UnbornTao

Sorry, I somehow missed the notification for this post. Thanks for letting me know. Rumor has it that the game is already finished and could be released sooner rather than later, hopefully this year and before GTA VI.

If you say so.

Find some drama first, and ask yourself what your role in it is. Where does the drama exist?

Okay, I see.

Why the urge or impulse to believe? What is a belief? Can you envision a future in which the spirit of this work remains alive after your passing? Why do these things almost inevitably turn into a religion? Why do we, as a whole, tend to do that? Something along those lines.

@Davino Just think about this quote:

I'd agree with your brother - learn to do one thing at a time. It trains your mind to focus.

If teachers are limited according to your assessment as a student, then you are subject to that limitation as well. Imagine you had spent your entire life listening to one of these charlatans, not knowing the difference. And you couldn't tell! What does that leave you with? I understand the sentiment of wanting to do it on your own. It's essential. On the other hand, without real feedback, one may remain confined to an insular intellectual world, avoiding any real confrontation. The ability to differentiate between charlatans and authentic teachers is a valuable skill, one that is easily overlooked by spiritual people in general. Gullibility seems to be the norm in this domain. In sports, for example, it is much easier to tell who is skillful and who is not. In spirituality, which is rooted in subjective experience and wishful thinking for the most part, anyone can claim anything. This is precisely why the field is so ripe for snake oil salesmen.

Have you done it?

@Natasha Tori Maru What should one pay attention to when listening to teachers? Something to contemplate. After all, not everyone is up to the same thing, even if they use similar terminology on the surface. There's a reason Leo felt the need to make that video.

Nice. That's what I was thinking, too.

Mainly due to your failure to discern between charlatans and a real teacher.

Man, as a relatively young person, I'm really liking Half-Life 2. What a discovery. Where the fuck is the third installment?

Oh hi, nice to meet you. Disappointment is based on one's expectations. How were you holding the future prior to feeling that way? A rhetorical question meant to be looked into.

The Dark Reader extension works for me as a provisional solution. It also works on Firefox-based browsers.

We'd love it! Wink wink.

Waiting for the Why Corruption thread!

Zuckerberg this!

Some kind of notification system for the blog would be nice, too.

The purpose of this journal is to share questions, humor, miscellaneous creative content, and raw reflections on personal empowerment and consciousness. My goals are to deepen my experiential understanding of these topics, improve my communication skills, have fun, and help others see things in a new light.

@Davino The 'what is fake spirituality' video reminded me of our conversation.

Consider a particular emotion - anger, for example. Setting aside what you think you know about it, what is your actual experience of it? How does anger arise? What process do you engage in prior to feeling that way? Do you suppress anger to appear "spiritual"? Do you pretend something isn't happening - or that it is - to validate a belief or self-image? Could you be unconsciously fabricating experiences consistent with your worldview, what you've been taught, or what you want to be true? How do your desires and biases interfere with an impartial observation?

Shure.

There does not seem to be anything we're more willing to deceive ourselves about than love as a fantasy. But go ahead. Just don't confuse your proclivities and wishful thinking for the truth.

Even better, then. I'll have to look into that. @Judy2 There's also the option of Substack, which coincidentally just added recipe embeds in beta version. Adding this channel as an example: