outlandish

@winterknight ^ nice Furthermore, who is it that is being fooled by this illusion?

Seems like there's conflicting research on the calcium thing, so it's probably inconclusive at this point. A single datapoint doesn't say anything generally, but I've had a bone scan done and I have very good bone density, so I'm not personally concerned about calcium at this point.

You won't "be at the top" if you're not judging. Do you really think loosing 10 pounds makes you a better person than someone else? So loose the weight if it makes you feel good. It's probably healthier. But don't let it go to your head, not something to get hung up on.

@WelcometoReality yes that's what I meant by "psychosomatic thing". I agree that it's probably something like that, but we can't jump to conclusions or diagnose someone from just a few words posted over the internet. Shin says "my heart was starting to contract." and "It really does not feel like a medical condition, it's more like an energetic happening." - which I take his word for, but still I think it's important he be super sure it's not a medical issue. It wouldn't hurt to get his heart checked if there's any doubt.

We're all assuming this is a psychosomatic thing - which was my first assumption too, but have you considered that this might be a medical issue? It might be worth getting your heart checked out and so on.

*Room acoustics* are really important. Something Leo absolutely nails in his videos, and which a lot of amateurs overlook when they shoot videos. If you pay attention to the sound in his videos, it's really clear, free from reverbs and echoes of the room he's in. Not sure if he's acoustically treated his recording booth, or if he just has a lot of sound-absorbing stuff in his room (bookshelves, sofas, curtains, and so on help with reflections), but either way, his recordings are very acoustically neutral, which is a good thing for intelligibility and clarity. If you're doing a youtube channel or something, pay attention to that. It will make more difference than having an expensive kick ass mic. If you have a great mic in a shit room, you'll just be picking up muddy acoustics in greater clarity.

No! The trap is thinking that knowledge is the be all end all, and that there's nothing beyond logical understanding and so on. Knowledge is important, but going beyond knowledge, differentiation, reasoning is also important. It's not one or the other, it's both. edit: put in another way: each stage of spiral dynamics builds on the last, it doesn't discard it's foundation.

@ShaharA which of the studies that I linked to has questionable research? If you check out Dr. Greger's site, pretty much all of the health benefits I've posted about are backed up by what he reports on coffee, and he is a guy who is super diligent and sensitive to industry biased research. I *have* made serious research about the other side, this is why I continue to post this position on here. In fact, 7 years ago I was a lot like you and began phasing out coffee in my life because I had a puritanical idea about needing to not have the chronic habit. However, when I really dug into it, it became obvious that the anti coffee side didn't really have anything to back it up, and that there are little to no negative long term health consequences associated with moderate coffee drinking. On the contrary there are piles of benefits as shown by legitimate medical research. On top of that, I realized that I really enjoy drinking coffee, and that the idea that coffee is "bad" really comes down to a puritanical outlook with no basis in reality. I've gone from long periods of no coffee or tea, up to 5 cups a day, and back down again many times, so I'm well aware of how it affects my system. I've now settled on drinking 2 cups a day all before noon. Sometimes I just have one, sometimes 3 if life gets in the way of sleep and I need to push through. Of course if a person doesn't like how it feels in their body, or mind, it's their prerogative to decide not to drink it. But it's puritanical to tell people that they shouldn't drink coffee, because counter intuitively it's good for you, it's not hard to quit - much easier than alcohol or tobacco for example - and many people thrive on having that extra push in their system.

By that definition, anyone who is paying their own rent/mortgage, feeding themselves and so on is classified as financially independent correct? Whether they work at wall-mart 60hrs a week or are Ms. Sally Dividends living the good life on mojito island?

What is financial independence to you guys? I think the dictionary definition would be generating sufficient income from rents, investments etc. to live without having to spend time on work, but seems like lots of you are talking about something else, maybe more like entrepreneurship. I'm so far from the official definition, as my income is directly proportional to the time I spend on it, but I'm pretty much independent of having a boss and so on, and really get to call the shots with my hours, location etc.

I agree that science isn't so blind to it's own illusion/limitations. Most of the discussion on this thread is built on the presumption that science is a static philosophy based solely on logical reasoning and what is measurable/observable in the "objective" world. However, this has not always been the case, nor will it always necessarily be the case. I just read a fantastic book called "What is Real" by Adam Becker https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35604796-what-is-real - a fascinating look at the history of quantum physics and it's impact on modern science. It touches a lot on the topic of what we know, how we know, how science proceeds, and how our conception of science has changed even just over the last century. One of the points in the book was that it's a fallacy that science is purely logical and based only on measurement and observation, despite the hype. There is an interesting interplay between creativity and what we decide to try to measure, then how we choose to interpret it, and how this guides the next iteration of investigation. Consciousness is no longer the taboo topic in science that it once was. "The hard problem of consciousness" is a long way from being solved, but many scientists are looking at it, and if progress is made in answering this question, the whole idea of what science is will surely need to shift.

