Summary of "People Are Not All Equal" by Teal Swan.

[CreamCat]

I kind of resonated with the following video, so I summarized it for others.

 

• The human ego cannot stand to perceive itself less than something. Thus, it begins its subconscious mission to knock anything that we see as higher than us, better than us off of its pedestal. We don't just fight for equality. We fight for superiority.
• We don't actually care about equality when we feel superior.
• Equality is not a reality in the realm of physicality where needs and personal preference exist.
  • In a time of war, diamond is useless, but a bottle of alcohol has tons of value because of need.
  • If you want to be taken care of financially, a rich man is more valuable than the most emotionally available man.
  • In a company, employees' needs are not treated as equal to the needs of CEO. They can afford to lose workers but can't afford to lose CEO.
  • If you meditated for 20 years, your opinion about meditation will matter much more than that of beginners.
• We need to fight for these three things instead of equality.
  •  Love
    • To love is to take something as part of yourself. If slave owners considered slaves as part of themselves, the owners wouldn't treat slaves harshly.
    • When we love something, we do best for that thing. We help it get what it wants.
  • Awareness
    • Question everything. Look at the perspectives and angles on everything in order to arise at a higher truth.
    • Doing this means we transcend our ignorance, our illusion, and our prejudice.
  • Intrinsic value
    • Each individual needs to stop focusing on where he or she is inferior, and instead start focusing on and express the very unique and intrinsic values that make the person not only equal but superior.
• If we can do these three things, the negative manifestations that arise from the perception of inequality would not actually manifest and occur.
• You can never get rid of ego as long as you hold perspective that is differentiated. If you introduce yourself by one name, you have ego.
• The more intrinsic value you see in yourself for your own unique superiority, the less you care about your deficiencies.
• The less you care about your decifiencies, the more secure you are in terms of self concept.
• The more secure you are in terms of self concept, the less you will create the incredible manifestations of suffering that arise from insecurity relative to inequality.
• When you are willing to live according to your own unique instrinsic value(i.e. gifts), your purpose falls into your lap.
• When you can see the intrinsic value in others, you can lead them to their purpose instead of forcing them to try to improve their deficiencies so as to suit your needs.
• We believe inequality is wrong, and everything and everyone should be equal. That is when we are not in superior position.
• The reality is we are not equal. Equality is complete illusion.
• Equality is a judgement based on perceptual reality. In a world of differentiations, sameness does not exist.
  • Men are inferior to women in terms of giving birth to children and raising them.
  • Women are inferior to men in terms of physical power.
  • One person may be good at math. Another person may suck at math but be good at writing.
• We need to be brave enough to accept that inequality is absolute reality of life.
• We need to accept that our inequalities actually point to our purpose in life.
• Ask yourself and honestly admit to where you feel superior and where you feel inferior.
• Equality is something that the ego has created. It is a figment of your imagination.
• We are not going to be able to make things equal in this world. Therefore, stop fighting for equality.
• What we need to fight for is love, awareness, and intrinsic value instead.

Edited September 17, 2018 by CreamCat

[Leo Gura]

Great, but this is a bit of a dangerous idea:

42 minutes ago, CreamCat said:

We are not going to be able to make things equal in this world. Therefore, stop fighting for equality.

This idea will easily get abused by right-wing egos in the political sphere to enslave others and maintain a grotesquely unequal status quo.

You can see people making this kind of argument in defense of slavery: "Oh, they don't need equality. That's impossible anyway. Let's just love them more while they pick our cotton for us."

[CreamCat]

@Leo Gura How is it a bit of a dangerous idea?

I stopped fighting for equality at least a year ago.

Edited September 17, 2018 by CreamCat

[Leo Gura]

@CreamCat You will care about equality more when you realize that you will reincarnate as every living being who ever lived or will live. That will sober the smugness out of ya.

[CreamCat]

@Leo Gura Well, yeah. Extreme inequality sucks. I wish cows and pigs weren't butchered for food.

However, equality is ultimately unobtainable. My opinion is that some degree of equality is good. I don't really care that much about killing equality for good as long as creatures at the bottom are treated well enough.

What I'm tired of is people who obsess over tiny amount of inequality that doesn't really matter and scream for equality while neglecting butchered animals and murdered people in concentration camps of north korea. I heard that women are regularly raped in north korean concentration camps. When those women give birth to babies, soldiers feed those babies to hungry dogs. Basically hell on earth. Men are just starved and killed in concentration camps. Thugs on this planet seem to share the same policy of "Kill men. Rape women."

