UnbornTao

Lately, for me, it's been softer forms of movement - just walking, with the dog. I need to pick up running again. Who's doing your emotioins, though?

I'd start by getting clear that what you end up doing is what you actually intended to do - rather than what you merely said to yourself in your own mind. You may have had a desire to read, but you hadn't really formed the intention to do so. Besides that, turn off your phone, the TV, or any other pertinent device. No kidding. Then decide to read a book for however long you want. And catch the impulse at the very beginning. This should help.

I didn't say that. Neither is true in the ultimate sense. Agreeing is part of the latter, by the way. When you're hungry, you don't eat an image of an apple. This is the disparity I'm pointing out, since you said there was no difference between the two. Even when you eat a so-called real apple, there's likely a lot in that experience that belongs to the category of mental construction, accompanying the simple act of eating a food item.

If you say honestly and actually - and you mean it - then better to leave that unanswered. Many will claim it, though. And hopefully it is true. Let's just keep at it and not rest on our laurels, even if we think we've already figured it out, whatever it is we think we may know.

It would be cool to look at manipulation-based human endeavors in that light. It might help reframe how we approach them in our minds. But honestly, what isn't based on manipulation? Not that that's necessarily bad, though. The best option is to be straightforward. "Pass me the ketchup." Some incoherent sentences.

Guys, I'm afraid to admit that I liked this song: I must commit seppuku now. -- joking, just in case.

Whenever language is thought about, what is it that comes to mind? I suspect we're still a bit dizzy about what it really is - hard to pin down. As said elsewhere, it's likely that language is still being conflated with words or symbols. Point to anything that is language. Where is it in your experience? How does it show up? In what way is it experienced?

Nah, I'll watch the real football (soccer) World Cup next summer - unless it somehow gets sabotaged because of what's going on in the U.S.

Remember to ignore his deluded followers (and the fact that he enabled them in their delusions) and try to listen to the core of the communication, as incomprehensible as it may be to us.

Yes, this will somehow keep happening to people, one way or another.

That's it - I'm picking you as my Lisan al-Gaib.

Probably. Easy there, you're gonna run out of concepts sooner or later. There is a difference made between perceiving something versus adding extraneous or complementary activities onto raw sensory input.

Loving Sekiro so far.

What do you mean? The truth only cares about itself, so to speak. So what are you asking? Re-construct what?

We could even say that this system is itself a belief structure: a set of thoughts strung together that is assumed or taken to be true once adopted (believed). Hmm, maybe. Perhaps it'd be more accurate to say that they are different from, or independent of, the truth itself - whatever that turns out to be.

A thought that is held as true. Or a thought about the truth of something. "Thought" that can appear as if it were "the way things are". But it is still a thought, an activity (of the mind), and therefore distinct in nature from whatever is the case for itself. It is thinking taken as true in itself. May need to rephrase this one.

You can keep believing, if you want.

I'd like to emphasize the second part of the quote in relation to this discussion: than to convince them they have been fooled.

Getting tattoos.

I love you.

It is far easier to fool someone, than to convince them they have been fooled.

Nice. The book's quite pricey, though

You probably already make it to some degree. Inquiry is an open investigation aimed at uncovering whatever is true, independent of one's preferences, desires, biases, and so on. Fantasizing, by contrast, can be understood as coming up with imaginary scenarios in one's mind - usually based on wants, biases, and subjectivity - often aimed at outcomes like feeling better, more powerful, or reassured. Whatever serves one's agenda. A scientific experiment versus belief in God might serve as a succinct way of contrasting these two activities. Not the best examples, but hopefully the point comes across.

Oh, yeah. Not fantasizing.