Puer Aeternus

Greetings! Long time lurker of this thread, I've pulled a lot of docs from here and figured it'd be a good time to make a contribution. I've always been interested in cultural documentaries and have accumulated a few over the years. Some may be historical, some may be eclectic, all I hope will give you a view of how different life can be in these different places. 1. The Death of Yugoslavia: https://youtu.be/bVUg-VoPAeA?si=rcVm3NB_gz9BCsSh One of the top documentaries I've ever watched. A nearly 5 hour long geo-political case study of the collapse of Yugoslavia (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia, etc). Really lays out all the major events and interviews most of each country's leaders/political officials. How they all they all rationalize ethnically cleansing each other. Really shows how power political play out between stronger/weaker countries, propaganda is used, and collective ego. 2. When Algeria was French: https://youtu.be/Zer50bkr6hY?si=mqcahC1UUDrKHI-8 What if the Palestinians kicked the Israelis out and took back their land? In Algeria this kind of happened. The French invaded the land of Algeria and essentially turned its Arab population into second class citizens. This docu shows the build up/conflict leading to Arab Algerian independence. Highlights the stark contrast in living conditions between the two sides, how cultures can be too different to co-exist, and the naive attitude of the settlers. 3. Tokyo Noise: https://youtu.be/ga6ZwfsS1cA?si=ee4PQ235Mcy7dhu- Chaotic, grading, experimental. An artistic interview style documentary with a variety of characters. All about what it's like to live in Tokyo/be Japanese, peering into their minds and unraveling the mystery just a little bit. Manually turn on subtitles and definitely don't watch if you have epilepsy. 4. If you have not watched old Vice documentaries, you are missing out. They are all completely unhinged, entertaining, and give you a view of how radically different people live their lives. I'll link some of my favorites, the one on Liberia is particularly absurd. Prepare yourself for descriptions of extremely violent acts/sexual assault. 5 The Yogis of Tibet: https://youtu.be/GrWhX1BixBk?si=jDpwPWIxPs8yv6rk A docu packed with history and interviews looking into the monastic Buddhist society and traditions of Tibet. 6. The Act of Killing: https://youtu.be/4kJZb2Q1NmE?si=nJw_C10MtYCqe1VB A journey into the stage red mind. In Indonesia,1965, there was a government coup followed by period of communist paranoia where mass killings were carried out. This documentary takes gangsters/military junta members years later, interviewing them and having them recreate their crimes for film. Which they have no reservations about doing.. for them murder, rape, and corruption were normal, every day events and not a big deal. Graphic warning again. 7. Argentina's Economic Collapse https://youtu.be/0CzS6eHqtnQ?si=CQy2JmUwjwqkdj3O A modern history of how Argentina arrived in the 21st century before Millei. Absolutely getting fucked by a rotating cast of corrupt, greedy, incompetent politicians. This documentary really puts on display that toxic cycle of governmental deterioration. 8. Modern Pirates Are Still a Threat on The Coast of Africa https://youtu.be/cfh9suqsIPs?si=k9xee_7xiuKBfPmI You're born into a third world shit hole. Government is corrupt, no good jobs, nothing for you family. But you can make bank being a pirate, what will you do? Yes, this is about Somalia lol.

Yup, and Musk's lackey lost by a 10% margin in a state that went to Trump in the presidential election just a few months ago. Also a big Democratic swing in a deep red Florida district to replace Matt Gaetz. Just small indicators, but definitely pointing in a positive direction. People realizing they done fucked up, and Trump will probably only agitate them more. The conservatives are likely going to get deep fried in the midterms, assuming no tomfoolery goes down. Which is a big assumption. Two years can't go by fast enough.

@thedoorsareopen Hey man, I am in a pretty similar position to you maybe a little bit further along. You've just got to keep pushing along.. don't be afraid to feel into it. That's where the insights are. This whole thing is so, so, so stupid. I've started to become very detached from it all. I am determined to keep living the good life and finding more mental health/spiritual growth- This isn't going to stop me. I am doing my best to position for the stupidity wave.. and learning to read the news without having such a horrible reaction. Because we cannot stop this but we can get ready. In mind/spirit/plans! I have a few plans. But if they don't work out and things get really REALLY stupid.. like getting drafted to the army to occupy Canada/Greenland (lmfao). Then I've reached the point where I'll have no problem peacing out from this existence. Unlike America I will not go back if it ultimately comes down to that. This does not have to kill all your progress. This does not have to kill your happiness. You've made it very far and I hope you can keep up the good progress.

@trenton If you don't want the expense of a gym membership you can always start learning Callisthenics as an alternative!

Have struggled with the same things for so long honestly. Only now am I beginning to see the light. Our traumas affect how we see things and there's a lot in our projections of others that says about what we had about ourselves and our own insecurities. I think- I'm starting to come to terms with the fact I won't be able to get things from others. I will never find true understanding in others... Even though I've been chasing it my whole life. With a recentish romantic blow up I realized what I was chasing in others is what I wanted to become. Truth. Love. Virtue. Authenticity. I need to recognize the god in myself. That is where the wound is. And? I wonder if it's similar for others. All my frustrations with other people were ultimately being pissed off that they weren't like me and thus.. felt like a threat? To my survival, to my ability to have relationship and get my needs met. But if I can find a way to become more resilient in ourselves, explore our interior castles. Maybe we can find this inner peace despite the exterior madness. I dunno. But the process is happening by itself now. I wonder how my interactions with people will be then, how different. When I won't need people and can just hold space for them as they are even if they are "lower consciousness" or "in ego". I think Frank Yang demonstrates doing this fantastically I wish you best of luck on your journey, I hope you find what you're looking for!

First mistake.. You trust a devil's words too much. Of course it would be the same mistake to trust KH in a similar way. But still, this devil is particularly devilish.

Since I know Leo has mentioned it a few times before including the blog the other day, how can one get unstuck from/avoid being "blackpilled" on reality and humans? This is something I've definitely gotten pretty deeply sucked into before and am slowly emerging from now, but pointers would definitely be useful!

LKY is the GOAT! Need to dive more into researching about him, I think he is an interesting counter example to western culture that many are (including me) are oh so enmeshed in. Can make you question things and see from a radically different POV.

How on earth did you find this, unicorn hunter? I'm beginning the process of living my LP but potential day jobs seem like the biggest hangup and time suck. Do you have any advice for finding jobs/industries with kind co-workers and actually honest leaders with integrity? From my research I get a sinking feeling that I need a unicorn company or working for myself to achieve this.

Potential absolute nonsense for your entertainment, so take with a heavy bag of salt here- My mother dabbles in the new age, beyond what I’d generally be interested in. My intimate family happened to be gathered around the time of the UFO congressional hearings. Inspired by the coverage, my mother told me a story of how one of her medium friends was riding the on a train car (L Train, Chicago) with her son. She’s sat on the seats, facing across from the other passengers. And randomly comes to the realize that, ah shit. One of these depressed commuters is an alien disguised in human form (this medium could somehow tell?). Apparently she chuckled to herself and went on with her day- Everyone kind of laughed, like haha yeah right. I essentially thought to myself, sure it could be true. But I have no way of ACTUALLY knowing. Then a week later, I’m listening to The Danny Jones Podcast (formerly Koncrete) with James Fox… Very interesting podcast, James Fox seems like a skeptical minded, reputable guy to me. I recommend his alien documentaries. But during the podcast, Fox mentions a discussion he had with Robert Bigelow (Aerospace Billionaire with Gov Contracts). Bigelow essentially teases to him that hey, they’re walking among us. Here’s the clip of you’d like to watch: Not much detail is provided, it’s very possible that Bigelow is spreading misinformation, I still HEAVILY doubt this. But I’d be lying if chills didn’t run down my entire body at that moment and the timing of it all. Whether or not aliens are really walking around in high-tech human skins suits. It does make a fun, tinfoilesque story tell. Even more fun to contemplate. Any of you bastards aliens? Besides the obvious Leo of course.

