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Do not consider suicide an option. Firstly, if you are thinking about this - please seek professional help. Secondly - do you really want to commit such an act to your body, or do you just want this current phase of your existence to end? Most of my friends who went through suicidal ideation didn't really want to die, they wanted to end their current circumstances. 24 years old is so young.... please know, your existence, just existing... is valid. You don't actually have to do anything at all in life, you are worthy and allowed to just be. That is so OK. We are all children in different stages of an aged body... free to play and do whatever we want. Free to love and be loved. You may not have received this message that you are valid and OK to just exist, free of the cycle of needing to pretzel yourself into something for someone else. But that is what you should have been shown when growing up. The only reason I say the above is because you seem very caught up in needing to be useful. Successful... needing to be anything other than the bright, vibrant & beautiful being that you ARE. Just be that, because its worthy. You have time to make small changes - every small change and hurdle you overcome prepares you for the next one. But truly I want you to reach out and seek help <3

@Rezo gelenidze @Rezo gelenidze Just remember guys, financial success is only one very tiny form of success there are many many other types and forms of success. You could be successful with your relationship with a person or perhaps you could have success in being a good person morally, you could be successful at talking to a girl regardless of whether it leads to a date or you could be successful at meditating a few times. So just be gentle with yourselves, because ultimately it's very rare and highly unlikely that you guys have not been successful in some respect. If you have a flavor for Leo's content that points to a deep form of psychological evolution which is extremely rare and is a sign of major mental success already. Truth be told, every day you wake up and make it to bed after is successful. You have successfully existed. It can actually be quite difficult to be so powerful that all you need to do to succeed is exist....to just "be." Think about why God calls himself "I am." If you can get to the point where you realize that all you have to do to succeed is exist, you can recognize that this is basically all god does. God's only real purpose is to exist and love itself... Literally. My short answer is that failure doesn't actually exist. But like don't do suicide, like you could enjoy life. Just be patient with yourself ❤️ if it feels right you could continue coming back to the forum here and pursue spirituality more deeply. I find this to be one of the most powerful soothing agents for psychologic pain. There are also a lot of nice people here who could be your friends myself included

- pre-Israel Zionists had organized terror militias, Palestinians didn’t even have an army, it was Zionist’s that introduced tactics like hiding bombs in shops. They were more “developed” technology and tactically than Palestinians but they were arguably less civilized as they were far more violent than Palestinians who lived relatively peacefully with their minorities prior to Zionism. - during the 48 war, the Arab states did far less massacres of civilians in their captured territory than Zionists. When Arab states ethnically cleansed their Jews they killed a fraction of the civilians compared to Israel among the Palestinians it expelled. Yet the Arab states at time were far less “developed” than the European Zionist colonialists, their armies still used camels and they had low rates of literacy. - Israel does not “mostly” avoid civilian casualties. Look up siege of Beirut, a new idf soldier refused his orders saying they’d kill too many civilians and they stripped him of his rank and did it anyway, or the goldstone report which found they purposefully targeted civilians. Soldiers literally bragged to the media about how many civilians they could shoot during the great march of return. - for the current war NYT reported Israel was ok with killing hundreds of civilians in strikes if they suspected a Hamas commander would be hit. By this standard the suicide bombing aren’t terrorism because they can argue they may have hit a soldier off duty. A Us Gov whistleblower told 60 minutes Israel killed 70 civilians to bomb a tunnel that they didn’t even believe had a combatant in it. If a Palestinian militant killed 70 civilians to destroy some military structure that no one was inside you’d call them an undeveloped terrorist. But when Israel does it somehow it’s not as bad because they self declare to be civilized. - what makes you think Palestinian militants never worried about civilian casualties? Suicide bombings only showed up in the 80s after decades of brutal occupation, the first by Hamas was only approved after idf made the Hamas founder listen to audio of them torturing his son. They stopped doing suicide bombings for over a decade (aside from recent attempts) because of the heat they got for hitting civilians. Meanwhile Israel let settlers kill more and more Palestinian civilians. - that’s like saying if you had a kid you’d rather they be born in nazi Germany than the Warsaw ghetto or they be born white in apartheid South Africa than black. Having better living standards at the expense of others does not make you the lesser of two evils. You keep defaulting to the assumption that development automatically is reflected in actions and morality, that is not true, you can be more developed on paper and commit morally worse crimes than a lesser developed grip. You can be more developed and still be a greater evil compared to a lesser developed group if you are committing worse crimes.

