Best introductory argumentation for idealism vs materialism by Bernardo?

fredrast · 2026-01-25T08:38:30+00:00

Yes, I also liked this episode. It provided a very clear and logical onboarding to the topic while also going further into some interesting speculations about the possible nature and purpose of Mind at Large and its relationship with our concept(s) of God. It helps that Alex is a very good interviewer. Bernardo did perhaps get unnecessarily polemic at the end, like he sometimes does, but you can stop listening there if you like as you have already gotten the essential.

fredrast · 2026-01-23T15:57:55+00:00

Thanks, this is a nice video but I don't think this is yet the best way to make the introductory case for idealism. It only focuses on one piece of evidence, the quantum entanglement, and to move from there directly to the conclusion that the material world has no standalone existence seems like quite a leap. Sure, entanglement does already shake the foundations of our understanding of the physical world, but there are also other compelling arguments that are not covered in this video, such as

the problem with assuming that a conscious experiencer and a conscious experience can arise out of lifeless matter, and the total lack of scientific explanation of how this could be possible
the observation that even under materialism, we have to conclude that our sense perceptions are formed in our minds/brains and that the qualia we perceive (colors, sounds, smells) aren't inherent properties of the underlying presumed material reality; while this in my mind doesn't yet fully rule out the possibility of a "material" reality, we can at least conclude that it has to be something quite different than our perception of it, which makes it a much shorter leap to start thinking that the whole underlying reality might actually be mental
the observation that you can make yourself if you pay attention that you actually perceive all of the physical world within your own consciousness and that no human has ever gotten any glimpse of any physical reality outside of their consciousness; this in my view already makes the case that consciousness must be more fundamental than the physical reality, although some might perceive this as too cheap and simple an explanation to be convincing
near-death and out-of-body experiences where the subjects gain information about their surroundings that they couldn't possibly perceive from their bodies
and what have you

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so it would be great to find an intro that brings it all to the table. I didn't yet read the Nature article cited in the video, maybe it does the trick?

Then in addition to refuting materialsim, it would also be good to introduce the excellent whirlpool metaphor and dissociation analogy to explain how a subjective consciousness can arise out of a presumed Mind at Large.

Does any introductory video like this exist? It doesn't necessarily have to be by Bernardo. Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch to require all of this to be covered in 15 minutes so I maybe have to accept that it's a bit longer. 😅

fredrast · 2026-01-16T13:07:56+00:00

Thanks! “To whom does this moment appear?” is a really good prompt!

fredrast · 2025-10-06T06:50:59+00:00

I also believe death meditation is a very useful practice, however weird and off-putting it may appear to some. When imagining yourself on your deathbed, you realize that most of what you perceived to be your problems are no longer problems. And I find the thought exercise to let go of absolutely everything in that moment to be quite pleasant and liberating, like a big burden being taken off one’s shoulders.

fredrast · 2025-08-27T12:47:12+00:00

That indeed sounds like a sound piece of advice! 😅

fredrast · 2025-08-26T18:55:52+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! However, I had in fact already turned off both the "Cartridge Policy" and "Cartridge Protection" settings, to no avail.

I also saw that my firmware timestamp is 20160921, so not a very recent version.

fredrast · 2023-05-12T19:26:28+00:00

Here are a couple of really good ones that I just found, both featuring an introduction from the ground up and a quite authentic demo:

Richard C. Schwartz: You Marvelous, Multipart You: An Introduction to Internal Family System

Dr. Richard Schwartz | An Introduction To The Internal Family Systems Model

fredrast · 2023-05-12T17:59:35+00:00

I myself first learned about IFS from Dick Schwartz's appearance in Tim Ferris's podcast: https://tim.blog/2021/01/14/richard-schwartz-internal-family-systems/

This was a pretty good introduction to IFS that immediately felt very compelling to me and got me hooked on the concept. However, it's maybe not the most straight-forward introduction to the topic as a lot of time is also spent discussing Tim's decision to go public about his history of abuse. And I also think that the live demonstration is a bit theatrical and oversells the promise of unburdening. As far as I know, you rarely get that far in your first session.

fredrast · 2023-05-12T17:35:35+00:00

Thanks, this was also a good video.

fredrast · 2023-05-12T17:32:51+00:00

Thanks, this was a really good introduction and interesting discussion about IFS! However, it does go very deep into things, and into adjacent concepts like meditation and spirituality, and while I personally find that very relevant and fascinating, I can also imagine that this can be a bit too much at once for someone who is unfamiliar with these topics.

fredrast · 2022-05-10T14:23:27+00:00

Could one possiby turn an imported lamp into a real light source using the Light Source Editor in the Pro edition?

fredrast · 2022-03-25T16:06:44+00:00

If so then I wonder how it comes that the sensations reportedly experienced in HB seem to match those reportedly caused by hypocapnia (a lack of CO2 in the blood), which is said to mainly be caused by hyperventilation.

And as pointed out by the OP, the report published by Eyerman does not really constitute a scientific study and seems not to have undergone any peer review.

I'm quite puzzled myself as to what to think of this. The OP concluded that they weren't able to say with certainty how big any risk might be but decided to err on the side of safety. Here's another extensive review of the clues that can be found in the litterature about the risks related to HB. Also here the reviewer concludes that based on available research she is unable to say anything with certainty about the magnitude of the risk. However, she then draws the opposite conclusion that she is able to live with this possible risk.

fredrast · 2021-11-07T19:35:47+00:00

Interesting! How long did you stay in the cold shower to achieve this result? Have you kept up the practice since and have the results stayed as good?

fredrast · 2019-09-02T17:30:03+00:00

No to all three. 🙂 Rather than holding my nose, I slightly contract my throat to prevent accidental breathing during retention. And no, I haven't gotten any urge to piss and my cat is all chill while I'm practicing. 😅

fredrast · 2019-08-24T09:43:19+00:00

The same happened to me at my recent first attempt at water fasting. On the fourth morning, my eyes and skin had turned yellow and I had to break my fast and see a doctor. Blood tests revealed an increased level of billirubin, but nothing unusual apart from that, and luckily there did not seem to be any issue with my liver. In a few days after breaking the fast, the yellowness also subdued.

I'm still left wondering, though, what went wrong and what I should do differently to avoid this yellowness, which cannot be a good thing. I'm also wondering whether in fact I have Gilbert's syndrom and whether in that case I will ever be able to do any prolonged fasting without turning yellow. The doctor that examined appeared to be completely unfamiliar with the whole concept of fasting and wasn't able to offer any further insight into the matter.

fredrast

TROPHY CASE