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This is the symptom list from the National Institute of Mental Health: Persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” mood Feelings of hopelessness, or pessimism Irritability Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities Decreased energy or fatigue Moving or talking more slowly Feeling restless or having trouble sitting still Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions Difficulty sleeping, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping Appetite and/or weight changes Thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts Aches or pains, headaches, cramps, or digestive problems without a clear physical cause and/or that do not ease even with treatment It doesn't have to be every symptom, and it could fluctuate in the amount of symptoms and intensity over time. People often misinterpret depression as an extreme sadness, but depression is often a sort of umbrella emotion that contains many other emotions underneath like sadness for instance. And if it's been going on for some time then it's probably because there are some major issues that haven't been addressed like emotional trauma or even the current traumatic situation that is actively going on (think abusive spouse, bullying, etc.). I've been in similar situations/feelings before, and so that might be why what is said resonates with you. Agreed I think him being your ex makes a big difference. There's a plethora of reasons he could be acting this way because of it. I think the most likely is he was only there for the sex and now that you're not providing it he's treating you like what he feels like you are, a nuisance.

I'm originally from a deep Red place in Florida that's like 95% white (in the area with the poor/working class whites... aka my background), and the racism that I've noticed comes in mild to more severe forms in about 40% of those people. This is a HUGE number of people. So, because white people are the largest demographic that have the biggest sway on election results, that means that people on the Right know that they have to appeal to this group to get elected. So, they create dog whistles as a wink and nod to that demographic of people. This is called the Southern Strategy, and has been employed since the Voting Rights Act in the 60s when there was a political re-alignment. So, this is an example of institutionalized racism against non-white people that continues on into present day. So, I don't know how bigoted Mexican men and black women generally are, nor is it relevant. It's not relevant because there are no candidates running on the "be racist against white people" platform, as this is political suicide. White people are the majority party. So, you can't only rely on non-white voters to win you an election. You have to appeal to white people as the majority demographic. And proposing bills that disenfranchise white people will simply not work. However, a politician running on the Southern Strategy will win votes and approval by promising to disenfranchise non-white people and making good on those promises. So, the social power here is not conferable in any way. So, even if there are some mean black ladies somewhere out there who give white people the stink eye at the bus stop, it doesn't threaten to have any effect on the lives of white people, at all... except maybe hurting some snowflakes' feelings. And that's true, no matter how bigoted a demographic that's non-white generally is, as that party is still a minority and doesn't wield as much voting power or power to stack to the status quo in their favor. So, I suspect the way you're looking at this is by asking, which demographic do you really think are "better people"? Do you think Mexican men and black women are better than poor white people? And the answer is none of the above and no. I guarantee there are good people and knuckleheads in each group, in conferable proportions. People are all over the place on the spectrum of having it together and not having it together. But this is not an issue of character, and framing it as such obscures the real issues. In reality, it's an issue of social power and the workings of a system that give more power to white individuals at the expense of non-white individuals. And it's important to be aware that this system is being leveraged by powerful people in the Right wing to get votes and approval on the backs of non-white people.

Ah, I think I'm on this same page. Just confused as to why anyone claims to know anything, then, even with respect to enlightenment? Just a note: She does seem largely dualistic and parts of Atlas Shrugged make it clear she didn't really understand philosophies like Advaita Vedanta and erroneously assumed that they are 100% illogical and baseless. You may have read some of her nonfiction - so have I. However, I am not as quick to completely debase her, especially in terms of how to create an economy and behaivoral expectations of individuals (or distinct experiences of the one Self, in terms of nonduality). Basically, her systems thinking is interesting to me. I should note that I am not supporting the unhinged capitalism so many people (incorrectly) think Rand raves about. It would be interesting to talk to you and others who so strongly rebuke her about the actual plots of her novels and their implications, bad and good. Also, Rand died of heart failure. Not suicide. So.... weird that Osho claimed suicide.