From what I've read, the balance tips at about 6 cups of coffee per day! I can't imagine drinking that much, but beyond six cups the risks outweigh the benefits. This is talking purely in broad terms like life expectancy and cancer rates, and doesn't account for less measurable things like jitters, anxiety, tooth yellowing, quality of sleep and so on - all of which are also valid points against coffee! So does your prostate! Coffee is rich in antioxidants and reduces risk of other cancers as well. Lower risk of suicide - half the risk of suicide amongst coffee drinkers. Lower rates of depression as well, at least in women. May help prevent type 2 diabetes https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319348.php Reduced risk of alzheimers and parkinsons https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181105160825.htm Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/circulationaha.113.005925 Less chance of dying with a 10-15% lower risk of death over a decade vs. non drinkers https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2018/coffee-longevity-health-benefits.html Enhanced attention and vigilance Tastes good and is enjoyable Of course, if you don't like it, that's fine you don't have to drink it. But do you really want to risk dying? From what I've read, black tea with milk is probably even better than coffee, black tea without milk is better yet, and even better yet is green tea (no milk of course). I'm not sure how it compares to mate, but I suspect mate and green tea are on par. Some of the health benefits mentioned above are specific to coffee however, but on the other hand green tea has even greater and different benefits, so green tea should be regarded as the ultimate healthy stimulant beverage. Plus it doesn't stain your teeth.

I'm married to my ex-coworker, it's been working out really well. It could be a bit complicated, but relationships are always a bit complicated. If it wasn't complicated there wouldn't be any stories for people to gossip about at the water cooler. It seems like for every person you come into contact with in day to day life, there is some kind of rule about how you shouldn't date them. The only people that are ok to date are total strangers, and even that's not ok because ugh online dating, creeps, etc. There are places for boundaries for sure, but don't get too caught up in the rules.

What have been some of the peak experiences in your life? ..however you define that. We can't always be in the zone of perfect flow, or whatever it is for you, but it can be useful to reflect on those special times that stand out in our lives. Go!

These all amazing and joyous stories to read! Keep 'em coming!

Aciieeed!! San pedro your mom

@Natasha Ironically, you're dismissing accusations of cultiness with a classic culty tactic! I quickly scanned the reddit, and I think there's actually some valid criticism in there, mixed in with some reactionary and cherry-picked stuff. I'd like to take the time to digest it more thoroughly. It's important that we be open to criticism of ourselves, our teachers, our philosophies. We're all human and flawed and sometimes other humans can point out these flaws and give us the fodder for taking steps forward.

@Tistepiste cool I'm really glad you understand that perspective because it does take a little bit of background, but it really does help in understanding what's going on with psychedelics in some general ways.

@Tistepiste oh I forgot to add: meditating on psychedelics can be way harder than normal, or else it can be way smoother and deeper, or both. It can really go any way. Psychedelics are like giant amplifiers for your mind, so they will turn up whatever is in there. If you are having monkey-mind, on psychedelics you'll have 1000x monkey mind. If you're having deep satori, you'll have (satori of satori of satori)^satori. The more you take, the more the amplification. Neural circuits make use feedback loops, and when you turn feedback loops up a lot, you can get resonance within these feedback circuits. So this is where a lot of the classic visuals in psychedelics come from - you're actually seeing the patterns of your own mind's visual processing "algorithms" feeding back on themselves, similar to the art created by googles DeepDream algorithm. The same phenomenon happens on all parts of your mind on psychedelics - thought, the senses including sound, memory, logic and so on. Sometimes this feedback and amplification can be too strong and it can be difficult to meditate. But if you can maintain balance and empty your mind while everything is turned up, that can be an amazing, whole, experience. edit: PS. What I meant to get to was that I find low-medium doses to be more useful for actual meditation practice than high doses. With high doses it can be a bit too wild, but sometimes it's possible, especially after the peak and amazing.

Oh yeah, many times I don't have a problem starting or stopping, so I don't agree at all that it's very addictive. It's nowhere close to as addictive as tobacco or alcohol IME. Also, ever since I discovered that it has so many health benefits, I stopped holding on to any guilt about my coffee consumption. Ironically, it's an anti-harmful habit! I believe that our bodies and beings thrive on a bit of adversity, and coffee and tea provide just the right dose of stress stimulus to our systems, with little of the harm associated with rougher stimuli. I believe this is why we're naturally attracted to coffee and tea, and it explains why caffeine consumers have longer life expectancies and lower rates of cancers.

Great recommendation! San pedro is so kind, warm, connected, vast.

Yeah listen to Leo, he's right. @Shadowraix PCP ugh .. that's a crazy story, and not an isolated incident. I'll never touch it. I like to remind people that ketamine isnt far off, because the two drugs have very different reputations. Luckily people dont tend to do crazy shit like that on K, but it can be really self-destructive nonetheless.

^ that's a pretty good argument for why not to drink caffeine. It can put us into a state of constant sleep deprivation if you don't watch it, and you can be totally blind to the fact that you're only operating at 80% or whatever. I've definitely had periods in my life like that. Still love it, not planning on quitting, although I'm careful to only drink in the morning so I can sleep nicely at night.

This is silly and incoherent.

^ He's not exactly being forthcoming about what happened. Sounds like someone died.