If you define it that broadly then yes, basically all war/violence and even policing is terrorism. Does Israel do some terrorism? Yes. The real difference is that Israel is a democratic state with some semblance of rule of law and some checks and balances. Moreso than Hamas. As a state Israel does not do suicide bombings of buses in Palestine. Israel also has rules for avoiding civilian casualties even though those rules are sometimes broken. But if you actually read the history of how they do targetted assassinations, they have canceled many hits of important Hamas terrorists simply because too many civilians were around. They may cancel a hit 5 days in a row just to ensure that no children are present. This is a historical fact. And it has exceptions. We usually call it terrorism when there is deliberate targetting of civilians. And Israel has even done that. But mostly they avoid it. For example, Israel will never hijack an international airplane full of Arabs and threaten to blow them up. That is pure terrorism. Hamas will do that to Jews. This issue requires extreme nuance, not sloppy false equivalence. Israel does evil, but it is a more civilized evil. And that difference matters. All groups do evil. It's a matter of degree and barbarity. I am fully aware of Israel's evils. But there is still a difference. The bottom line is that if you were to choose for your children to be born in Gaza or Israel, you would choose Israel because it is more civilized. In the end, that's what wins. It's not about fancy moral philosophy, it's about survival. Civilizations wins even as it does evil, because it is a lesser evil.

I struggled a lot with solipsism for years since basically having a spiritual experience of it at 20 years old. The days after it, I remember laying on the couch, trembling with fear inside, while my parents left to do groceries, and at that moment I was basically aware that the moment they left my field of experience and I heard the door shut, they didn't exist anymore. It was horrendous and I cried. I didn't help that Leo was starting to explicitly affirm solipsism on the forum at that time. It also didn't help that my mental and physical health worsened the years after and I was contemplating suicide. I tried everything to shed the idea, mostly with trying to delude myself with religious beliefs. But of course nothing helped because nothing can veil the truth once you've seen it. In the end, after much contemplation of all different ways reality could be, if not solipsism; I realized one thing. Reality would be evil if solipsism is not true. And imagining others is the highest love you could have for them. You love them so much that you simply make them up out of thin air. Solipsism is the highest Good. And to be honest, most of this thread is just cope. I know every trick there is to hide solipsism from yourself. In the end solipsism can't be explained away by any theories because Consciousness doesn't abide by any theories. Solipsism and Consciousness don't abide by any theories or stories. It's simply what is here now. All other minds are imagined by what is here right now.

I’m looking for direct and thoughtful answers to a few key questions about suicide, death, and what might come next. My aim is to strike at the core of these topics and get clarity. 1. What Happens After Death? Is it possible to return to "pure positive awareness," where there’s no resistance, need, or pain, only wholeness and joy? Or is death shaped by unresolved beliefs, leading to chaotic, illusory afterlife experiences? Are near-death experiences, spiritual teachings (e.g., Abraham Hicks, Bashar, David Hawkins), and other accounts reliable, or could they just be ego-driven hallucinations? 2. Suicide vs. Natural Death: Does suicide lead to a different afterlife experience than dying naturally? Does the intent behind death matter in shaping what happens next? Are there consequences or “karmic debts” for suicide, or is it just another form of transition? 3. Vibrations and Beliefs at Death: Do one’s beliefs or emotions at the moment of death determine their immediate afterlife experience? If so, how can someone shift their vibration to avoid “negative” outcomes like chaotic or hell-like states? 4. Choosing Death and Reincarnation: If life is chosen before birth, can death also be chosen? Can one align themselves with a peaceful exit and avoid future reincarnation altogether? Is it possible to fully escape the cycle of birth, death, and suffering, or is reincarnation unavoidable until “enlightenment”? 5. Ending the Experience Permanently: Does suicide provide a permanent end to the human experience, or does it simply lead to a new cycle of suffering in another form or life? How does one ensure they do not reincarnate or return to physical existence after deat?

@zazen Not to mention that, that lunatic said that the current leaders of Europe, with their policies, want to commit euthanasia on the European population! BRO, Imagine being so braindead and retarded to believe something like this! Just imagine the level of stupidity and mental illness to believe something like this! Europe is committing euthanasia to it's people? What about the Russians that send their prisoners as canon fodder on the front line? What about the arabs that commit suicide bomb attacks for endless virgins after death? What about the hamas october 2023 terrorist attack that now provokes the extinction of the Palestinians? I've never been more enraged by someone's statements and stupidity like I am now from that retarded video of yours!