Funny when the ignorant call out others ignorant. I've done many camping trips, someone of the best times of my life connecting back with nature and life. Firstly of all I didn't say you have to do it forever, your average person is so fucked up side ways, they would die in a week of camping because they have no living in nature skills, or they would burst into tears from being alone or not having TV/Video games etc. Also it doesn't have to be as a hard as you think, as long as the weather conditions are decent and you have some access to fresh water (rivers) and food (berries + animals) heck you can even go buy your groceries beforehand, you don't need to do it 100% handicapped, you can use tools to aid you. You have no idea what you're talking about you've just made some assumption about how things work, maybe go research some tribes that live in rich environments, you'd realise how much spare time they have in their hands to sit and do nothing in the village because it actually doesn't take 16 hours of your day to meet your survival needs, especially if you've got a foundation. Yes yes we have evolved, thats why depression and suicide is more rampart than ever, most people cant meditate or be alone in silence for 10 mins. Look at how much the entertainment industry soaks up time, look at how many people spend hours upon hours on stupid websites like reddit or twitch where they watch other people play video games because they're so desperate to make that little connection, because they're depressed and lonely. Even for productivity, read "Deep work"? you're much more likely to get shit done if every time you needed to work you can fly out to a cabin in the woods away and from everything with nothing to do but the work. It has been proven by science to that being in nature actually plays a vital role for your health and being. And you get the opposite with concrete roads, builidngs, vehicles, human traffic, noise, pollution, grey landscapes, advertisements and billboards everywhere, all this soaks your life energy and makes you depressed. Please don't chat shit like as if our evolution isn't a double edge sword, 90% of men would be happy to sit in a high end realistic VR and fuck virtual girls all day long, and never get out of their couchs ever again, you think this is good for your soul? Most people choose what's not good for them, but what dopamine wants, hence unhealthy foods and obesity, no one wants to intentionally be fat. Nature and the wilderness helps to regulate dopamine. I hope you learned something. Guess you haven't read enough productivity books, one of the technique that keeps coming up "walk out in nature", the bad thing is most people have to make do with parks which isn't good enough, it's too artificial, too overcrowded, you can still see the buildings and see and hear vehicles, and you barely see any wild life or interesting plants. To get the benefits parks will do little, you really need to walk into real nature environments.

This is a really good example of how models suck at representing reality. Seems to be a double edged sword, based on the context, the individual and however its ripple effects dance around in the universe. Let's not paint schizophrenia as if it is a good disorder for everyone - I am sure it can be embraced by certain individuals - but the overall effect on people seems to be of pain on people. Statistically higher suicide rates, high rates of smoking, etc. That said, I believe there are just shades of schizophrenia like there are shades of everything else - everything is blurry anyway. Three of my siblings have had schizophrenia and I've always intuited that there was a dream-like quality to the world. Perhaps a mild form of schizophrenia(ish) jumpstarted my inquiry into nonduality. I believe there is a connection. Some excellent systems thinking and deep insights about conciousness could potentially be used to tackle this issue (aka we need turquoise people, according to your model).

I also want to add that seeking Ego death is a fool's errand, because the Ego is already an illusion. Suicide can be done only if you believe you are the body and you believe that by ending the body you end yourself. There is a base error there. If the body dies, you do not die. Hence suicide is impossible - it is a fool's errand. Enjoy being, peace.

@Azrael be careful with your theory, man. I appreciate your concern but i had a feeling meditation is for suicide long before Leo said things like death, suicide

Your post in one of the reasons why I dislike @Leo Gura talking about deep topics containing phrases like death, ego suicide, etc. To someone that is as far as Leo or more advanced, this kind of talk can make sense and illustrate ideas or experiences. To someone like @Baotrader, it is confusing and misleading because you don't have the capacity yet to make sense of it. That's why in Zen they only give the knowledge to you, that you can handle. Otherwise, ppl would go crazy.

