If the USA is too stuck on stage Orange, then why don't you leave the country, Leo?

[Hardkill]

Hey Leo, I've noticed that you have become way more cynical and disgusted with American society lately. Like, more than ever before.  

I get it, though. After Trump won the 2024 election, I've been enraged too. The whole system really has let us down. Our country's become so rotten. It's truly disheartening to see the US, which once seemed like a beacon of hope and progress, now plagued by such systemic issues and moral decay.

America has really become the most corrupt first-world country on the planet, and it's headed in the wrong direction. As you know, the erosion of trust in institutions, the widening wealth gap, and the blatant disregard for human rights and democracy are just a few examples of the country's downward spiral. It's a pretty bleak picture.

Even you, Leo, seem to have lost so much hope. Your usual enthusiasm and optimism appear to have given way to despair and frustration. It's as if you've thrown up your hands, acknowledging that the whole society is so broken that the only way it can make any real progress ever again is if it completely tears itself down and starts over.

If I understand you correctly, it doesn't look like any more real progress will be coming for the foreseeable future. You seem to think that we'll be stuck in this rut for decades.

So, what's keeping you here? Why not just leave the country and move somewhere that's more evolved, more just, and more in line with what you believe in?

[UnbornTao]

Why not meditate for some time and get your mind focused elsewhere?

Edited Monday at 08:45 AM by UnbornTao

[BlueOak]

You can grow more easily in harder times. The contrast between you and reality is greater.

By you I mean all definitions of that, from the thoughts you have, to your body/mind, your environment, community and country etc.

Edited Monday at 08:39 AM by BlueOak

[Leo Gura]

@Hardkill As I've told you, you gotta put all this stuff into perspective.

Be careful getting too wrapped up in political battles. That too becomes self-deception when not properly contextualized.

You're gonna have political loses. That's just how society is. You don't win every campaign and things don't go your way half the time. Your worldview needs to account for that.

Society develops at a certain rate that you cannot dictate. Just as kids do stupid things. It's like being a parent of immature kids. You can't force maturity on them. And then this becomes a test of your own maturity. How will you behave when others around you act like children or lose their minds? That's the real test.

Things are just getting real.

Edited Monday at 09:00 AM by Leo Gura

[Hardkill]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

@Hardkill As I've told you, you gotta put all this stuff into perspective.

Be careful getting too wrapped up in political battles. That too becomes self-deception when not properly contextualized.

You're gonna have political loses. That's just how society is. You don't win every campaign and things don't go your way half the time. Your worldview needs to account for that.

Society develops at a certain rate that you cannot dictate. Just as kids do stupid things. It's like being a parent of immature kids. You can't force maturity on them. And then this becomes a test of your own maturity. How will you behave when others around you act like children or lose their minds? That's the real test.

No, I know that we can't win every political battle, and if we had a more normal Reagan/Bush type of Republican president and if there weren't too many extreme MAGA type of Republicans in both chambers of Congress, then I could completely live with all of that.

I also get that devilry eventually loses in the end and that Republicans could lose power if they are held responsible again for another severe crisis that occurs under their watch someday in the future (unless the right-wing propaganda protects them from ever losing power).

But what about the horrors of Trump's 2nd presidency? 

On 5/23/2024 at 7:20 PM, Leo Gura said:

@Hardkill If Trump wins reelection he will stuff the court with right-wing lunatics for the next 40 years and there will be no progressive legistation chances at all. All of it will be blocked and undone by the court.

You guys don't fully appreciate how bad it will be.

Perhaps, I am misunderstanding you.

Were you to some degree being hyperbolic about the consequences of a Trump and MAGA win in 2024? I'm wondering if you truly believe that democracy and many of our freedoms will more than likely be gone after Trump is done with his 2nd term.

Do you think there's any real chance that Democrats could enact any more meaningful liberal or progressive policies within the next 10 to 30 years?

Or will Democrats from now on be limited to maintaining the liberal and progressive policies they've enacted since the 1900s, even if they regain power at the national level, for at least a generation or two?

Despite how corrupt America has gotten, do you still want to stay in the country because you still want to fight back?

Edited Monday at 10:00 AM by Hardkill

[Leo Gura]

@Hardkill Nobody knows the details of what will happen.

I don't frame my life in terms of fighting back or not. My existence is beyond all human concerns.

[Greatnestwithin]

6 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

@Hardkill Nobody knows the details of what will happen.

I don't frame my life in terms of fighting back or not. My existence is beyond all human concerns.

@Leo Guracan you (we) even be beyond human concerns, knowing that we are stuck as humans with all that comes with it. How does this look in practice? to live life beyond those...

[Leo Gura]

8 minutes ago, Greatnestwithin said:

@Leo Guracan you (we) even be beyond human concerns, knowing that we are stuck as humans with all that comes with it. How does this look in practice? to live life beyond those...

There are always survival concerns but you shouldn't exaggerate them. You can design your life such that you are not constantly obsessed with survival problems.

How wrapped up your mind is in survival concerns is very much up to you. Monks, sages, and yogis have faced much harsher survival conditions, and political conditions, than you.

Edited Monday at 10:26 AM by Leo Gura

[Greatnestwithin]

1 minute ago, Leo Gura said:

There are always survival concerns but you shouldn't exaggerate them. You can design your life such that you are not constantly obsessed with survival problems.

@Leo Gura beyond survival concerns materially speaking like paying bills. How about the more subtle and not so subtle ways in which we survive, like our identity, our image, our need for meaning, purpose, connection etc

[Leo Gura]

4 minutes ago, Greatnestwithin said:

@Leo Gura How about the more subtle and not so subtle ways in which we survive, like our identity, our image, our need for meaning, purpose, connection etc

How far you wish to transcend all that is really up to you.

You have to decide what you want out of life and how you want to live. No one can tell you. If you want to be wrapped up in political battles that's your choice.

Edited Monday at 10:29 AM by Leo Gura

[Yimpa]

My entire childhood was corrupted by conservaitive dogma that kept me stuck. Yet, here I am…and I survived it. I felt like a prisoner with no way out. But that period of my life also taught me resilience, overcoming fear, empathizing with those who are downright ignorant.

Do I want those years back? Hell yes. Will I ever get them back? No. What I know is that I do from here on out, I will look back 20 years from now with a smile on my face, because I know what it took to get to the next stage.

[AION]

No need to be cynical of a person or society that doesn't have enough consciousness. It doesn't know better and it needs more suffering to develop consciousness. Everything has a natural evolution/development which needs to be accepted and respected.

[Ishanga]

2 hours ago, AION said:

No need to be cynical of a person or society that doesn't have enough consciousness. It doesn't know better and it needs more suffering to develop consciousness. Everything has a natural evolution/development which needs to be accepted and respected.

No, too much suffering has already happened and still is happening, time to try another way, Peace/Bliss path for sure, much less suffering this way...but I don't know if this will happen within this or next generation, probably not...,

[AION]

12 minutes ago, Ishanga said:

No, too much suffering has already happened and still is happening, time to try another way, Peace/Bliss path for sure, much less suffering this way...but I don't know if this will happen within this or next generation, probably not...,

From the things I read from you you need more lashes from God too. God is the greatest planner of all. Never forget that.

Edited Monday at 02:45 PM by AION

[Lyubov]

@Hardkill you should consider really living your life purpose and making yourself your #1 priority. Find hobbies. Look for a girlfriend. Start a family. Change the world. Do what you want to do and love to do. You are focusing way too much on this issue and failing to see the limitless possibilities and wellbeing that surrounds it. This is how you move on from this chronic online political stuff. Do you want to be happy and fulfilled? Focus on you not on politics. 

[Oeaohoo]

8 hours ago, Hardkill said:

Our country's become so rotten. It's truly disheartening to see the US, which once seemed like a beacon of hope and progress, now plagued by such systemic issues and moral decay.

Trump isn’t even in office yet.

It wouldn’t surprise me if this turns out to be a joke account. You are like a parody of Trump derangement syndrome.

[gettoefl]

42 minutes ago, AION said:

From the things I read from you you need more lashes from God too. God is the greatest planner of all. Never forget that.

No worldly problem grates me nor harms me

Rather it grows me and hones me

Suffering is my teacher as well as my torturer

[gettoefl]

46 minutes ago, Lyubov said:

@Hardkill you should consider really living your life purpose and making yourself your #1 priority. Find hobbies. Look for a girlfriend. Start a family. Change the world. Do what you want to do and love to do. You are focusing way too much on this issue and failing to see the limitless possibilities and wellbeing that surrounds it. This is how you move on from this chronic online political stuff. Do you want to be happy and fulfilled? Focus on you not on politics. 

 

Politics and government and even the news

are an abstract reality not a concrete concern

 

[Lyubov]

5 minutes ago, gettoefl said:

 

Politics and government and even the news

are an abstract reality not a concrete concern

 

sure, but many people don't see it that way. they hold it up to their eye and it's all they see, coloring everything for them. 

[AION]

34 minutes ago, gettoefl said:

No worldly problem grates me nor harms me

Rather it grows me and hones me

Suffering is my teacher as well as my torturer

forged by fire ❤️‍🔥