That doesn’t mean their actions or positions are automatically worse morally. An adult has higher moral development than a child, but if the adult rapes someone, their action was morally worse. Even the major terrorism examples like suicide bombings or plane hijacking’s only showed up after they had already been occupied for decades btw. Your mistake is assuming that’s always an outgrowth of moral development as opposed to strategic positioning and desperation. If I took a highly morally developed ethics professor and locked him in a prison with no food and he starts cannibalizing the inmates would we say I guess he is less developed than the average joes outside the prison who don’t engage in that behavior? I don’t think so.

Attachment seems to be the most problematic aspect of being self aware. Being aware of something that’s not actually there, is hard to deal with. Knowing that everything that arises here in awareness is nothing more than a fleeting mirage. I read some of (Philip Mainlanders) pessimistic philosophy where he talks about the idea that God committed suicide and that the universe is the rotting corpse of God’s body, where everything that is alive is ultimately heading for death, to be born is to be committed to a death sentence. It’s depressing for humans to be aware of their own mortality. If the brief period between two perfect nothingnesses is my illusory life, then I guess there’s nothing really special about me or others. My life was just like watching a movie where the realisation that nothing is real is what makes it all endurable I guess. Watching the movie of I can feel like being aware of my nonexistence. It’s quite stomach churning and at the same time beautifully satisfying and relieving.

Imagine you were just a peaceful civilian living in Ukraine 3 years ago. You would hate the Ukranian government. Now matter how bad things were in Ukraine under Russian influence, they are way worse now. It is a mistake to provoke a more powerful and shameless opponent because they will take it out on your people. Thats what Russia did. Fair or unfair, it is how psychology and politics work. The bottom line is that when you are weak you are not in a position to dictate term and suicide alliances will not make your country better off. See how easy I can flip the script It is an analogy to Ukraine for going against Russia and siding with its enemies because they wanted to improve the living conditions for their own. Russia would have never attacked if Maidan didnt happen and they kept Yanakovic or someone similar to him. Although I support Ukraine (and Palestine too), I think that whole thing was a disaster and they would have been better off becoming another pro Russian state like Belarus, Kazakstan or Mongolia.

It's a pretty basic component of human nature to go into cognitive dissonance whenever one takes actions that are against their own values. And people who care about animals but also contribute to their suffering and death through their lifestyle choices on a purely voluntary basis, have a variety of different ways to deal with that cognitive dissonance... which involves coming up with all sorts of defenses... often ones that they don't believe in themselves. And they will quickly abandon a defense once it doesn't work and try to find another to hide behind. Here are some common defenses that non-Vegans with Vegan values give to square the circle in their own mind... "Veganism is unhealthy." "But plants are also alive! And yet, you're fine with eating them! So, Vegans are hypocrites." "Existing as a human being harms the environment. So, going Vegan is self-negation tantamount to suicide." "Some people need to eat meat to survive because of food scarcity!" (employed by people who aren't dealing with food scarcity) "Veganism is an insult to traditional culture." "But how will we grow enough plants to feed everyone?" (This one is my favorite because 80% of crops are grown to feed livestock... and it takes 16 lbs of grain to produce one pound of beef. And as soon as people realize that this argument is in favor of Veganism because Veganism requires fewer crops to be grown compared to an omnivorous diet), they immediately ditch their concern about "How will we grow enough plants.") "The Bible says it's okay to eat meat." "It's unnatural not to eat animals." "Human beings are superior to animals, so eating them is justified." "Animals shouldn't have the exact same rights as humans." (when the argument is that animal life should be prioritized over human pleasure... not that animals should have the same rights) "The same number of animals will die whether I eat them or not." (This appeal to futility was my justification prior to going Vegan.) "But what about field deaths?" (when more field deaths happen because 80% of crops are grown to feed livestock) "Domesticated animals would go extinct if we didn't breed them for food." "Domesticated animals would over-populate if we didn't kill them for food." "Humans are at the top of the food chain. And animals' purpose for existence is to be eaten by humans." "Other animals, like lions, also eat meat. So, why don't you have a problem with lions eating meat when you do have a problem with humans eating meat." "I only eat grass-fed livestock. So, I'm not being cruel." "I only eat halal meat. So, I'm not being cruel." "Vegans are just trying to virtue signal and be superior. So, Veganism isn't anything to be taken seriously." "Veganism is for rich people." "You will never save all the animals. So, what's the point in trying?" "One person going Vegan won't make a difference." These are really common anti-Vegan arguments that all Vegans hear ad-infinitum. The trick is to realize that the people who are arguing with you don't disagree with you.... they disagree with their own actions. And they're scrambling to find a good defense to quiet the cognitive dissonance. If you were really interested in questioning the philosophy of Veganism, then you should at least understand how people react to it.