Did you commit a suicide when you woke up from the last nights dream?

Yes, the ritualistic suicide of the garbage one accumulates.

More like becoming immune to it. Ego death = suicide meditation will only bring you closer to it.

Enough nonsense! Meditation is facing pain head on, has nothing whatsoever to do with suicide.

Search how to get rid of your self esteem issues. All stem from this. As a man it doesn't really matter how you look as long as you take care of yourself and are confident/at peace within. Look at how many stars are still not happy with their life even after getting everything they wanted, even if they have godlike bodies. They still commit suicide ... Doesn't matter how good you look, if you have self esteem issue you will still find something to complain, you will always feel as "missing something". Read the six pillars of self esteem by Nathaniel Branden Watch videos about self esteem on youtube and take notes Start a daily meditation habit starting today.

hey there, I'll be very short. ( ) excuse my french minded english. ( with my lack of skill, as a learned it only by copying pattern, never listen at school ) This topic will be egoic ( thanks for reading ) Fan of music since child, I find my life purpose while listening on weed music at a friend home. ( my all 3 best friends are currently into electronic music making ) only wanted to be a electronic musician since 3 years ( soon 4 ) ( I worked like a slave those last years, on me and my multi projects ) I was a bit in PTSD ( from using LSD and contemplating that reality was not a thing ( this is what I ve seen in the void of my mind ) that nothing matter .. I didn't find any real god, I was deluded that I will understand something, but only met my intuition overpowered even more than usual ( could see imagery pop in my mind while drawing ) " adhd " ( for real, I do not even want to believe I m this kind of shit, cause I hate 98% of internet who pretend to be this shit ) they are sad to me to read. They all sound sorry to tell that, but kind of stupid. ( not their wrong, they have been very mindfucked to believe they are "sick" ) old kid addicted to video games since my 6 years ( pokemon ) to 20/21 years ( droped it when I did weed ) ( league of legend ) ( was used to be "introvert" and akwardly very social ) making real weirdo jokes ( kind of rick & morty before it exist ) I could makes jokes about china eating africans to save the entire world. I love shatter reality and perspective since a child ( wasn't aware of doing a thing like that ) was just funny and natural to me to be a leo. I m INTP ( but mixed ENTP ) ( I did the test 4 times on my life and had 3 times INTP / 1 time ENTP ) ( those are models, not real fact, but they sound very accurate to me, against all others ( that I read ) I do not believe in IQ as something related at pure intelligence, it is a bit of something maybe.. I have between 135 & 150 ( not in term of intelligence, in term of IQ of course ) I never used any drug until 20 ( only video games addiction, not because I was ugly or hated at school ( I hated school because it was borring to death ) I was mostly seen as a beautiful guy/nice, so no one bothered me because I had a nice face ( was on the border to be hated like a nerd though, but was mostly talking to everyone and trying to be openminded to every idea, besides the day or I shoot out that football was for fucking chimp ( exactly haha ) before leo was in my reality ) I was a bit weirdo, crazy, and in my "mind" , because everything ultimately..borring to death. ( and I was good at lonely sport one of the best for my heretic body ) I m a hard alone worker ( learn, music, art, etc.. ) very curious; watch various "scientific/biologic/psychologic" content. ( but only since 4 years, since my life goal is being a god tier at music ) ( I do music, video making, recording, music engineering, basic web language understanding ) my hands are a bit everywhere except on girls. used alcohol a lot the first 2 years I discovered ( but never did alone my entire life ) ( at 20 ) because it was fun and "legal". then at my end 20y, some of my friend who likes music and movies makes me try weed. I buy a package the week after I try it ( it was not in a "night" context, only an afternoon, by listening music while high, it was like WOAAAAAAAAAAAAA ) Never stop using it more than 3 days for the last 3/4 years. ( probably put all my back monney in it, because it made me work for the first time of my life ) first thing : like music in 4k when you are used to 480 and you already loved it... ho man I fell in love, music and weed, it's infinity at hand, it's bliss. everyday it's bliss. I know this is stupid to be addicted to something like this, but who isn't addicted to something in life ? most people are addicted to having sex or masturbate. ( I do not have those addiction at all, even porn isn't a problem at all, for instance, it has been 4 days without any kind of thing, it doesn't even miss me ) but WEED MAN I started making electronic music like 6 month after i started ( and very religiously ). ( I learned english full while being high, I was mostly the worst piece of shit of my school for my entire school grades ) I even tell that I dedicate my life to the god of music in a very serious manner haha, so I worked so hard, my mind