HMD

@Breakingthewall You clearly have no idea about the essence of Islam. You’re one of those crude fellas who base their opinions on straw-man arguments. Get nuanced, fella.

"Colonialism is not a thinking machine, nor a body endowed with reasoning faculties. It is violence in its natural state, and it will only yield when confronted with greater violence” ~Frantz Fanon

Logic and reason are products of Truth, not the Truth itself.

Both are utilitarian constructions of the mind. Money helps us quantify value, while time helps us bring order to the chaos of infinity, among other things.

I gave my brother the big picture. He can figure out the nuances for himself if he has the big picture in place. Inspiration works better than direct advice.

Look, you have to make a commitment to yourself to be the best version of yourself. To fulfill your potential. I mean it looks to me like you are living life at 40%. You do not have the drive to become the best version of yourself at 40%. You have to be all in this shit. Make that commitment, that you will become the best at everything. Make that the north star that guides you through everything. Wake up every day and ask yourself how do I become better. Take full ownership. That's the key. 100% responsibility. Brutal Accountability. I mean, you live in one of the most prosperous countries in the world. You have unlimited opportunities around you. You can work two jobs while you get your art thing going. You are an educated person, you can read books related to money management and money psychology. You can start doing visualization exercises along with affirmation. I recommend the affirmation "Every day in every way I am getting better and better". But the point is, when you have a high arching goal like becoming the best version of yourself, then you will take full responsibility for your life, and that is the key that unlocks alll other things

@Thought Art Try this, at least for the time being. Actually do it. You are dealing with the negative aspects of reality. Reality is manifesting in a way that you do not like. All the negative emotions, thoughts, and circumstances. Observe them as what they are, consciousness trying to manifest in a particular way in the present moment. Try to let it be and just observe how your mind is creating all sorts of bullshit, how it is attaching negative meanings, and how it is resisting the present moment. Try to fully surrender to the moment. To what is. Accept the fullness of consciousness for now and you will notice that answers will come to you naturally. You will find a way. .

Would you be a lamb and invite me as well?

@De Sade Start here

@jdc7733 You can't think your way to Love. What you need is an intervention. You have to put in the work and with time you will develop Love, infinite amounts of it. Start here: Try to do this every day. Also, work on the letting go exercise so you can let go of all the negative meanings you are holding on to. And finally, try to do more conscious communication, this one is the most important thing you can do IMO. Communicate your thoughts, especially the negative ones with a friend and be as honest and vulnerable as possible: This is an act of love, and the other person listening is also an act of love. So, if you do this every day, you'll have a good start, and then you can move on to finding a sustainable and intrinsic source of Love without others. Hope it helps.

Deconstruct reality to the bone

@integral So, there is no difference between an object in my direct experience and the thought of it ?

I mean you can just shutdown your mind and then you would be left with the direct experience of what is. I think the need to have opinions about something, or the urge to know something or have any meta-physical view about it is a function of the ego mind. Because the ego wants to know what it is. Understanding is something deeper than knowing. When you switch off the mind, then you start developing understanding. As long as the ego is up and running, you will have an urge to know, which will cause you to develop an interpretation of whatever you see, hear, or feel. But If you turn off the mind completely with meditation or psychedelics, you no longer have that subconscious urge. So it looks to me like knowing is not fundamental.

@Jowblob I have had a similar experience. For me, the most striking thing was how unloving I was (Even though I believed I was a nice guy). But it became painfully obvious to me how unloving I have been toward Myself (including all others). After that experience I was kinda forced to be more loving, compassionate, and inclusive. And I also wanted to lower my state of consiousness by doing ego-things. However, I refused to do most of them and stayed in that state for around two months straight (to varying degrees). But eventually, I decided that it was too much and came back down to my normal state by indulging in various ego stuff and socializing a lot, or in simpler terms, by distracting myself. Best of luck with whatever comes next, stay strong!

Superb insight! But what lead you to conclude that virtue is the right term to use for this distinction?

