Embracing the path of personal development.

[Rishabh R]

Hey everyone ,it is difficult to walk the path of personal development . My friends insult Western philosophy like stoicism ,Greek philosophy they say that it is not rational and they insult me for watching these kind of videos. They say that God Krishna (Hinduism )has got a superior philosophy than other philosophies . Whenever They see me reading a self help book they say that to read Bhagavad Gita . I appreciate Indian philosophy like Bhagavad Gita besides Buddhism and Western philosophy .I can say that Bhagavad Gita gives the freedom to believe in any God they betray their own philosophy by misunderstanding other religions. They never watch personal development videos but rather Instagram reels , YouTube shorts etc. Some of my friends who are not in my group and who give me advice to read Bhagavad Gita smokes cigrete while being college students , spend hours watching reels , YouTube shorts, playing video games. Even tough different philosophies talk about different things but the function of these things is to improve one's life isn't it ? They themselves don't read Gita .And psychology has taken a counterintuitive route such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which integrated Western stoicism to mindfulness of Buddhism ? Recently I ordered a book Tao Te Ching on Amazon Kindle. So guys you can share your thoughts on this.

 

Edited May 18 by Rishabh R

[Nilsi]

Show them this clip lol: 

 

[Rishabh R]

@Nilsi I understood it a little. One of my friends told me that you are not Oppenheimer and you can't practice philosophy if you are a student of science.

[Nilsi]

2 minutes ago, Rishabh R said:

@Nilsi I understood it a little. One of my friends told me that you are not Oppenheimer and you can't practice philosophy if you are a student of science.

The joke is that in the movie "Oppenheimer" by Christopher Nolan, there's a sex scene between Oppenheimer and some Marxist chick in his bedroom. While they're going at it, the girl suddenly stops, points to his bookshelf, and notices some works by Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and the Bhagavad Gita, among others. She then asks him to read her something from the Bhagavad Gita.

This caused major backlash in India, with people complaining about the vulgarity of depicting their most sacred book in a sex scene. In response, Zizek remarked that he agrees it is a vulgar scene, but for a different reason: he believes they spoiled the most sacred human experience (sex) with an obscene and dirty book like the Bhagavad Gita.

[Rishabh R]

@Nilsi ok.

[Nemra]

Having friends is overrated. 🥱

[Nilsi]

8 minutes ago, Nemra said:

Having friends is overrated. 🥱

It's one of the most meaningful aspects of life. I'm sorry that this isn't part of your experience.

[Rishabh R]

@Nilsi yeah .

[Nemra]

44 minutes ago, Nilsi said:

It's one of the most meaningful aspects of life. I'm sorry that this isn't part of your experience.

TBH, I'm more happy alone. I was just saying that friends have an influence on you. Sometimes you just have to cut it off.

If I could survive alone without friends, I would happily do it. But if I find someone I enjoy being with without depending on them too much, I'll be open-minded to being his or her friend. Although I can't promise because I find other things way more meaningful than having a friend, generally, it'll be bad for both of us. Or maybe I haven't found the right ones.

Edited May 18 by Nemra

[Nilsi]

8 minutes ago, Nemra said:

TBH, I'm more happy alone. I was just saying that friends have an influence on you. Sometimes you just have to cut it off.

If I could survive alone without friends, I would happily do it. But if I find someone I enjoy being with without depending on them too much, I'll be open-minded to being his or her friend. Although I can't promise because I find other things way more meaningful than having a friend, generally, it'll be bad for both of us. Or maybe I haven't found the right ones.

Fair enough, I often get fed up with humans myself, but reflecting on my life, it's been friendship and moments of deep intimacy and belonging that stand out the most, so I would suggest you don't become too cynical on this issue.

[Nemra]

54 minutes ago, Nilsi said:

I would suggest you don't become too cynical on this issue

I'm optimistic and hopeful, generally.

I don't blame others for having friends. Nowadays, I'm not shy about being in the moment and enjoying and having fun with people.

I just think very carefully about the price I'm going to pay, especially when it's about intimacy and belonging to some group.

Edited May 18 by Nemra

[Nemra]

48 minutes ago, Nilsi said:

it's been friendship and moments of deep intimacy and belonging that stand out the most

Maybe in a different country, I can enjoy the benefits without being too careful. I'm open-minded about that.

[thenondualtankie]

I appreciate it can be annoying when people try to insult your path.

However, you should realize that you don't need to share anything about personal development to anyone.

It's EXTREMELY rare to find people who are genuinely interested in personal development.

[Rishabh R]

@thenondualtankie ok.

[Ajay0]

On 5/19/2024 at 0:34 AM, Rishabh R said:

Hey everyone ,it is difficult to walk the path of personal development . My friends insult Western philosophy like stoicism ,Greek philosophy they say that it is not rational and they insult me for watching these kind of videos. 

I like Stoicism and has recommended Stoic philosophy to my friends. There is a lot of wisdom in it, and I would say understanding the stoic philosophy will help one better understand the Bhagavad Gita. 

Stoicism teaches the development of self-control to overcome destructive emotions. Krishna also emphasizes self-control, and states that the disciplined self is one's best friend and the undisciplined self is one's own enemy. There are a lot of teachings on self-control and disciplining the mind, so you can say Krishna is an eastern stoic philosopher as well. 

So, I would say stoicism is a commendable western philosophy that should be learnt by all, but I would not say that of nihilism and existentialism which I consider to be half-baked philosophies as they consider all values and virtues to be mere abstract contrivances which does not have any relevance of its own.  The nazis and communists have used nihilist reasoning to support their vicious excesses in the form of indiscriminate human rights violations and genocides. It is possible that scientific materialists may also be using the same reasoning while conducting unethical experiments on human subjects in their labs.

Eastern philosophy states that adherence to values and virtues are potent on their own to attain higher states of consciousness and enlightenment, and that virtuous conduct is synonymous with meditation itself.

I had created a thread on a modern female enlightened sage named Rajini Menon who attained Buddhahood through adherence to virtuous conduct...

 

Edited May 20 by Ajay0

[Rafael Thundercat]

On 18/05/2024 at 8:04 PM, Rishabh R said:

Some of my friends who are not in my group and who give me advice to read Bhagavad Gita smokes cigrete while being college students , spend hours watching reels , YouTube shorts, playing video games.

I know friends who go drink Ayahuasca in Weekend and talk about health and shit and they smoke a lot of weed and tobaco inside the ceremonies. So people are full of contradictions and if you go to face them with questions they will gasligth you in order to keep being the fools that they are. Forget them andf focus on your Growth, dont sell your attention and energy on this souls, Attend to yourself and Those who you feel that are alligned with Integrity. Love them and Leave them. 

[Rishabh R]

@Rafael Thundercat yeah I must not expose them to my personal development materials.

[Rafael Thundercat]

On 18/05/2024 at 10:27 PM, Nilsi said:

Fair enough, I often get fed up with humans myself, but reflecting on my life, it's been friendship and moments of deep intimacy and belonging that stand out the most, so I would suggest you don't become too cynical on this issue.

I agree with both. Maybe is only the thing that friend circles change with time and depending on how we grow. I cant know even gather with friends from last year since I notice that being around weed smokers was having a negative influence on me, th smoke and the sort of BS talk they have. When you shift your frequency the quality of people around will shift or you change the quality of people by choice of where to position yourself.

[Rafael Thundercat]

2 hours ago, Rishabh R said:

@Rafael Thundercat yeah I must not expose them to my personal development materials.

You can try like I did many times. For some I recommended Actualized.org. Now how many of them you think takes the gift seriously? 

[Rishabh R]

@Rafael Thundercat nobody I think.