What are the distractions that no one notices but are actually big?

[1337]

I vowed to improve myself in one area and began to do everything necessary to achieve this goal. I have blocked out almost all distractions on my electronic devices. Can you give examples of distractions that we are not aware of? Your advice is very important to me. Have a nice day!

[Schizophonia]

Your entire life.

[Ero]

Celebrities, gossip, trends, fashion, 'culture'. 

Too many people care about being liked/ in-tune and not about being useful. 

[Keryo Koffa]

We have enough "useful" people, just not enough *useful* people

Every employed person in the world is "useful"

But only "useful" to the hedonistic capitalist machine that perpetuates:

10 minutes ago, Ero said:

Celebrities, gossip, trends, fashion, 'culture'. 

[1337]

@Schizophonia I didn't understand exactly what you meant. So our whole life is a distraction? So what are we hiding from? Is it death?

[Ero]

@Keryo Koffa Yeah, the connotation I had for 'useful' is in a post-capitalist sense. I don't believe in the pure capitalist meritocracy of 'be useful or die useless'. I meant it more in the universal way of giving back to the flow of consciousness and creation. Utility in my book is a rather nuanced notion and one that is fundamentally not economically transferrable. 

[Keryo Koffa]

Just now, Ero said:

@Keryo Koffa Yeah, the connotation I had for 'useful' is in a post-capitalist sense. I don't believe in the pure capitalist meritocracy of 'be useful or die useless'. I meant it more in the universal way of giving back to the flow of consciousness and creation. Utility in my book is a rather nuanced notion and one that is fundamentally not economically transferrable. 

Yeah, I thought so, it's just that "useful" is a very loaded word, as it is the very paradigm duality of useful vs useless.
"Use" also creates a type of separation with a psychological direction to create a self that is useful to something.
Since "use" is most often used in conjunction with tools and directed manipulation of matter, energy, or others.
But consciousness is self-exploration in authentic value fulfillment, very dynamic and changing in its unfolding
So while "use" might be of value to understand in depth at specific levels of integration, I flow away from it.

[Ero]

@Keryo Koffa That's a very good point. Thing is, words being usurped by a belief system/ paradigm shouldn't stop us from using them, especially when they are the most succinct way to express an idea. I believe the opposite - by recontextualizing the meaning, we can in fact accelerate the transition away from the old paradigm. I can give you two examples:

"God" - a very, very loaded word associated with stage blue paradigm. Nonetheless it has the exact meaning we psychonauts/spiritually developed people experience. Sure, you can try and swerve around it calling it 'All', 'The Universe', etc. but nothing really gets the point across as well as 'God' does. By recontextualizing the experience of Christ consciousness/ Oneness with God, we can help people realize there isn't a separation.

"Entropy" - largely interpreted as the movement towards disorder in the old Physics paradigm. The reality is, that is true only in equilibrium systems. In non-equilibrium systems, such as the Earth itself and all life on it, it has the exactly opposite effect - it creates order through the emergence of levels of abstraction. It wouldn't make sense to change the word for it, because it is fundamentally the exact same underlying principle. 

In short, recontextualizing a concept is more powerful than swaying away from it because it has loaded meaning. This idea translates even for some of the most revolutionary work done in mathematics (e.g. Topos Theory and Motives as developed by Grothendieck)

[Keryo Koffa]

@Ero I agree with recontextualizing/steelmanning dualities into meaningful/relationally significant versions.

With "useful" here specifically, however, I feel it's trickier to contextualize.

1. Do something useful or be useful?
2. What is useful is an open question.
3. I see "being useful" as a "push" to "contribute"
   This places focus outwards and locks one into a structure to contribute to
   I see traps of adding more to something instead of personaly evolving it

It has more to do with the syntactic intention:

• "Be" imperative "useful" ambiguous ajective ( useful -> be -> I ) pointer, description, prescription
• "useful" context, be of use to, what? the whole? how? idk? but it reeks of obligation

The drive in all cases has to emerge authentically within
Using such pointers gives me vibes of "shaming" rather than a NVC type conversation

[Buck Edwards]

Distractions can take many forms, including our phones, computers, friends, or our own thoughts. I think politics and thoughts about girlfriend/boyfriend /potential romantic opportunities or worries are a major distraction. 

Other distractions :

 

Socializing can be a huge distraction depending on what benefits (or lack thereof), you're deriving from it. 

Edited September 23 by Buck Edwards

[Brandon Nankivell]

Music booming from shopfronts, theme parks

Subtle or hidden ones that affect perception:

5G radiation, powerline radiation, auras of other people, atmospheric energy

[hyruga]

YouTube, books, forums are a distraction.

[BlueOak]

Lack of understanding of who/what you are.

Fight - Flight - Freeze States or Triggers. Trapped traumas and Anxiety.
Lack of willingness to endure pain/contrast between the change you want and where you are.
Lack of willingness to go through the trials needed to remake you into that person.

Emotional States.
Focus. 
Your current patterns, including behavior and the above two.
Peer-Group.
Environment.
Social Norms.
Culture.
Media reinforcement over your reflected local community.
Relative prices and expenses.
Ideology and Idealising.
Overdone Sentimentality.
Narcissism.
Lack of structure.
Eating and sleeping habits, general health etc.