I guess allocating more mind resources on love, awareness, and one's own unique intrinsic value than on equality is more effective. If you loved cows and pigs, you wouldn't butcher them for food. Cows and pigs will never be equal to us in the same manner as superhuman AIs of the future will be superior to humans.

Also, no matter how well we treat animals, lions and other predators will just kill other animals.

Basically, I think preventing extreme inequality and raising the bottom significantly through love, awareness, and one's unique intrinsic value is better than crushing all kinds of inequality.

Is it possible that I don't reincarnate at all? Is it possible to choose what I reincarnate into?

Edited September 17, 2018 by CreamCat

[RichardY]

I'm more attracted to awareness. than necessarily consciousness, I don't think that is a good thing. Love not really. Intrinsic value though, something that can be used, instead of extrinsic value that would rely of a degree of projection, not necessarily a bad thing. The extrinsic value of fruit being somewhat limited, unless making schnapps for social occasions, or a payout on a slot machine.

Personally think society should be more aristocratic, not a meritocracy or democratic. Whether it will or not, probably remain oligarchic for decades. Given virtually every government can veto laws. And possession can be addictive, or 9/10th's of the law.

The idea of equality has never appealed to me, it doesn't even make sense. I like the idea of equity better.

[Leo Gura]

12 minutes ago, CreamCat said:

no matter how well we treat animals, lions and other predators will just kill other animals.

So slavery it is then?

Careful what you wish for.

[Leo Gura]

4 minutes ago, RichardY said:

The idea of equality has never appealed to me, it doesn't even make sense. I like the idea of equity better.

You say that cause you're in a position of superiority.

A bit of inequality will help educate you

[CreamCat]

@Leo Gura I didn't say we should tolerate physical slavery and wage slavery. You said you would shoot yourself in the head if you were to become a wage slave. I advocate preventing extreme inequality and raising the bottom significantly. Trying to squash all kinds of petty inequality led to ludicrous situations.

I think some degree of inequality can be good as long as the bottom doesn't suffer.

Raising the bottom significantly means universal basic income, animal rights, abolishing wage slavery, and so on.

Some artists are going to be poor at art while some other artists are excellent at art. We shouldn't try to crush that kind of inequality.

Edited September 17, 2018 by CreamCat

[Leo Gura]

@CreamCat So you're a communist SJW then

[CreamCat]

@Leo Gura You're not serious. Nobody would seriously think I'm an SJW. I am not a communist, either.

To be an SJW, I should be angry and pushy about preceived social injustices. And, the perceptions should often be wrong and illusional. My perception of justice is being deconstructed.

The ultimate goal of communism is the establishment of the communist society, which is a socioeconomic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money and the state.

I don't really care if governments exist or not, or if there is common ownership or not. I just want the bottom to be raised somehow.

Edited September 17, 2018 by CreamCat

[RichardY]

Just now, Leo Gura said:

You say that cause you're in a position of superiority.

I suppose by matter of fortune to 99.99% of humanity that has ever lived, and many people in the UK. Although I'm not sure I consider myself superior far far from it, probably lower than a lot of the people on the forum, though I might be in a position of superiority, in many ways. More of distrust & selfishness.

[Leo Gura]

9 minutes ago, CreamCat said:

Raising the bottom significantly means universal basic income, animal rights, abolishing wage slavery, and so on.

These are socialist SJW values.

[CreamCat]

25 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

These are socialist SJW values.

Let's say I happen to share some of their values. That doesn't make me SJW. I'm not neurotic about implementing universal basic income anymore. I just don't have a strong opinion about it nowadays. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. If it works, it works. A socialist SJW would be angry about why universal basic income is not implemented yet. To them, if it doesn't work, it is just not implemented properly.

Socialist SJWs don't have monopoly over certain values. Wanting some policies doesn't necessarily mean I am a communist or a socialist. Wanting gender equality doesn't mean I'm a feminist. Feminists don't have monopoly over gender equality.

To be a communist, a socialist, or a feminist, I have to buy into "most" of their ideologies. Leo, you helped me deconstruct my identity as an ideological crusader. I'm not ideological about socialism, universal basic income, and wage slavery. I just think it would be better to not have wage slavery at all just in case. When I fall through to the bottom, I won't be a wage slave if there is no wage slavery. Now, it's pure ego survival without ideology. I'm aware that I am close to the bottom and believed ideologies to justify ego survival.