Enhancing your proficiency in contemplation can significantly elevate your effectiveness and success across various endeavors. Developing the skill to engage in deep contemplation is undeniably among the most crucial abilities to cultivate. Allow me to delve further into this concept. Visualize dedicating two hours daily to sit down with a screen or writing utensils, earnestly contemplating a thought-provoking question. Through this practice, you generate real-world instances that grant you direct experience with the subject under scrutiny, thereby enhancing your proficiency in generating examples. You foster the capacity to delve deeply into multiple trains of thought without becoming lost, as the written format assists in maintaining a coherent track of all cognitive avenues explored. Furthermore, you build the mental endurance to engage in abstract reasoning, augment your imaginative faculties, and acquire the knack for detaching from your notions to make room for superior alternatives. Furthermore, this exercise hones your aptitude for thorough research, while simultaneously yielding a wealth of knowledge and insights. This multifaceted development ultimately equips you to comprehend matters at their foundational essence. Confronted by challenges in your life, you can now grasp these predicaments at a profound level, recognizing that a comprehensive understanding often charts the swiftest course towards resolution. In contrast, envision neglecting these exercises in favor of pursuing random insight. This approach might yield a bunch of profound insights, some of which could offer sporadic assistance. However, fundamentally, it robs you of the capability to transform your life circumstances. Even amid relational strife or financial hardship, your focus remains fixated on speculative pursuits that you hope will improve your situation. Furthermore, directing your attention solely towards cultivating insights and accumulating them can lead to dogmatic tendencies and diminished present-mindedness, as your preoccupation restricts you within your own mental confines (having your head up ypur own ass, in simpler terms). This inclination might give rise to a belief that your understanding is exhaustive. And certainly, you might stumble upon timeless principles, yet the lack of presence hinders your ability to judiciously apply these principles to the right degree, at the right time, and in a manner that aligns with the context in a nuanced way.

@Kksd74628 Would love to see your perspective on this:

@Swarnim Perfect takeaway bro! @Epikur Yeah, I mean looking for outside validation and attention is not a bad thing in the case you outlined unless it is done compulsively and at an expense of other's well-being.

One thing I have heard for a long time is how everyone is after attention. But I couldn't understand the underlying reason behind that. I mean, of course attention gets them money, but is it really just about money? What about narcissists and people who can't seem to survive without constant attention? Upon deeper contemplation it hit me that it's about survival of the system. Every system requires input in the form of attention to survive. And there are million of systems around us that want our attention. Because a system fundamentally is a set of distinctions that you create in your mind. Ultimately, all systems are part of one supra-system. So, to hold those distinction and consider it real requires attention. For instance, think about instagram. If you spend 10 people spend their whole day of instagram, it won't survive. the only reason instagram is not only surviving, but thriving, is because millions give hours of their attention to the platform. Similarly, narcissists have no deep sense of self. So, they don't have a fully functioning system inside which we all need to have a normal life; This means that they require more attention relative to others. Now, the key thing to notice is that there are other systems that require attention. These may include things like your mind, body, room, relationships, finances, etc. Feel free to share your thoughts on this.

Is this paradigm that most stage orange type people operate in healthy or Toxic? The paradigm of making money only at all cost in any way possible. It seems to me that this paradigm works great in helping people make money in the short term without worrying too much about life purpose and pursuing your passions. People operating in this paradigm focus solely on making money from wherever possible without much concern about spirituality. I ask this question because I have been working on my life purpose and focus on that most of the time. But a friend (who's mostly stage orange) has been on my back pushing me to change my paradigm. Now, I understand where he is coming from. He wants me to have good of money and be super successful. But can there be more to this than that ? Is this paradigm essential to adopt to bootstrap your career or business ?

I have a tendency to try and help others by sharing my insights in a way that they can apply in their lives. There are several reasons why I do this. One reason is that I believe it splits my consciousness, allowing me to improve the practicality of my insight by writing for the other part of my split consciousness. However, I am not writing for myself in this case, but rather for the persona I have assigned to the other half of my consciousness. This makes the insight more general and not specific to my needs. Another reason is that sharing my insights with others and receiving validation makes me feel good about myself. It also confirms that my insight is useful and relevant, and can be applied to my own life if enough people find it valuable. However, once I receive validation, I tend to feel that I have achieved my purpose, and I never use the insight again in practice. I simply forget about it after a few days. This turns the insight into a theory, concept, or belief, which can make me close-minded. Despite this, sharing my insights with others also ensures that they are grounded and practical. If you were in my position, would you continue to use this system, stop sharing your insights completely, or find a middle ground?

@meta_male If I learn to value the pearls, and share them with others nonetheless, I reckon that'll increase their value. @Jacob Morres For sure, I try my best to attack my insight from many angles before sharing. Even then I warn others to not believe me and use their own judgement, but if the shoes fits, wear it.

@QQQ That's one reason. I mentioned this (NOT EXPLICITLY) in the post. @Moksha I like this perspective. I noticed that most people are uncomfortable with silence. Maybe that's the most important lesson for them, then. To be comfortable with silence.

What are the most fundamental marketing principles according to you, any rules of thumb, and mental models to understand marketing as a whole?