This video itself is pretty great! But go watch the other videos this guy makes. It’s top tier fascinating stupidity. This guy has some serious incel turned red pill vibes. Much of his channel is bastardizing spiral dynamics and other models like Wilber’s Four Quadrants to justify his straw man, oversimplified worldview of “women bad, men good”.

Feels like this documentary wasn’t as much about Bufo, as it was an interesting preview of what can go wrong with commercialization of psychedelics. It’s pretty wild to see naive tourists getting suckered into shady deals with people who aren’t concerned or experienced enough to deal with them. Like a preview of the ugly side of widespread legalization in more places. Marketing it as a miracle cure for mental illness, mixing it in with new age mumbo jumbo nonsense, and all the sexual assaults. The portal to god intertwined with devilry. I had a mostly unresearched interest in doing Bufo in Tulum before, but after watching I’ll be much more skeptical of these retreats. I think I’ll bite the bullet and just see what I can bum off of hippies instead. Do it by myself.

To explain briefly, I’m currently in a phase of exploring various ideas with an interdisciplinary taste to them. I know I know, these theories don’t really mean anything. I don’t take them too serious, I just enjoy playing with ideas like a child plays with legos. The problem is, as I read and study more into various fields, there’s typically a lot of fluff and nonsense to sort through. Lots of theories that are too obviously simplistic to be much fun to play with. While the booklist and spiral dynamics mega threads are great resources and have helped me much, there’s still several areas of interest not covered by these. The individuals I’m more specifically seeking have deep knowledge of their field but aren’t unwilling to branch out to others, are nuanced and openminded, relatively neutral, and have elements of second tier thinking. Examples of thinkers I’ve discovered so far, not covered in booklist: Marshall McLuhan (how media influences us both individually/collectively) Urie Bronfenbrenner (how larger sociological contexts impact developmental psychology) Moshé Feldenkrais (combined physical therapy and mindful awareness to alter posture/body tension patterns) Ron Kurtz (systems thinking applied to psychotherapy and body awareness) Paul Chek (holistic and in-depth approach to health, nutrition, and fitness) Areas of personal interest I’d love some recommendations for: Sociology Anthropology Ecology Economics Education Conscious group management Linguistics History Political science/government Environmental Science Biology Epidemiology Kinesiology Anatomy/Physiology Applied Statistics Any other thinker you’re passionate about but isn’t included on this list Not expecting all areas to be filled, more just curious to see what other people have! Thanks for taking the time to consider.

Greetings! 23M here, I've suffered most of my life in complete isolation due to extreme levels of social anxiety and a mild sprinkling of the autism. I've spent the past six months unfucking myself from that, and I've made decent progress to a point where I've gained a lot of confidence and functionality. Looking ahead, I've realized I'm rather behind in life. I'm challenging myself to spend the next five years gaining as much life experience as possible, which I will eventually flip and use towards my life purpose. I really want to break out of my local bubble in a challenging way. I'm pretty open-minded, but I know there are cultural things that I unconsciously take completely for granted. Watching YouTube videos, reading, and reflecting by myself can only take me so far versus actually traveling and meeting people. But I'm not quite sure how far I need to go before reaching diminishing returns. The goal is to put myself in situations that break my mind down and gain me perspective/understanding from culture/people very different from myself. Like a poor mans approach to ethnography. I don't really care too much about seeing the sights or going out partying, that's all secondary. Am in the US, so I've got access to many diverse cultures. Planning on moving to a big city here (Chicago, Philly, etc.) where there will be lots of opportunities and I could travel the country out of my car/camping if I wanted to. My issue is wondering if the overarching presence of US culture and government would reduce the depth of an experience I could have. Otherwise, I was thinking of about immersing myself in a different country or two for 3-6 months. Trying to meet locals, learning the language, doing what I could away from home. Am considering somewhere in South East Asia or South America. But I'm not sure if it's overkill and I could sufficiently gain the experience I seek without leaving the country. Nor how feasible it would even be to connect with locals/if my expectations are unreasonable. Thoughts? Welcoming any other suggestions as to how I could pop my bubble too! Thanks!