Yes, it has. The Israeli state is one of the few instances I know of where terrorism actually worked out in the group's favor. But it does not seem to work well for Arabs. Imagine if you were just a peaceful civilian living in Gaza last year. You would hate Hamas. No matter how bad things were before Oct 7th, they are way worse now. It is a mistake to attack a more powerful and shameless opponent in a barbaric way because they will take it out on your people. That's what Israel did. Fair or unfair, it is how psychology and politics works. The bottom line is that when you are weak you are not in a position to dictate terms, and suicide missions will not make you strong.

@Ulax not so convinced. There is literally no excuse for ignorance today if you are an average class citizen with credit card and a high school education at the very least and you know some basic English and some basic information about how to use your phone lol. Look at us ..I mean followers of Leo's work..we are humans ..we are flesh and blood ..we are not from Mars. We are not smarter than the vegetables sellers or the barber .let alone the doctors and professors in universities. Why the fuck do you watch Leo's content? Why do you read books and learn about mystical traditions and awakening and simulation theory and SD etc...? Go to the grocery store and strike up a random conversation with a random hommie ..this dude is literally dumber than a chair . You ask him few questions you will start to contemplate suicide from the degree of naiveness .it's mind-bogglingly puzzling .

"I am attempting to give them the energy they need at the time" - I will add also, I only give out when I feel/perceive/see I am being asked too. Oh, you mean regarding control? My signature is approaching through the lens of empowering one to take action when they can - they make the choice to control their action and do the thing, instead of procrastinating and avoiding. This doesn't mean you can always control the outcome, more that your actions - which are within your control - give you a measure of influence than can empower. Not so much absolute control but more... the power to influence. 'I think because I view others actions as their responsibility, and their conduct outside my control, I do not feel my manipulations are ever negative.' Quoting myself above, I phrased totally wrong - or did not preface it enough. My intentions are always positive with manipulation. I just feel ultimately I cannot control others actions, only steer. I consider withholding things others shouldn't know also a form of manipulation. IE a spiritual truth that might not be right for the person to hear yet. Some things are blatant - Steering someone away from suicide or harm to anyone. However I do admit in this process, it is my judgement based on personal beliefs that inspire the manipulation - and this can have ego, arrogance and all the traps of human failings. You cannot see what you cannot see etc

You know exactly what I mean .I wrote it in plain English. Why does the universe not disappear completely from existing right now ? Nevermind I do know the answer which is that the universe is infinite so it has no where to go. Seems like we are stuck forever. you can suicide yourself a million times but this is not super Mario this is infinite Mario. The question about masturbation is more confusing 😂.

