Taus

Is there a way you can meet the legal definition of researcher to the satisfaction of a supplier?

Conservative approach: At the very least, we should allow discussion of the legality in specific jurisdictions. Given the jurisdictional variation, most people probably don't even know the law and this site could help them avoid violating the law unintentionally. I'm new to the forum so I apologize if there's already a thread set up somewhere to discuss current jurisdictional legal statuses. Once people know the law, if they are personally motivated to do so, they could independently go looking for sources which should be pretty easy in openly legal jurisdictions. Middle ground approach: Instead of a no sourcing rule, we could strictly enforce a no illegal sourcing rule. Nobody should have an expectation of perfection for the information in a public forum. As long as we make reasonable moderation efforts, as opposed to provably intentionally misleading people, there should be very little legal risk. It's important to make clear we aren't providing any warranty or expert endorsement of the information. Risky approach: A public forum seems like the wrong place for illegal sourcing (even if morally permissible). Maybe it's technically okay but a lawyer should formally sign off on that.

In your conception of God, does God have control over how it manifests? In other words, can God choose? Or when you say God is everything, do you mean God is all possibilities period and that every possible manifestation must exist? An all-powerful God would mean that God has total freedom of choice to create or abstain from creating the "hellhole," or any other arbitrary term for an egoic existence like beauty or paradise or ocean of love. (For those who believe in the "ocean of love," don't look at the pictures in this article: https://www.worldofvegan.com/shark-finning/.)

How did you reach such a firm conclusion? Did you experience ego death or learn this from someone?

What is your conception of paradise and God? Do you believe God needs to evolve?

Could you explain this some more? If the ego still reacts as normal, what do you mean by disidentifying with it? I understand ego to mean the identification of a separate self, so it seems this would be identification and disidentification simultaneously. Do you mean something slightly different, like controlling the emotional reaction to ego-caused suffering?

Attempts to better understand reality, while not always fruitful, on the whole enable us to make better decisions. But I have never been a fan of the purely existential/practical approach. It seems very mechanistic.

Needed that laugh!

I don't have an alternative, but I agree that doesn't change the reality that God is beyond human limitations. It is good to know that the consensus seems to be we have no clue. That consensus is a valid and honest answer.

That makes sense. We are limited by the human method of thinking and understanding. Just thought I would ask.

My interpretation is based on the first two sentences in my original post.

That's interesting. I had not considered the possibilities of infinitely better or worse realities. I define "better" and "worse" as less and more ego, respectively. Without any ego at all "better" or "worse" would have no meaning, but ego is inevitable to some extent for sentient lifeforms. An infinitely better reality would be a reality that does not include the existence of ego (suffering/delusion) at all. I suppose an infinitely worse reality would be if everything had a super strong ego all the time. We are not in that reality because the vast majority of the universe is egoless and lifeless, and a very small number of saints exist. Your parenthetical reference to going meta is something I seriously consider. This could be the only possible reality, in which case no decision-making is relevant. Do you think that's the case? I agree, and therefore the topic may not be worth discussing. I asked the question anyway because people on this forum are much more enlightened than the general public, and I thought you guys and gals probably have a better understanding than me. Especially because I have never experienced ego death and Leo at least has on many occasions. Do you think God has intentions?

There are definitely aspects of life that I enjoy. However, suffering appears to be unavoidable regardless of perspective (although the amount of it can be reduced to some extent by reducing the ego). My question is not intended to dwell on this negative aspect in isolation but rather to try to understand why that may be the case. I also feel that humans are incredibly privileged compared to other sentient beings in terms of the amount of pleasure we experience, particularly so industrialized humans with Internet access.

I do get the metaphor. In fact, when I was a small child I collected a few cockroaches together in a glass jar for a school project but did not have the brains to foresee that they would need food in there. Later I observed that a couple of the cockroaches were missing legs. The cockroaches had torn each other's legs off and ate them. The cockroaches also tried to hop away from each other to avoid further attacks, or hop towards the other cockroaches to chase and attack again. After that point I realized what had happened and felt regret at causing this unnecessary suffering, but I could not undo the damage. As an adult I unavoidably kill pests to preserve my home but would not intentionally cause avoidable suffering. However, if God is the all-pervading One, I don't think the metaphor is applicable, because God is the boy, the jar, and the cockroaches. Therefore I don't agree with the metaphor of an unjust God but simply wonder why God is doing this at all. An omniscient God does not at all need to do a schoolboy cockroach experiment, and yet it happened. I am uncertain as to whether God is a creator God. God, the perception of all reality as One by discarding the ego, makes sense to me. This is the immanent God, which may have existed infinitely into the past and therefore not have needed creation. However, there's also the possibility of a transcendent God, which is "more" than the material world or "preceded" the beginning of time, not that those terms have meaning in that context. This universe/timeline does appear to have an origin (the Big Bang) but I am unsure whether that appearance is genuine. Do you think a creator God (or any God) exists?

Any level of ego at all, no matter how low, causes suffering and delusion to some extent. It is impossible to eliminate the ego completely and permanently while still living (temporary elimination is possible). The question may not make sense if God did not create the hellhole, God did not have a choice, God does not exist except within the hellhole, or if near-constant suffering and delusion is not a hellhole. The question may also be unanswerable with certainty. But if God did willingly do so, any logical speculation as to the reason? I believe one of the prevailing explanations is that God was bored, as nothing happens in the complete absence of all ego. However, boredom is an emotion generated by the lack of expected neurological stimulation in a conscious organism. Prior to creation, there would have been no neurons, expected stimulation, or emotional deficiencies, so this explanation does not seem logical to me. I haven't found any good reasons so far, hence my question.