UnbornTao

Haha, gringo.

Humans can survive and thrive on a vegan diet, or that's what I've heard. Diet seems to fundamentally boil down to opinion, your own choices. A profound look into identity may be worth it.

An alien for president?

I hope you're being sarcastic!

I guess one reason might be that it is easy to believe in a cosmology (whether religious, scientific, or philosophical) in place of admitting one's own profound existential uncertainty, which is unsettling. Beliefs give us a stand or position from which to look at and make sense of, ourselves, life and the world.

From "we don't know" to "we don't know."

Ahh, sorry for your loss.

Like fish in water. People who travel a lot may notice how culture is invented and that it is something humans have come up with. Certain aspects of it may be useful and intelligent, others might not, but no culture is true. Even tacitly, we tend to generally hold our own culture as the "right" one. Both subtle and gross feelings of threat to one's identity and view of the world may be felt when encountering a group of people from a radically different culture than ours. Consider how a cannibal amazonian tribe thinks, behaves, communicates, and sees the world. This creates a contrast to our own worldview that helps reveal our taken for granted "realities."

No conspiracy theories.

Better to hold it as you instead of an ideal. So, it will be whatever's true of you. How's that?

What does spiritual gain mean? Depends on your goals, and you can live however you want. That doesn't mean there are more empowering ways to live, or that actions stop producing consequences. Going after ideals is doomed to fail from the start--thinking that getting what you want will bring you happiness. The search itself is based on the idea that something is lacking in your experience now that you think must be present, which itself is based on a painful experience. Again, depends on how it's framed. If rather than spiritual gain, we call it becoming aware, having insights, discovering dynamics, or getting free, these are powerful things to do. Whether these produce the expected results on you is secondary. Benefits are side-effects and come as a result of the intention to pursue them for themselves. If your motivation to pursue them is an ideal of completeness, then you might discover that it doesn't work that way. You can be happy while pursuing stuff. Beyond fulfilling one's needs and perhaps some wants, acquiring a possession is like getting a new toy. It can enjoyed, but don't expect it will fulfill you.

We scratch when it's itchy. An analogy for self-survival. We pursue our needs, suffer (seems pretty popular), and want to live as ourselves. There might be more, or not. Taking this as a fun game.

Nice

Made this first one:

Presumption and arrogance, mainly. It's much easier to take up the first story you're told or one you've come up with. In a sense, everyone is guilty of this to a degree. That is, until we start to seriously contemplate subjects we assumed to have known up until that point. The difference is that a minority wants to know while most people choose to remain ignorant--by taking tons of stuff completely for granted. I wonder whether the words ignore-ance and arrog-ance share etymological roots.

Buddhists and Apple fanboys not allowed on the forum.

Of course I missed it. It's only available on IOS.

Why the passive voice? Maybe it isn't gone; you may have just stopped generating interest. Rekindle your enthusiasm for things by discerning how you're using your mind. Focus on creating what you want. In any case, enjoy any state and contemplate it, which shifts your relationship towards it. Besides the advice provided by others (therapy, medication, lifestyle), a couple of episodes by Leo that might help you: The trap of the toxic life purpose Creation vs destruction Good luck.

Everything you think, feel, and do is something you want, on some level. Since you are experiencing it, it must be serving a purpose. You are generating it - whether consciously or not - which means, in some way, you actually want it to occur. For example, you might adopt a socially-shy disposition and yet dislike it in some way. Or you might go through an emotional state that you claim you didn’t really want - and yet you experienced it. Why is that? Could it be that your role in what you experience is more active than you think? Do you assume you are merely at the effect of the world - like a passive witness to the circumstances and events around you? Who else would be responsible for your experience? How does this dynamic unfold? Note: Responsibility here doesn’t mean blame, nor does it mean you’re responsible for everything that happens to you. It means that you are the source of your experience, interpretations, thinking, feeling, reacting, and acting.

I thought I had already mentioned it, but definitely Dune 2. I was able to watch it alone in an empty cinema room. It was glorious.

Using Brave but completely missed that Playlist feature.

If you knew you'd be able to do it, experientially. Then, create desire and enthusiasm. What do you want to be up to? A hobby, a study, a business you're passionate about? Find out.

Looks awesome. Any monkeys around?

Hey, I was able to see her spin in both directions, mostly clock-wise.

These models are measuring something other than consciousness--awareness or cognition, perhaps, or what each theory considers to be "development". Consciousness can't be mapped and models are never true, even more so when it comes to enlightenment work. Although inventions, they may be useful.