and ear was bleeding, it was even stupid of my part. I m still very healthy though, only crippling anxiety as a life style. weed remove all anxiety from me, absolutely all. I try the drug ritalin, but it was mostly shit fake meth in pack, makes me work and idiots completely crazy robot, makes me learn something about mind. ( it was my intent, I never really believed this shit would help me, it was to cope with the price of weed ( I wanted to have something equivalent and not pay for it ) what a shame.. ( cause in my country drug, are 100% free when prescribed ) I wanted to know what society was about to give me to makes me a good worker. holy shit, should have remain ignorant, but still, makes me grow a lot in the end ( if not makes me loose a cell of brain of both ) but brain doesn't exist but like leo said, all my induction was fucked to death. ( idea that pop by link of emotional pattern resolution, something like ) you're so tweaked, that your mind stop have insight, it just "do". without thinking really about the "how". ( it's the extreme of who I m ) ok now : I m almost 25, never worked in a real job ( only with dad for 3 month ) will never do it again. ( my dad can be real harsh and seriously close minded, I helped a bit with this but still ) ( only worked on my project since I started.. weed . ), ( but my country gives you 500€/month at 25 years. if you do not have a work ( yes for doing nothing ) it's social security ) why I start to want to rule the world when I take a puff ? ( I mean this is how I feel ) most people are not resonating the same on weed as me. I worked with my dad in physical job, wanted to kill me almost every day, put violence on me ( I do not live with him, only with my mother ) ( I m less heavy than a average girl 54kg and my 171 cm ) can't do physical shit, cause I had suicidal contemplation while doing this, turn me into a fucking nihilist, telling people that their life will end being a fucking slavery jokes ( this kind of thinking ) this is when I m out of weed, I always be a cynical, and a sceptical blabla. When I started weed, all my bad, all my shit was turning ON ! ok end of story, could write on my context for long, but I think you grasb the problem. I m fucking addicted to death, I can now do weed/learning/music for all day while being high ( in fact I can't work without being high, it's completely chaos ) I do not have motivation, I m easily distracted by anything ( in my mind , not reality ) I mean if reality is borring my mind start to create story on things or self reflect endlessly ( my natural states ). I see pattern in everything, relate to every idea, I can't "work" properly, it's when I smoke, I m "happy" stop being a piece of shit talker ( stop being cynical : try to help everyone make it in everything ) I learned electronic music ( more than 8000 hours of work ( only on music ) and others 3000 of hours : studying, reading, personnal work, reading book about business, art, etc.. ) I m still not at the lvl of selling anything. but when I don't have weed, I m lazy, procrastinating, playing EVEN video games, that I put out of my life when I started weed. ( completely stop my old addiction ) started to work and read a lot on weed. I think I would never learn patience without weed. and still it's annoying. when my mind creates all this thought only to entertain me/nerves me. I mean I wasn't aware as a kid of trolling people, only to excite me, I was doing this without even hate on people, conventional talk wasn't exciting enough. All my new real friends are Raves/Dj/drug addict ( mostly weed ). now I have 3 month to live without weed, because of monney, only this.. my mind start to creates pattern to get weed, it's very serious, I don't know how to control me, I could just contemplate suicide or tired, my lazyness, darkside thinking, anxiety, apathy. ok then when this is not happening, I m just wanting to procrastinate and never work on my project or on anything. Ok I can still love music, but man, I can't do music. it's crippling after 15 min of making music, I'll start feeling bad for a random though poping in. I never had real motivation before weed, I m still virgin at almost 25 ( not really making me feel great or bad, but maybe it's a thing, I don't know ) , even if I did LSD ( alone with self contemplation ), mushroom, mdma ( but fuck that shit, in the end, it's a happy void ), and a lot of others shits. Weed is my fuel and I m a car, for real, I m just living on the parking when I m out of weed :'( Now I m out of monney, should find a work/create a business to pay more weed ( like I did ) or should I really stop, and how to STOP and still makes music and hang a bit with my friend when I start to be crazy because of living the introvertness ? I would kill for a real solution, and not a joking solution, my life is so shitty without weed, and only monney stop me from buying. Should I create a side business on the internet ? now my account is 8€ currently, I still have 10€ of weed, and I m reflecting if I should suck dick or keep my dignity ( I m kind of joking ) no economy, no drive licence ( cost 2000€ to not get it ), but full of knowledge ! .. Please guys, don't tell me to accept Jesus I already accepted him in me, he talks to me in my sleep, tell me to call my weed dealer immediatly and trap him to stole his weed