I have had a bad relationship with my sister for a very long time. It goes back to our dysfunctional childhood in which my father showed favoritism toward me for being a boy. He started telling these stories about how I was the one who would break the cycle of criminal life and how I gave my grandpa hope when he saw the good in me. During this time my mother wanted me to have empathy for my sisters for their position, but there was not the same emphasis on empathy when speaking to my sisters. This is a common bias in how boys are raised in that they are talked to about compassion and empathy more than girls because it is assumed that boys are less compassionate. The girls needed to understand my position because I myself was conflicted about my father because my love for him led me to enabling his criminal behaviors. This is the trauma that my sister has begun to weaponize against me as a means of getting revenge for me telling our cousin that my sisters didn't like his behavior at the renaissance festival and that they were mad at him. Unfortunately, my sister appears to have a chronic deficit of empathy. She would lash out at me over very minor issues to the point that I would cry. She would make excuses about her performative outrage claiming either that I was overly sensitive or that she was on her period. Whenever I tried to express that she had hurt me, she would refuse to self-reflect and immediately find any way to frame me as a hypocrite. She would mention the past favors she did for me, implying that I was ungrateful despite all the harm she was causing me. She would tell me that I was inconsiderate for many things including risking myself to save my mother's life from my abusive step-father while protecting my younger siblings in an environment that was far too dangerous. She would place logically impossible expectations on me such as being more open while not being too honest. She simply could not handle criticism because her ego was far too fragile. She would ask me how I felt, yet I constantly felt unsafe because I was walking at eggshells, and I would inevitably fuck up again anyway. Every interaction with her led me to getting paralyzed because I would understand that anything I say would be weaponized against me and lead to a worse outcome. Nevertheless, if I stayed silent, she would call me childish for not being able to handle conflict. She would intentionally place out of reach standards on me while looking for reasons to get offended so that she would keep me in a position of perpetually out of reach approval. She would not only weaponize my trauma against me, but also demand I take 100% responsibility rather than being so one-sided only to capitalize on the situation should I apologize in an effort to humiliate me. I felt trapped in this awful relationship for about 8 years. I am still terrified to see her. When she is present I start having anxiety attacks, I lose my balance, my heart races, I get trouble breathing, I start having muscle spasms, and I feel deeply angry and powerless as she makes seemingly benign comments which were implicitly targeting my trauma. I noticed how my vulnerability was now being used against me and she had no remorse. She would then manipulate the rest of the family into gaslighting me as they treated me like I was the problem. They would insist that I be the one to apologize even when I clearly did nothing wrong. They would make all kinds of incorrect assumptions about how I think and they would project their behavioral problems onto me. My sister would consistently reverse victim and offender, causing me to be blamed unfairly constantly. I would have nightmares about my sister, including sleep paralysis episodes in which I could hear her and she sounded angry. I felt terrified in those nightmares. I tried to explain that she had a pattern of behavior that I did not like. When I would bring up examples of her behaviors, she and my family would tell me that that was in the past and I need to let it go. They would insist that I be more forgiving even though it was impossible for me to feel emotionally safe in her presence. They would tell me that I need to spend more time downstairs and socialize more. On top of that my therapists would tell me that I was the problem because I kept ruminating on bad situations with my sister and would not let them go even though these were symptoms of severe trauma. Therapists are often terrible because they are hyperspecialized, leading them to pathologizing trauma responses. The result is that I was given ineffective anti-psychotic medicine which damaged my liver, and I am still trying to get help recovering from this. My medical insurance has complicated this though. My family repeatedly insisted that all of this was normal family conflict and it was okay to have little tiffs, even if they involved mom threatening suicide. They insisted that I needed to go to therapy for depression, but my sister decided she didn't want to go as she insisted I needed to. I wrote a message to some of my family members explaining the situation. So far it seems that my cousin is the only one that understands me. I have sent the message to my grandma, mother, and younger siblings as well. My younger brother might understand the situation because he is aware of my older sister's behaviors and how she reacts when you say something negative about her. I haven't told my other grandma yet. She also thinks I need to just let go of the past even though the presence of my sister was making me feel suicidal because of the intense emotional reactions it caused. My family is ignorant of my trauma responses, so they treat them as if they were moral failings, proving that I was the problem and my sister was doing everything just right. Sometimes I wanted to cut myself in response to these intense feelings. I was trapped in a toxic family dynamic which the others were blind to, and I was the only one trying to work on myself and improve myself. I tried the book list on this website, the life purpose course, and so many different things, but it just was not enough. I was hoping that emotional mastery would help me to overcome the constant torture in my mind which kept me locked into a traumatic thought pattern. Once again others would tell me that my thinking was the problem and I needed to focus on something else. My experience with mental health has demonstrated to me how stupid the average human being is. Not even the therapists could be trusted because I had done enough research and self-education to objectively know better than them. So many people make all the wrong assumptions about me and it makes it hard to communicate with people. Too often do people overestimate their intelligence and their capacity to help as well as their moral character. There is a bit of a paradox because I tend to think of myself as objectively more intelligent than the average person, but I am aware of the potential problem that could come with this. There is some trauma around this as well because my family treated me like I was stupid. I understand that my profound suffering has strengthened my empathy for the suffering of others. I recognize the mental torture that seems beyond our control no matter how hard we try to make it stop. I used to think it was my fault, but actually it was PTSD. I have been struggling to love myself all my life, but I have found that I love myself even more when I extend the love to others. It was kind of like the dream I had back in high school. I jumped into a black abyss of deep suffering with unwavering faith that I would return to the light stronger. Through this journey I have come to realize that I am the light and it is love which makes me stronger while giving others the strength they need. Originally, I saw Jesus in the dream, but I still have no interest in being a Christian. In fact I am even more repulsed by it because my therapists made me pray when I objected to the practice. I do not want to make people miss love by trying to make them be Christians who clearly have no idea what love even is. From my point of view it looks like moral posturing in which they pretend to be selfless and loving when they are not. I tried forgiving my sister, but I simply could not do it. I tried Leo's forgiveness exercise, but it did not work because Leo said that they did not hurt me intentionally. In my case, it was far too obvious that my sister wanted to hurt me because she was emotionally abusive without any remorse or respect for my boundaries. I simply could not forgive her no matter how hard I tried and even as the family told me that I was in the wrong for not being more forgiving and letting things go. I have found a method of forgiveness that works now that I am away from my sister. Rather than framing forgiveness within a psychological or interpersonal viewpoint, I framed it as more of an existential viewpoint. I struggled with a deeply dysfunctional situation for my entire life and I used whatever I could leverage best to help me be able to love myself. In my case I chose truth, intelligence, and goodness. I did however devalue relationships in favor of a "higher purpose." Meanwhile, my sister chose power, control, and manipulation. She chose a survival strategy which shaped her into a covertly abusive narcissist who enjoys having power over others, and therefore cannot find genuine love for them. She will act like she loves me until the second she gets angry and decides to weaponize my trauma against me. I don't want to forgive her in the sense of wanting to be within 50 miles of her because of how good she is as a human being, but I do forgive her in the sense that she is existentially limited by whatever she can best leverage as a survival strategy even if it leads to intentionally harming others. I don't expect her to recover from her condition, not only because of my experience with her, but also because her chances of recovery from narcissism are not good statistically. She is too psychologically resistant to self-reflection because it would be too painful for her to realize how terribly she has been treating others and getting away with it all her life. I now feel a deep sense of love for myself because I chose love, truth, and goodness. Of course I was limited in my understanding of these things and I had to make a lot of mistakes in the process. It kind of makes me want to cry because of how fucking awesome I am. I initially used these values to compensate my self-worth problems, but I now see the incredible being I have become because I chose love over hate, truth over lies, and good over evil. From my point of view it would not have been intelligent to not be committed to truth because if I intentionally lie to myself all my life then everything I believe is probably wrong. Therefore truth and intelligence were closely related to each other, although my understanding of intelligence was as something that would make me feel good about myself. I now realize that it would be incredibly fucking intelligent if this entire process throughout my entire life was designed to lead me to realize that the universe is very fucking intelligent. I still need to stay the fuck away from my sister as I continue to look for ways to navigate this situation. I find it very hard to be in her presence. I will also need a fuck ton of trauma therapy, no matter how much my family tells me I don't need it. It is actually not a good idea to trust my family at all because they don't understand me in the slightest. I also see how deeply ignorant people were on this forum including myself as I struggled to figure all of this stuff out. I hope you guys find this helpful.

