Leo's Blog: Infinite Insights — Page 111

"What prevents growth? Ungratified deficiency-needs, the attractions of safety and security, the functions of defense and protection against pain, fear, loss, and threat, and the need for courage in order to grow ahead."

-- Abraham Maslow

There you go. Why you're stuck, in a nutshell.

It's worth taking some time to contemplate this.

Bonus video:

The National Geographic reality TV show "Life Below Zero" has many life lessons for self-actualizers.

The problem is that modern humans have no idea what "survival" really means, because modern society has made survival so convenient and so transparent. This might seem like a great thing, except that is makes you fundamentally unconscious of the entire process of life. Because even though you might not hunt and skin your own meat, you are nevertheless completely wrapped up in the process of survival even if you live in NYC — you just don't realize it.

The value of this show is that it helps to offset this ignorance.

I watched 4 seasons of the show and it gave me many profound insights about self-actualization. Here's what you can learn from it:

You can find the show on Netflix.

Here's a preview:

Careful not to binge watch it.

"Don't approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from any side."

-- Yiddish proverb

Remember this classic Simpson's episode?

Homer eats an insanity pepper at the Springfield Chili Cook-off which sends him on a hallucinatory mystical journey.

You can only fully appreciate it if you've done psychedelics. The Simpsons at its finest.

Sometimes people get the idea that certain symbols like a cat's "Meow", aren't arbitrary because they mirror "the real thing". Well, think again! In Japan, cats don't say "Meow", they say "Nyan"! Which just goes to show how much we take cultural conventions for granted.

And if you still aren't convinced, ask yourself what the hell kind of dog says, "Bow Wow"?!

Over the Xmas break while I was visiting my brother, he showed me some videos about the potential of Bitcoin. My brother is nerdy and really into investing and cutting-edge technology, so this was his cup of tea. And while I found the technology and investing aspects very interesting and exciting, what I loved most about these videos was the deep truths this speaker here reveals about the nature of power, corruption, hierarchies, government, democracy, society, psychology, closemindedness, and humanity. These are some of my favorite topics to think about in a big picture way, and this speaker blew me away with the clarity of his thinking.

So enjoy these two videos about Bitcoin, but don't take your eye off the ball! I'm not showing these to you because I want you to invest in Bitcoin. This is not a get-rich-quick-scheme. I'm showing these to you for the much deeper wisdom and lessons about human nature which they reveal. This will be important for the future, when I release episodes about the nature of power, corruption, evil, and society. Those are still topics which we've barely touched upon as we move forward towards assembling the big picture.

"When a finger points at the moon, the imbecile looks at the finger."

-- Chinese proverb

Carlin was under-appreciated as a philosopher.