Chapter 61 I have to the conclusion after a lot of insight and contemplation work over the last 2 days that living spiritually is difficult. But there is a meaning to it. Living a spiritual life is to live a sacred life. To treat the body as a sacred temple. To view life as if it were something sacred. To look at life as journey from birth to death to the afterlife, to consider this as a journey of the soul from the physical phase or dimension to the spiritual phase or spirit form or state in the afterlife. This journey being like a stopover in the greater scheme of things. But the journey is valuable to the soul. It has transcend this journey called life to reach the afterlife to experience peace. A soul's journey is never complete without experiencing life. Life is just one of the stages in this eternal journey of the soul. It has to experience peace and joy and stability in this journey called life to make a stable peaceful transition to the afterlife where the soul can continue living in peace and never suffer any harm. Thus experiencing great distress and suffering in life is not ideal for the soul. It's not good for its eternal journey. By living a life of suffering and misery and sadness you are not doing any favor to the soul. You are only hurting it. You are hurting its purpose. You are hurting the soul so much that it will almost cease to exist and try to escape life. It willl try to end the chaos by ending life or suicide. This is not a favorable outcome for the soul. The soul desires to survive and live in peace and happiness. The soul will suffer great distress if it cannot experience peace, harmony and happiness in life. This distress is harmful to the soul and its health. The main goal here is that the soul should rest or remain in peace after death. But for that it should have peace and happiness in life and not restlessness and suffering. Whatever the body and mind experience in life is toxic and it is what the soul has to bear through life and that is sad, its the own unique story of the soul and what it had to go through in life. Every soul close to death has a unique story to tell, a story of hurt, pain, suffering, loss, grief, struggles, endurance, love, poverty, tragedies, abuse, hope, triumphs, etc. All this comprises the journey of that soul. This is its unique footprint through life and the world. It's important to protect the soul. To protect it from any kind of harm or damage, little or big. To keep this journey safe and peaceful. The body is a temple of the soul. So it's important to protect the body as well. To maintain it healthy, functioning and vital. But all this does not mean that we should never have any suffering, sadness and pain. Or struggles. Of course we should, only that makes us more human. Experiencing the entire spectrum of human experiences both good and bad and all kinds of human emotions is a very vital part of growth and empathy otherwise we will turn into sociopaths or very unemotional shallow beings incapable of deep emotions and understanding. It takes pain to know pain. You cannot be living a perfectly happy life and never experienced even a single thought or feeling of sadness and expect to be very empathetic towards others. You could show that you care and be sympathetic but that's not the same as actually feeling someone's pain exactly the way they do. It will come if you have been there in some way. If you have never suffered then you will most likely be just blank or indifferent to someone's pain. So ultimately upon it's death, the soul can leave in peace. If the soul suffers too much in the course of life, then even in the afterlife it will be equally vindictive and restless. Human beings think that they can control the environment. What they don't realize is that they are also a part of the same environment that they are trying to destroy.