Hitler and the Nazi regime were the biggest group of spineless pussies ever. And I don’t just say that because of their racism and hatred, their actual character was slimy and inefficient. It’s one thing to be ethnocentric, but it’s another to be ethnocentric AND a spineless pussy. I watched a documentary on their inner circle and it’s full of backstabbing, lying and cowardice. They would have no integrity not just towards their enemies but to each other and were quick to screw one another over for benefit. The best example of this is how so many of them fled or committed suicide once their precious regime crumbled. None of them faced the consequences or stood by their message. They even threw each other under the bus. Biggest group of pussies to exist.

@LostSoul They said they could potentially help tramautized people due to the gentle progressive administration but that they pose a heavy risk: It can bring lots of traumas to the surface even with microdoses and if patients self-administer via vape pen, they have no facilitator or therapatis to work the challenges with, hence there have been already suicide deaths for destabilization because of this happening. They also mentioned shameless marketing techniques that targetted psychologically vulnerable people with the "magic pill" to all their problems, although potentially true, they did not give further information or support, but left the consumer to its own fate after buying the pen. My position is that, psychedelics are never the stand-alone solution to trauma, professional/serious work is. If you want to accelarate that ongoing process, then psychedelics and in particular 5meos are a great catalyst. Although psychologically traumatized individuals will have to be extra mindful if they self-administer without a tripsitter/facilitator/therapist as things can go south quickly. There's also potential for abuse and inner work bypassing as well.

