moving an even bigger bolder, as there are more old people stuck in the same patterns, and also more older people that need representation they can relate to, usually from other old people.