@7thLetter You are still misunderstanding a lot of things. You have actually made many assumptions about me, just re-read what you said. You are actually making assumptions about everyone here. You are even making assumption about the „typical“ yellow/green/orange/blue individual. About Leo, he is not all that good or bad. Some people might get him correctly and develop themselves, but there are people, who are terribly depressed, because they have entered the beta stage of Spiral dynamics because of what they heard in his videos. (= stage, where you just cannot understand, what the hell is happening with you, you cannot really transition further, it can even end in a suicide) I even have a person on facebook who told me that he is suicidal and things that Leo is a freak. It really is a matter of attitude, perspective and approach. Orange has 2 ends of the spectrum. It can either be lazy and cocky or driven by negative motivations, most of the time. I was really into video games, orange self-development, I even bought some courses from people like Tai Lopez... I also wanted to impress people by learning difficult languages like Japanese and Chinese, I think this counts as orange as well. I didnt do badly, but it didnt bring me any happiness at all, I was heavily dependent on people flattering my achievements. Yellow person can still make tons of relationships, if he is good at finding people who understand him and support his ideas and work, why would he ever reject these people? Its about finding them, if you havent created a network of people like this before, it probably is hard to find them, but that doesnt apply to me, because with my knowledge of languages, I can immmidiately attract speakers of these languages and people who are also learning and people, who are learning languages like Japanese for some more meaningful purposes (not like mine, when I was learning), they tend to be very intelligent and disciplined people, who are worth talking to, at least from my experience. Dont take this as some sort of hateful debate, I admit that I have a lot of things that I have to work on, but I am definitely not mostly blue/orange. The reason why I started to tell you this was because some people here were giving me advice that didnt really give me almost anything, as I am beyond that. I am also not craving for a relatioship, as some people here are probably thinking. Its just that people have created so many assumptions about me, so I dont want this thread to go to waste completely.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm getting ready for my first trip and have been thinking a lot about writing "suicide" notes. For me to be able to fully surrender, I have to be willing to actually die. This means no holding on to the hope of coming back. That hope could prevent me from fully letting go. If I say goodby to my family, they will think I've gone crazy and committing suicide. If I did die during the experience, it would be a shitty thing to do to my family to just die of a drug overdose. So the best option is to write everyone a goodbye letter. This allows me to be ready for full surrender and no holding on to 'my life'. Then if all goes well (which statistically it should), I can just throw them away and tell everyone in person.

Yeah mate, all well and good if you are stable enough to experiment with these compounds, some people aren't and it could end in a disaster. One of my best friends experimented with LSD, it fractured his mind completely and ruined him beyond repair. He eventually ended up committing suicide. Yes well you missed something rather significant there, as that's the very root of addiction- distance from unpleasant emotions. This is utter nonsense and quite frankly a dangerous statement. Please be mindful of making such assumptions. Ketamine tolerance builds up very quickly and this is noted among addicts. This is why you find addicts needing to consume 2, 3 even 5+ grams a day.

