ParanoidAndroid

Does this question belong in this forum? Is it relevant?

Surely you must admit that it was shocking when Trump won. It felt surreal. Nothing like it had ever happened before. I think what Harris has said about Trump has been spot on. This 15 minute clip from before he was elected is spot on and hilariously funny in parts. I think you're reading too much into Harris' personality because you don't like him. Sure, somebody can seem calm on the outside but actually be neurotic on the inside but that doesn't mean you get to claim that about every calm seeming person you don't like and I see no evidence of this with Sam Harris. He seems perfectly normal to me. I think his interest in logically dismantling religion is more to do with his most likely, predominantly stage Orange mindset than evidence of neuroticism. Is Richard Dawkins also neurotic? Is Christopher Hitchens also neurotic? Not any more so than the average person, I would say.

"Trump shows some empathy when police brutality happens"...is that why he cleared a square with tear gas and rubber bullets so he could take a propagandistic photo op? If you're referring to his views on Islam...well Islam is not a race. In fact his respect for westerners who've become Islamic fundamentalists is even lower than for Islamic Arabs. It has nothing to do with race. He has a problem with the ideology of Islam, not people from Islamic countries. He also criticises Christianity just as much, is there a problem with that? I do disagree with lots of his views on US foreign policy. He's not well educated on it and so he too often just agrees with the mainstream narrative. I'd love to see him debate Noam Chomsky. Ben Affleck was totally ridiculous in that interview. He didn't engage with Harris' arguments at all. He just branded him a racist and got all angry over nothing. Also, can you explain what Trump Derangement Syndrome is? lol Is that a joke?

I listened to this podcast when he released it and found it Rea;ly interesting. I think he brings up lots of valid concerns about what's happening and makes a good argument although I think he maybe misses the big picture a little in getting caught up in particular facts. It's definitely worth a listen to gain another perspective. I like Sam Harris quite a lot and respect his logical and clear thinking on all sorts of topics. He's a breath of fresh air. That doesn't mean I agree with everything he says but I think it's important to listen to other perspectives. Also, I don't find him boring at all. I find his podcasts and conversations really interesting and I find his voice quite calming and soothing ahah. I also think he has more empathy than you're giving him credit for. I think he just deliberately tries to stay unemotional when discussing things because getting emotional tends to get in the way of the facts. Not that emotion has no place of course. I think his views on religion are good for what they are but somewhat limited in that he doesn't seem to understand the real reasons behind religion, that the core of them is spirituality and mysticism and that comparing them to the flying spaghetti monster or whatever is kind of missing the point. However, his views are often misrepresented too. He's often painted as islamophobic just because he points out the flaws in Islam, which is ridiculous. I don't know where that quote at the end comes from but I'm pretty sure Sam Harris has never said that...

Everyone, I should hope. I certainly do. It makes me despair that questions like this are raised so often. It seems that people are loosing their connection with reality and facts and being too easily swayed by conspiracy theories. What do you mean by “does it exist?” Do you mean is it a compete hoax and no such virus exists at all? Do you mean that it was created in a Chinese lab? Do you mean that the deaths are over reported? Etc. The question is vague. Be wary of falling into the conspiracy theory mindset. It’s a particular mindset that people like David Icke and his followers, and frankly too many people today get stuck in. You start to see connections where there really are non because the human brain is very good at finding connections between things, especially if it confirms what you already want to believe. But the world is not so simple. If you think that governments are able to orchestrate something on this scale, you don’t understand the complexities and failings of governments. They’re generally not competent or coordinated enough for something like this. Sure they do dodgy stuff and cover it up but not EVERYTHING that happens in the world is orchestrated. Sometimes shit just happens. That’s what’s happening with this virus. Having said all that, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask how governments (and companies) might try to take advantage of the situation. But again, just because they take advantage of a situation is not proof in itself that they created the situation in the first place. I personally know of people who’ve had the disease as well.

But true...

Sell your smartphone and buy a basic feature phone. I sold my iPhone and bought a Nokia 3310 and I'm so glad I did. You don't need your smartphone. Jump into the cold water, you will be glad you did.

That's not the point. The point is that we don't want governments and companies collecting data on individuals without their consent for no good reason. Imagine if before the internet the government intercepted everyone's letters. That's basically what's happening now and it's not ok. It's nothing to do with "putting yourself out there".

Wow, that's pretty crazy!

Leo talked about the National Geographic series Life Below Zero on his blog recently but it appears to not be available in the UK which is where I am. Does anyone know of anyway to get it in the UK? It's not on Netflix, iTunes, Amazon or Google Play.

Yes!

I don't think that's true. I don't see how it would even work. Osho said that he was surprised every morning when he woke up that he was still there but he didn't have to consciously try not to die.

Even deeper than your desire to suffer is a deeper desire for fulfilment, otherwise you wouldn't be on this forum. Everyone wants fulfilment deep down. The fact that you keep shutting yourself down is simply self-sabotage. Maybe you don't believe that you deserve fulfilment because of low self esteem. Try to connect with your deeper, authentic desire for fulfilment and happiness. Maybe you need to do something different, something drastic like moving to another country or maybe you should go on a retreat. Are you meditating? Just know that you can make it out of this phase in your life. You have immense power and potential as a human being. You just need to realise it and let go of the past. Remember that you are not alone.

Is it worth reading philosophy classics such as Nietzsche, Sartre, Plato, Kierkegaard etc? A lot of their work is very dense and hard to read and the message is often buried in philosophical jargon. Obviously there is wisdom contained within (at least some of the time) but how much value do you actually get by reading these books? Is it a waste of time or will reading them actually grow you. I guess that the answer is somewhere in-between but I would be interested to hear what people think

They didn't have smartphones to distract them Seriously though, imagine how much more we would get done if we had no smartphone, internet, computer, tv, video games, films, etc. Why would they need to say that at exactly such and such as time I will meditate or write or whatever. They would just do it less precisely, that in the morning they would meditate, then have something to eat, then do something else etc. Also, you mentioned the Buddha. Well since he was enlightened he probably didn't need a schedule. From what I understand enlightened people are spontaneous.

I'll check out Fragments and Plato's dialogues. Osho always mentions Heraclitus so I'm not surprised to hear that he's good.

Cool, thanks! Although I think there are probably exceptions and there are more modern philosophers who are worth reading like Alan Watts.

What's inspirational to one person may not be to somebody else. Music is too subjective to say "this is inspirational, epic, motivational etc and this is not". The music you posted it just very grandiose dramatic stuff like themes from films and video games. Like a stereotype of motivational music. I don't find that particularly inspiring. You should let people post whatever actually inspires them rather than your definition of inspirational.

So do you think that Eckhart Tolle is not enlightened?

Draw plants, your family or friends, you can draw yourself in a mirror, go into a park or something and draw or draw the city. There's lots of things to draw if you think about it.

I think that mediation increases your confidence and self-acceptance and therefore allows you to be more authentic so I would imagine that this would improve my ability to interact with women. Does that make sense? Or will meditation just make one interested in women?

Thanks for all the replies guys btw, I meant "Does that make sense? Or will meditation just make one less interested in women?"

I'm aware of that but I'm talking about meditation and not enlightenment specifically.

Bread and circuses. Sex and violence sells best.

Why don't you just do the work and not bother trying to convince your parents? Trying to persuade them might do more harm than good. Also, you don't need the booklist and life purpose course to do the work. I think they are more of a bonus. I suppose the life purpose course could be pretty useful but remember that you are only fifteen and are only at the beginning of your journey. Don't be impatient, you have a lot of time, enjoy it