Frogfucius

Deaf and blind people can learn language too. Im just saying, the human brain is already physically structured to interpret meaning based on sounds, patterns, etc. it's why we like music and see human faces in things. Through years of evolution, our brains molded into this labeling machine. Trying to interpret data, even when it's not necessary. And that includes labeling "you" and "me" and the world around us as separate entities.

This got me thinking. Is complex language the root of ego? We humans label everything under the sun (and including the sun!). Our parents, family, society, even our own mind tells us how we should and shouldn't be, and labels us as good or bad. Animals haven't developed a sophisticated enough system of language to interpret every level of experience, emotion, and object. Nor are they capable of really sharing these things with each other. The human mind's conditioning for labeling and interpreting a meaning for every single thing in existence may be why we're so mentally fucked up.

Animals (dolphins and whales, mainly) have been known to torture, commit suicide, mourn death, rescue people, and so on. Male chimpanzees have been known to commit infanticide and eat the baby, even when the baby may in all likelihood be theirs. Chimpanzees have also been documented as going to war with other tribes - the only non-human species known to have committed acts of war.

It sounds nice on paper, but egomaniacs like Donald Trump seem to get an intense thrill out of...well, their ego. Are they really suffering?

Guys, I'm living in an illusion...is it worth it?

I’ve tried Facebook before, but got very bored. I realized that I don’t care to share with people any of my musings or pictures, and I don’t care to look at other people’s musings or pictures. I only added a few of my friends before getting tired of it and deleting the account. Now I see that social media is expansive! Instagram, Snapchat, Google+, and so on. I’m looked at sideways by my friends and family when I tell them I don’t have Facebook. They see me as some kind of loner freak. I just tell them I’m not interested in it. But they assume I don’t have any other friends, or that there's something wrong with me. I’ve tried to get into this kind of thing, but I just can’t. I used to feel like there really was something wrong with me, because I prefer to stay anonymous, instead of creating some identity of myself on the digital world. It’s enough my real self is an illusion, but then that illusion wants to create an even bigger one? I’m sorry for projecting. But in a world where more and more people are involved in a wide array of social media outlets, I can’t help but feel like an odd creature compared to my peers when I choose not to indulge...

Does spanking the monkey count?

It's the most primitive instinct of all life forms. It was hardwired into DNA since the very beginning - otherwise life would have died out from this planet a long time ago. Same goes for receiving nourishment/energy from the environment. From the very beginning of time, even before life or this planet existed, this held to be true. It's not necessarily an ego thing. Human babies can learn by experiences and conditioning as well. I wouldn't say babies have egos.

@username I'm right there with ya, buddy. I've been fed that BS as well. That I need deep, connecting friendships. That I need to meet a lover who will be my everything, and vice versa and so forth. It’s a common theme among self-development. But then, in a state of mind where I supposedly am purely responsible for my fulfillment and successes and failures, that still puts things to fate and chance, and in somebody else’s hands. How am I necessarily going to find someone who is going be stable for the rest of my time? How will I know I’m not dealing with backstabbers? How am I sure that people are going to be authentic, in the way that I supposedly am? How am I going to know I have enough deep, satisfying relationships in order to be happy? What’s setting the limit, and how will I know when I get there? This built a type of neuroses in my mind. A type of neuroses where I felt like I was always chasing something I felt I lacked, and yet something that is supposedly going to fulfill me, because others have said so. As Alan Watts put it, once you finally give up on something, that’s when you become masterful at it/get results. Reaching that point of not caring is not so easy, because it’s like trying to get a one-up on yourself. Letting go of the need for outside fulfillment from relationships is an extremely tough thing to do, but it can be done. Find out what’s true for you Why do you feel like you need it? What is causing those thoughts? Why do you think it will fulfill you and be better than what you already have? Where does all of this stem from? Get to the very root of it. Unearth every unpleasant emotion and feeling, let all of it bubble from the subconscious to the conscious.

Good insights so far. Thanks guys. Republicans are the only major party in the world that denies global warming. It goes back to cult-like behavior. No different than Christians who strongly talk shit about evolution and just simply will not hear it. Ignorant egos are so cute.

Thanks @Prabhaker , I think you're right. There's just something off, and I can't place it. Maybe I need to habitually dive deep to unwire it.

I feel like such an idiot, for taking this illusion seriously. For taking my thoughts and emotions seriously, for taking my ego seriously. I can't I believe I've lived my whole life in a lie. So many wasted years of tormenting myself! I find it kind of funny...I can't trust myself, so what the hell can I trust? Nothing! There is nothing to be trusted or believed.

Humans have slept on a hard surface forever...mattress beds are only a relatively recent invention. Apparently, mattresses aren't good for the back, and lead to a lot of aches and unnatural adjustments. The hard surface of a floor is better for realigning the body into its correct position. I've read that people from primitive cultures suffer less from musculoskeletal problems (also probably because they don't sit as much as modern civilized people do) than people from modern cultures. Anyone here routinely sleep on the floor or a solid surface? Has it made a difference in your life?