@Mikael89 I do have a problem. I have high sensitivity disorder which caused me to develop really bad social anxiety and an underlying depression that is my baseline mood. Years and years I have just been living as the victim. “Certain people can do these awesome things but not me.”, “People don’t understand how bad it is for me.”, etc, etc. But then I realized what are my other options? Literally WHAT ARE MY OTHER OPTIONS. I can stay at home every day because the littlest thing overstimulates me and be all sad about it, or I can push my edge every day which may look like nothing to some people, but work towards living the life I want to live. If I want to be happy and live as I want, what other option do I have than to just do my best? So, I decided that I want to meet girls and become completely free in my self-expression. I cannot approach girls right now. I cannot behave exactly as I want to right now. But instead of being all down and defeated by that, I go out every day to go as far as I can. Saying “Hi” to everyone I see, walking past girls and looking them in the eyes instead of completely going the other way, small things like that. Monthly doing something that really scares me like actively being in a highly social environment and trying to join in f.e. In doing this I’ve already noticed huge improvements in how I feel on a day to day basis. It might take longer than most people but I will keep working untill I get to the point where I can be completely vulnerable and myself, and talk to any girl I want. I’m sure there are many people out there who have it much worse than me and so could you (I don’t know your situation) but subjectively, my life up to 3 years ago has been really dark and made me ponder suicide multiple times. If you are serious about this, and not trolling, ask yourself: Where will pitying myself and being a victim get me? We all just want to be happy and live a fulfilling life. Give yourself the chance to live a life like that. You owe it to yourself.

Who has ever survived suicide to tell us what Thought and Experience comes after the deadly act? Does Awareness survive suicide? Now you have yourself a great contemplation topic my friend. Look into it.

I know. I was just saying to be careful with the relativism tool. The below statements could be used to neutralize someone else's views about morality and harm. In this case about pedophilia. Person A believes children are too young to make their own sexual decisions and that it is harmful for an adult to have sex with the child. Person B believes children can be mature enough to make their own sexual decisions and it is not harmful for an adult to have sex with them. Person B can use moral relativism to neutralize Person A's claim by saying "People interpret children's naivety in one way or another. There are an infinite number of ways to interpret data and none of them is true". I'm not saying this is your intention - yet in a discussion, that statement could be seen as discrediting someone's view. What if the data showed that 99% of children that have sex with an adult commit suicide and the other 1% suffer depression the rest of their lives? A person interprets that data to mean that pedophilia harms children. Would you still stand by your statement that the data can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways and none of them is true? I don't intend to mean that what you wrote is wrong. I'm just saying be aware of a slippery slope with relativism. It can shut down discussion and digging to deeper levels. Consider another viewpoint that combines relativism and reason: "There are many ways to interpret the same set of data. Perhaps several interpretations hold some value. How can we connect the dots from various perspectives to create a more holistic view?". This acknowledges that their are relative views, that various views may have value and that it is possible to develop an integrated holistic view with even higher value. This isn't easy to do because one must be open to considering other views that make them uncomfortable. It is something I am working to get better at.

@Emerald I agree with your essay on male - female power dynamics and I'm trying to think of a case where men "don't have it better". The closest I can think of is child custody after divorce. Traditionally in the U.S., women were seen as the nurturing mother that provided child care while the men worked to provide financial support. So after divorce it seemed like women were given preference for custody share and men had to fight for equal custody rights (especially in the conservative south of the U.S.). I know we have progressed in this area over the last couple of decades, yet would you say that overall there is gender equality for child custody (assuming both parents are healthy)? This is anecdotal, but my brother, who lives in South Carolina, has had to go to ridiculous lengths in court trying to gain full custody from an unfit mother. During the process, the mother has broken custody laws, she has snapped into fits of rage and aggression - she has been caught threatening and verbally abusing the children. My brother has spent years working with lawyers, police officers and psychiatrists to gain majority custody and get the troubled daughters into therapy (one of the girls attempted suicide). The mother has worked to *prevent* the girls from receiving therapy. Yet, the court kept giving her equal custody. After years of this, he was recently given 75% custody. If the situation was reversed - I can't help but think he would be stripped of custody. I know this is anecdotal and I don't have statistics, yet do you think, overall, child custody is biased toward the mother?

@Leo Gura You're in total denial of male primary issues, like divorce rape, suicide, and autism. Your'e also not acknowledging covert female wiring vs overt male wiring. That's what MRAs are mostly about. P.S. I will never actively involve myself in MRA work.

