Carl-Richard

I'm sure your spiritual inclinations are pretty New Age. It's essentially just postmodern spirituality. That is mysticism. That is dogma. Mmm yes, sprinkle some anti-science in there and we're fully prepared for the New Age ?

@WeCome1 Almost as if I could've said it myself ?

Wut?

It's so obvious if you've used it a few times.

Not for me

Imagine a parasitic life form that speeds up evolution and maximizes the diversification of life, but it also speeds up the process of dying, because dying is a part of evolution, hence you add a relative propensity towards annihilation, expressed through the human avatar as a dysfunctional hazed-out state of wanting to return to the creator (like some freaky out-of-control LSD trip). That is just evolution or God doing its thing, but it's a perplexing thing for humans who are comfortable in their paradigm of living semi-long lives as civilized Martini-drinking drones, but yes, that is just a humancentric bias. There is no reason why life couldn't work like that (and why the ultimate expression of that can't be some kind of hyper-dimensional DMT elf that floats across galaxies and nests on various planets).

He is by all means a plant.

Look what I just stumbled across

You know what I'm going to say, right? Sounds pretty New Age to me: minimal prescriptions, minimal theory, minimal tradition, sort of vague; just pure seeking of the sacred, stripped to its bare bones. "Just follow your bliss, man" I don't think we're getting anywhere. We disagree on what spirituality and religion is, we disagree on the degree to which belief is inherent to either spirituality or religion, etc. It's hard to get off the ground without settling those.

@Jowblob You wouldn't call somebody low intelligence to their face, so same with low consciousness. Be more aware of how people perceive your "teachings". Words of advice from somebody who used to act just like you.

Is it possible to at least try to follow the guidelines?

You can still be a nice person

I'm against Leo calling people rats, and he has apologized for doing that. Namecalling is against the guidelines. I've specifically commented that his behavior sets a bad example. You can describe things as low consciousness, but don't make it personal. There is a difference between talking about statements vs. labelling someone's personal identity. I think it's disturbing to read people talking about killing children, but I'm not calling those people "low consciousness".

I was concerned that his drug-taking was impacting his thought process by pointing out concrete things he said. I did not call him "low consciousness", which is a derogatory term and is unnecessarily inflammatory when used to describe people on the forum.

Energy over time (P = E/t)

Lol why so serious?

What steps should I take to become more conscious? Because meditation and deep thinking is generally done in a quiet place, and these people are also generally more resilient and developed than the average person, so they often don't need to rely other people as much. But to provide the correct conditions for resilience and development is different from already being resilient and developed. Adults don't need as much care as children, but if you deprive children of that care, they will not become functional adults.

The idea that meditation practice without a social safety net is a way to empower yourself is based on a set of assumptions. Are you willing to question those assumptions?

Try to make one post without calling somebody else low consciousness.

This is the tightest live performance of a guitar solo in technical death metal history: 7:00

Haha thank you sir ☺️

I will agree that the average Christian boomer is not aiming at the mystical experience in the same way as whatever you're presenting. Was Buddha not a mystic? Jesus? Mohammed? Mystical experiences have shaped cultures for millennia. It's deeply tied to the origin of culture itself, certainly religion. Ok, so most "religious" people are just mindlessly following unrecognized dogma, I agree. But again, that is true for most people in general in any domain: political, social, scientific. It's not endemic to religion, and I don't see you addressing that point. You can contemplate while your balls are being sawed off. I'm defining religion as when spirituality is being done in a supportive and healthy environment, so that doesn't compute for me. You're free to clarify what you mean by "healthy environment". I have given extensive lists of what I mean which you can dispute or add to if you want. I'm labeling your standpoint "New Age" in the same way you're labeling my standpoint "beliefs". I can name it something else if you want. What about WEIRD spirituality?: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic spirituality. "Tradition? Uh, no thanks, I like it WEIRD!" (That's of course less accurate though).

We steer the ship in the right direction and pray to the weather gods.

"have learned to cope". Brother, I'm not talking about coping here. I'm talking about thriving as a human being. I'm talking about reaching your highest potential. You can cope, but that means you're missing something. I don't care about just getting by. That is boring to talk about. It's not an ideal to strive for. Besides, the world is in a meaning crisis. People are sad and lonely. You already know all that.

In general, - do we need spirituality? Yes. - do we need friends? Yes. - do we need support and care from our family and our local community? Yes. - do we need guidance from wiser and more knowledgeable people than ourselves? Yes. - do we need ethical and legal frameworks against abuse and misconduct? Yes. - do we need a shared basic framework of understanding, rituals and symbols? Yes (believe it or not). - do we need institutions to keep these things in place? Yes. Good, so why separate spirituality from all these other needs? Why put up arbitrary barriers between different fundamental human needs? "So guys, I'm going to create my own type of spirituality. It includes not eating food, because eating food leads to all sorts of problems. Avoiding all food is true spirituality. Eating food is what religious people do."