It's a great video, and I agree with it. But removing yourself from culture could be seen as a type of culture. Kind of like how the Buddha said to eliminate suffering, you must eliminate desire. But eliminating desire is a desire itself. Just another one of those paradox things. Culture is purely an ego thing. If someone attacks any type of culture you're associated with, your brain neurons automatically respond in a way as if your whole physical being is becoming attacked. The ego becomes threatened to the point where it reacts in anger. Beliefs have that much power over everyone, and they're purely unconscious. The only way to gain control over yourself, and loosen the ego's grip, is to increase awareness. Check this out, it explains it better than I can.

I've thought about this, and I don't think suicide or how we live our lives up until the final moment has anything to do with how we reincarnate. We are all playing a role, one in which we have no control over. Our thoughts, feelings, and actions are not independent of the universe. One thing I wonder about reincarnation, is if we reincarnate into a different form of consciousness for eternity, each time with a clean slate. I wonder if people I see on the street are me, but in a different form of consciousness that I experience from the one I'm having now, but not independent of my consciousness. I wonder the same about other animals. Crazy shit.

@aurum Haha, you're right about that. I never really saw myself as a social anarchist - but that's pretty much how I've always behaved. I never saw the point in conventional norms. Guess I should embrace it, and quit trying to fight it or understand it.

We are conditioned, as conforming social creatures, to respond to greetings in the same robotic way. It's involuntary. I call it robotic, but I believe it has a social function. It's to discern who's sociable, and who's a friend or a foe. If someone doesn't respond - best not to further engage them, they're untrustworthy or don't speak my language. If someone does respond in a typical expected response - okay, they're "normal" and friendly. If someone responds with something like "The sky is green." - they seem a little crazy, and untrustworthy. Don't take it personally. It's just a form of social screening. It's natural, just as a smile or a frown, or a bow, or whatever customs are normal for your culture. You're right, people don't actually care about your personal life, just as you don't care about theirs.

Yeah, anything can be an addiction.

Does anyone else find it fascinating how things appear symmetrical in the universe? The human body (two eyes, two arms, etc.), animals, insects, flowers, stars, planets, galaxies, and so on. Not everything is just a blob and chaotic looking. I don't know, it just fascinates me. This natural structure just seems beautiful to me. But maybe I'm biased, because I'm not an amoeba.

The illusion is a trap in which you are constantly running, running, running, and chasing. Running from death, running from reality, chasing materials that more or less don't do much for you in the long-term, because they only bring temporary joy. How can you be fulfilled when you're always on the move? It's stress-inducing. Counter-intuitively, once you give up is when you really win. By give up, I mean giving up on self-made identifications and thought patterns. Becoming focused with only what's in front of you, as it is.

Alan Watts once said the same thing. That claiming to be God is the most humble (and yet truest) claim a person can make, but it is not acceptable in society's eyes to make such a claim. Me personally, it's hard for me to make such a claim, because I've been brainwashed by western ideals on what God should and shouldn't be. All of those ideals are complete and utter bullshit, I recognize it, but the brainwashing is really hard to break free of, even if intellectually I know it's wrong. My ego hates to let me make claims like I'm God or everything is infinite. Just like how I'm sure many egos were sucker punched when humanity realized that the Earth is round, or that the Milky Way Galaxy isn't the whole universe, and we are just a tiny spec of a molecule in a vast ocean of existence.

Yup, yup. Male and female, good and evil, life and death, changing and changeless, light and dark, visible and invisible, and so on. It's nature in its purest form, and it's just so beautiful to me. This universe had a beginning, and it will have an end. What lies beyond that? So many questions! I love it.

Not necessarily. It just depends on the person's own unique values. You could have an enlightened person that is completely sober, or one that uses drugs.

He was the gateway for helping me get into spirituality, existence, consciousness, enlightenment, cleansing my beliefs, understanding religion, and all that good stuff most people don't get into. I was so depressed at one point and needed a way out, I thought maybe there's something to meditation, so I searched how to meditate on YouTube and found Leo. Since then, I've been learning a lot from a number of enlightened and honest philosophical people. I think it saved my life.

It's kind of cool to see how Leo transitioned into this consciousness thing over time. He started off as a normal personal development guy, then started getting deeper and deeper into philosophy (I know you don't like that word Leo but I think it's fine in this context). Most personal development teachers I see stick to one surface leve thing (dating, business, socializing, etc.) and that's that. They rarely move into more universal and existential stuff. I'm glad you did that, the information and insights in your consciousness and philosophical videos are more valuable to me and have helped me far more than any of the other surface level PD stuff. Not that surface level isn't good information, just that it doesn't really mean much to me compared to consciousness/awareness.