Maybe, I'm a bit of a socialist. But, I'm not anxious about why socialism is not implemented properly in my country or anywhere. I am more focused on my own survival wherever I am.

I happen to share some view points with Jordan Peterson. Does that make me a fan of jordan peterson?

Edited September 17, 2018 by CreamCat

[Leo Gura]

@CreamCat Wear your socialist badge proudly, comrade.

Don't let JP shame you into a closet socialist

[CreamCat]

@Leo Gura I didn't actually want socialism. I wanted immediate cash support. I became aware that I supported certain socialist policies like UBI to the extent that it immediately supports my ego survival. Who does not want immediate cash support? But, other than UBI, I don't really care about most of socialism. Also, I am not anxious about UBI. If somebody gives UBI to me, good. Otherwise, don't care and don't ask.

I also advocate abolishing wage slavery because I won't be a wage slave at the bottom if there is no wage slavery. I'm close to the bottom at this point. A wage slave who is aware of its own wage slavery and doesn't support wage slavery is not necessarily a socialist. The human ego is lazy, and it wants to be comfortable even at the bottom. Raising the bottom for every creature helps me avoid painful death and painful risks.

If my parents gave me a lot of money, that would do for me instead of UBI personally. I'm looking forward to the future when AI robots will make me houses and foods.

I'm not sure where you are going with this.

On one hand, you critisise ideological crusaders. On the other hand, you are quick to give me ideological labels I don't associate with. I wish you were a bit more serious.

A few years ago, I would say I was a bit of a socialist. It's hard to identify as a socialist when you support a mix of various ideologies like capitalism, socialism, communism, and so on. Nowadays, I would say I am a lazy opportunist and a pragmatist who uses ideologies as useful tools for survival.

Edited September 17, 2018 by CreamCat

[RichardY]

Animal rights. A right being a permission, means next to nothing to me now, at least intellectually. "You have the right to remain silent." So what, you going to torture me out of silence then....maybe. I think a quick kill would be much more preferable to the few and centralised slaughterhouses of today. So don't even realise what's happening.

Universal basic income, still inclined to take the blood money if offered, though my higher self would probably do better in a monastery or something.

Abolishing wage slavery. Probably a good deal could be done by resolving addictions.

[EternalForest]

"You only care about equality because you don't want anyone to be higher than you." False, I fight for equality because I don't want to treat anyone lower than me, because we're all human.

It sort of seems like she's treating the world as a zero sum game, when it's actually not. It is possible for everyone to be fed, and everyone to have shelter. Just because we haven't done it doesn't mean it's not possible. 

Someone who meditates on a mountain for 20 years has more knowledge than you regarding meditation? Sure, but does that mean that there is no value in the perspective of someone who is new to meditation? Perhaps they could have fresh insights that the 20 year meditator could never have anymore. Why? Because their minds are fresh to the process. There is advantage to bringing someone new to a project or process because they are unbiased and have fresh eyes. An engineer is useless in Swan's field and Swan is useless in the engineer's field, but if Swan spent 10 years studying the engineer's field and the engineer spent 10 years studying hers they would be on an even playing field. I don't see her point here.

She's off base when she says to ignore weakness. You need to be aware of both your strengths and your weaknesses to be successful.

True equality has nothing to do with physical advantages (men trying to give birth, women trying to be physically stronger, etc.), it's impossible for them to do those things, what difference does it make? Equality is about seeing everyone as human.

Love and awareness are great, but why can't we also embrace equality?

Finally, I love how she asks if this episode "triggers" you, anyone who disagrees with her opinion is "triggered", eh?

[lmfao]

@Leo Gura

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

@CreamCat Wear your socialist badge proudly, comrade.

Don't let JP shame you into a closet socialist

LYNCH THE COMMIE

[SOUL]

Anyone who is attempting to portray any of the compassionate policies mentioned here that a republic would employ to promote the general welfare, which is a constitutional charge on the government by the way, is instead a wholesale endorsement of a communist or socialist government is ignorant.

Anyone who would equate equality according to the law with equality of outcome and decide because equality of outcome cannot be achieved that equality of the law isn't worth fighting for is ignorant.