Cindy was a kind person to me. She was always happy to see me. It seemed that she had a genuine smile and laugh whenever I was with her. I was told that she loved me to death. I cannot recall her ever saying or doing anything cruel to me. Cindy was my father's girlfriend. When I would visit them, they would act as if everything was fine. They were happy to see me as we played videogames, board games, and watched movies. I was aware of my father's criminal activity, but I was in a complex situation with my mother and her boyfriend as well. Sometimes the facade would slip. My father and Cindy would get into fights. I then discovered that dad was grabbing and hitting Cindy and calling her a "stupid f****** b****." I realized that dad and Cindy were like mom and Mike. I saw similar behavior like pawning to pay the bills and the use of some kind of opioid pain med along with domestic violence. Dad was also a drug dealer who would steal cash from partners and family despite his belief that he could keep his criminal behavior separate from his family. As I struggled with being caught between my mother and Mike and my father and his gang, I later discovered that Cindy was taking medication for depression and anxiety. I never discussed this with Cindy because I was worried about getting away from mom and Mike while ensuring the safety of my younger siblings. I underestimated how deeply she was suffering because she always seemed happy when I was with her, but she was likely faking it. Cindy eventually died by mixing alcohol with medication, causing her to go to sleep and not wake up. My family framed the incident as if it were an accident or a mistake. I am now realizing that this situation was likely a suicide. My family never talked much about this, so I didn't know it was something like this. Apparently family silence is common in this issue. Upon realizing this, I felt a grim sense of emptiness. I wondered if she ever knew what I was going through. I myself was struggling with suicidal thoughts and behaviors and I would continue with that for years. Because of my struggle, I would now be in a better position to understand her and support her in whatever way I could. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to help her because neither of us told the other about our depression and suicidal thoughts. By this point I already understood that when those close to us die by suicide, it increases the risk factor of suicide for others close to them. For me it seems to be having the opposite effect. This situation makes me want to not kill myself. As far as I could see there was nothing wrong with Cindy and she seemed like a decent human being to me. I wouldn't want her to die like this while suffering so deeply. I would have at least wanted a chance to understand how she felt and what she was going through. However, she wore a convincing mask and it didn't occur to me that she was in this position. If she had known how deeply I was suffering, I wonder how she would have responded. Unfortunately, it is far too late for such wishes and if only thoughts. It seems to be a common psychological phenomenon where it is easy to offer compassion to a friend but not to yourself. Cindy was probably like that as she showed happiness and love on the outside but she probably hated life on the inside. It is easy and natural for me to give such people compassion, yet I tend to treat myself like I'm awful. The reason this realization makes me not want to kill myself is because I see myself as someone similar to Cindy. Like her, I am worthy of love and receiving help. I don't want to end up repeating her actions without giving others the chance to offer compassion. I tend to connect very well with people who are in this kind of deep suffering like me. It feels like Cindy's love for me and her death would be for nothing if I did the same to myself. Perhaps those suffering deeply from depression and suicidal thoughts may respond to it by acting as good of a person as they can. This is a survival strategy that is intended to restore a sense of self worth through morality and being good, therefore justifying a person's existence despite deep suffering. I do this as well and this behavior may be more common than I think. It is close to the root of how I try to find some grand life purpose for myself that helps the maximum number of people in the hopes of being good and therefore justifying my existence. Therefore, attachment to morality is a trauma response, and those suffering deeply may act very kind because of their empathy and compassion for those in deep suffering. This seems to be part of why I am confused about things like life purpose as those with depression are prone to nihilism. I hope my experience has helped you guys somehow. May Cindy rest in peace and may I avoid the same mistake she made.

Disclaimer: I understand that the following criticisms, objections, and opinions are just projections of my and the collective shadow and that all of this is untenable. Even if @vanish is a troll and didn't actually kill himself, my heavy emotional reaction is real and the lessons learned from this - maybe hypothetical - situation still hold true. For those of you who are unaware, @vanish posted some radical things on this forum - hopefully so far. He holds/held the view that awakening may only come from physical death, aka suicide. He wrote about living a life-threatening lifestyle - being in the dark, only drinking water for multiple weeks. He went into a bath full of ice almost killing himself which he announced earlier as killing "him"self. On March 26th, he wrote about the two lifestyles - self-development and self-destruction - and two days later he wrote a post saying that after he finished writing this post he is gonna shoot himself. Alot of people - including myself - started following him after this - he hasn't been online ever since. Now, I hate to say this but from an absolute perspective, every choice is equal. Fundamentally there is no difference between saving 100 lives and torturing yourself and committing suicide. I was shocked that even though I may grasp this on an intellectual level but not an emotional level - and I won't until my psychological death as @vanish would put it. The wording used by @Leo Gura and other spiritual teachers can be very easily misinterpreted: Because Leo didn't react until @vanish mentioned taking his life and almost complimented him for fasting and almost dying in that ice bath, many people accused him of talking @vanish to suicide. I would argue against this on some level; any symbol could be a trigger for any action. In theory, you could train a person to rape anyone if you say the word "peanuts". But Leo - also everybody who encouraged him, everybody who remained passive including me and for that matter everybody -, still, how the fuck didn't you stop him earlier? He was seriously playing with his health; he could have died from that ice bath. I want to discuss this issue - I think others may be also worried about this. @vanish, if you are reading this, come back and say "it was just a prank, bro!". What can we do about this? How to prevent or limit such misinterpretations in the future?

The problem is that to fix your life and get your shit together takes years, however everyday you're struggling with strong sexual urges, the dating sexual market require men to be at their best, even sometimes setting unrealistic standards, and mainstream society doesn't give you much option when it comes to fulfilling sexual desires. And waiting to fix your life while not having sex can be really demotivating, frustrating, can lead to addictions, dysfunctions, bad habits to medicate the pain, depression and even suicide. So my question is how ?

Because slavery had to do with the economic interests of the rich and powerful... and the rich and powerful were using their power to impose their own "narratives of normal" onto society. And they had created many narratives for why slavery was normal, right, good, and justified that the populace bought into despite very few white people having enough money to have slaves. To appeal to liberal types of the time, they basically said that black people couldn't govern themselves properly because they were inferior and uncivilized and needed their white masters to take care of them. To appeal to traditional conservative types, they needed to emphasize the superiority of their culture and people over the enslaved people's culture and people. And they could always appeal to poor white people who wanted to feel like they weren't on the very bottom of the social hierarchy... who could imagine that the power of the white ruling elite would rub off onto them. And I'm sure that abolitionists were framed as a bunch of screeching abnormal Quaker SJWs whose anti-slavery views were so extreme that it would be political suicide for any serious politician at the time. But you don't make any changes like this by conceding to the framing of slave owners and normalizing these viewpoints. You remain steadfast until the only acceptable and serious position in society is that "Slavery is bad" and that anyone who doesn't agree is a crazy stupid racist weirdo who's probably just bitter because they smell bad and women are creeped out by them. That's how you wield power. You don't play defense... and you don't meet weirdos and crazies in the middle. Instead, you give them a disgusted look like you're smelling something bad and say, "You don't ACTUALLY think that way. Do you?" And if they say yes, you laugh at them like you're suprised and you believe they're joking and like they can't possibly be serious. Then, when they say they're serious, you press them... and you make them have to defend the indefensible. You make them play defense and you pose your point of view as the "duh" position.

If people are so malleable, then why did it take a bloody Civil War to free African Americans from slavery? Why did it require one of the largest and most effective civil rights movements in U.S. history just to secure women the right to vote? Why did it take yet another herculean effort—along with the traumatic loss of many innocent lives—to finally end Jim Crow laws through the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century? And why did so many gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people suffer, face violence, die by suicide, or endure unnecessary death and suffering from AIDS during the decades-long fight for LGBTQ+ rights—before mainstream acceptance and the eventual legalization of gay marriage in the mid-2010s? Democrats obviously shouldn't normalize Nazism or Trump-like rhetoric. Hell, even most Republicans don't normalize Nazism.

Absolutely agree. The Democratic Party’s survival depends on embracing real economic populism—not just culture war deflections. Fixing income inequality, busting monopolies, and breaking corporate capture should be non-negotiables. But taxing the bottom 80% is political suicide and morally backward. The wealth is at the top. That’s where the pressure belongs. Can Dems be pushed left? Not without grassroots fire and public clarity. The establishment, like Schumer, has long been tethered to Wall Street. They fear Sanders-style populism because it threatens their donor class. But that’s exactly the battle line—people power vs corporate power. And it’s one worth drawing clearly.

Okay, good! I'm glad you're actually saying that. Obviously, the Democratic Party isn’t going to become the party of Bernie Sanders or AOC anytime soon, and we’ll have to wait until 2026 or 2028 to see how significant a shift they actually make toward economic populism. Still, it’s encouraging that the party does seem to be heading in that direction. And just because a majority of people voted for Trump and his hyper-capitalistic MAGA agenda in 2024 and America is still so attached to toxic stage Orange doesn’t mean the Democratic Party should throw up its hands and say, “Alright, we give up on progressivism and economic populism because apparently the American people don’t want that. We get it now—the era of big government is over, and from now on, we’re going to give bipartisan legitimacy to the economic philosophy of Trump and the MAGA Republicans,” much like how Bill Clinton’s “Third Way” politics in the ’90s essentially triangulated Reaganomics. So then, is the larger point you’ve been making that even if Democrats run on a more “progressive” and economically populist agenda in the coming years, those efforts would still be trapped within a deeper, systemic stage of development—namely, neoliberal capitalism? That would be political suicide for Democratic party. Yes, we would need to do that to make something like Medicare for All (M4A) work, but of course we know that most Americans are never going to go for that for the foreseeable future.