@Leo Gura Thank you, I will keep basing everything in my direct experience and not stay stuck in details. Thank you for your channel by the way, your advices changed my life completely. I found Actualized.org when I was seriously thinking about commiting suicide because of the guilt I was programmed with by the church. But now I see light and joy in everything I see thanks to following your advices for 2 years.

Entry 366 | The Joy Of Bringing Value To Others I'd like to dedicate this entry to anybody who has ever felt how I've felt when they've felt depressed about anything and particularly to my 13-year-old self. There were some dark moments of my teenage years where it felt like I would never be of any value to anybody in the world. At the very worst, I'd have thoughts of suicide but then further thoughts saying that even that wouldn't mean anything to anyone. But this entry comes from a much older version of myself that just today was reminded of his value in the world. And when I say "world" I don't mean the whole of the human race but more like "my world." These are the people in my life: my family, friends, partner and my customers. There honestly aren't that many people close to me in my life right now. I could possibly count them on my fingers. But I would like to make this entry for my future self to serve as a reminder of just how much value I can have on simply one person in life. I want to focus on my customers. There aren't many of them right now. In fact, there are only two of them right now. At this point, I think it's safe to say that my third might have decided to stop having lessons. Far from perfect right? And yes it's far from earning a living. I live at home still with mum and dad and earn what I can which (going on teaching alone) that's around £200 per month. It's important that I'm honest about this now because this has been my financial struggle for a good year now. Earnings are far from ideal but from my experience today, it's still so damn worth it. These two students have been with me for a year now. I've taught them to the best of my ability and encouraged them to practice and develop themselves as guitar players. One of them has autism and has been able to learn 4 pieces: Smells Like Teen Spirit, Wonderwall, Psycho and The Handler (well at least up until those difficult chords after the main guitar solo). The other student, whose lesson today inspired me to write this entry, has entered for his grade 3 exam to take place later this year. This makes me feel so damn inspired and fulfilled. I always say that the first year of doing something new is the worst. I've used that as encouragement for my students to help them push through that tricky first year. Maybe it's also true with teaching. But it's the second student in particular that has really fuelled me with energy because over the course of the year, I've helped him to perform 3 intricate rock/pop pieces, learn 13 scales, 7 arpeggios, improvise solos and recall melodies and chords through ear tests. It's after today's lesson that I'm convinced that he's going to pass his exam and it feels awesome. Seeing him smiling away through our whole lesson and genuinely having fun and laughter throughout was a great sign that he's found something that really matters to him. Could it be that I've helped this kid find a calling of his own? Time will tell. The lesson I want to take away from this is about having the motivation to go out and work on your life purpose. The reward of doing this work is the fulfilment that you get from doing the work. I repeat! The reward of doing this work is the fulfilment that you get from doing the work! The pay check at the end of the day is just there to allow you to keep doing the work that you are doing. The fulfilment from receiving money for doing your life purpose (no matter how small or big) is far outweighed by the fulfilment of actually doing your life purpose. Yes, I may have lost a student because I had kind of given up on him. That's fine. It's my responsibility that he's going to end up quitting because I've played a role in facilitating the lessons and doing the job (which is to inspire him with a more self-expressive life, not just to teach him how to play guitar). I failed in that instance and it's okay. Because if the other two students have taught me anything, it's that I have the ability to provide so much value for someone. I can be a valuable asset to someone. It doesn't matter about the quantity of people I help but the quality with which I help them. So there you go, Mr. 13-year-old Liam from the past. There is your proof at long last that you CAN be a valuable asset to someone. You can change the world in meaningful ways. It's time for you to stop believing that you're never going to be good enough for people because here is the proof! It took you nearly 10 years to create the proof but it was worth every second. And this is bizarre and possibly even imaginary but I do believe that when I actually was around that age, I visualised having a conversation with my future self. The future self who had figured out something worth living for. Something worth bettering myself for. Say what you will but I think that future self is right here and right now. Because for once in my life, I believe in myself. Pick of the day: