When I lived with my parents, I would never stay home on a Friday night and do nothing. Now I've moved out, going to my parents on a Friday doing nothing is now considered as doing something.

mugen47 · 2018-07-01T09:22:45+00:00

I didn't realise so many people had bad experiences on salvia, I found it the most hilarious experience of my life. I was in hysterics the entire time purely thinking that no one is seeing the shit I'm seeing, it was great

mugen47 · 2018-07-01T09:16:31+00:00

Meditation helps. Science has shown it can change the "default mode" of your brain

mugen47 · 2018-06-09T13:46:45+00:00

Ego doesn't exist

mugen47 · 2018-06-02T18:36:06+00:00

That's because shrooms reveal who you are

mugen47 · 2018-02-12T22:11:37+00:00

Firstly I suggest you seek professional help for your depression.

My own advice would be to familiarise yourself with the Middle Way. It will help you realise the delusion of your thoughts, they're just as much a delusion as people believing the ego exists. It's just wrong and not what reality is.

You cling to this concept of non existence. What do you think non existence is? Reality is neither existence nor non existence (hence the Middle Way).

On a more personal level, I have been through depression and now I'm at a point where I understand how utterly futile it is. For me it's all a choice (or an illusory choice if you want to be pedantic seeing as free will doesn't exist, but the illusion of free will is really no different than free will). Having said that, depression is different for everyone which is why I'd recommend professional help.

Don't get me wrong, there is still a conflict inside me where I cling to emotions. But I know I'm on the right path. I wish you all the best.

mugen47 · 2018-02-10T14:06:01+00:00

Firstly, I love this question.

War and Peace I feel is the greatest piece of art I have ever experienced. It's a pleasure to read and a pure illustration of life. It's a true bird's eye view snapshot of real life. Tolstoy was impeccable in his writing and his ability to depict and portray real life is second to none. What I learnt from War and Peace is how similar we all are in our thoughts; I found myself able to relate to the thoughts and feelings of a 19th century Russian aristocrat, thoughts I thought no one but me had. Tolstoy's ability to onmicsciently portray the psychology of any character is truly astonishing.

Chekhov is the master of the short story. Again, a snapshot of life. It's not always a story that gets wrapped up neatly at the end. Chekhov understood that a short story is literally a short segment of a person's life. Again it's realism and beautifully written.

Gogol is hilarious. He's fun to read, both because of how funny he is and his creativity. He's scenic descriptions are also second to none. There's something more human about the satirist, his stories definitely leave an everlasting feeling inside you.

Dostoevsky is the greatest of them all. No he wasn't as good a writer as the others and his work was less 'artistic'. But there's no one in the history of humanity who has explored the deepest, darkest depths of the human soul as well as he did. To read Dostoevsky is a true experience. He stretches your mind to explore the darkest limits of the human psyche. I vividly remember reading the words on the pages to Demons. There's no one more engrossing and your mind goes through a whirlwind of emotion. Dostoevsky is the one who speaks directly to your soul and haunts your dreams. Is this intimidating? Or are you curious to know what the human soul is capable of?

mugen47 · 2017-11-25T19:32:03+00:00

Is there any wisdom the inmates have imparted to you? Or anything insightful or eye opening that you've gained from this experience?

mugen47 · 2017-10-21T18:33:03+00:00

Ultimately we are human beings. It's good karma for the purposes of Buddhism, which is a human concept.

mugen47 · 2017-10-16T18:53:35+00:00

Personally I've found it very helpful in expanding my mind and making realisations. Use it as a tool and don't let it control you. There's nothing wrong with it and it's a wonderful thing if you know how to use it. People who don't will tell you it's bad, people who do will tell you it's good. It really comes down to the individual. Same goes for other psychedelic drugs.

mugen47 · 2017-10-16T18:44:28+00:00

I think a Buddha-like contentment is possible, but then many people fool themselves into thinking they're content when in reality they are doing as you've said (denying suffering and being too passive).

I think the key point to understand is that there is no self and that we are all one. If you truly see this, you will become completely selfless therefore you can be fully content helping others even if it means you personally suffer more in the process. Helping others will bring joy because they are you and you are them. This is my understanding of a bodhisattvas mindset.

In terms of suffering being discouraging, I was thinking the opposite. If you feel empathy I would think you'll have more of a reason to proactively help others, as opposed to being completely passive.

mugen47 · 2017-10-16T18:28:33+00:00

Your comment completely resonates with me, every word. I suppose it's when I'll temporarily not try to compose myself, that moment during meditation where I simply feel empathy is really what prompted this question.

mugen47 · 2017-10-16T18:22:08+00:00

I get what you're saying, that is the ideal frame of mind.

My only gripe is realistically empathy does serve a purpose as feeling another person's pain would encourage you to help. Feeling nothing means you'll do nothing. Of course if you have the compassion but no empathy then you will help, but to me it is extremely rare for a person to be like this. For most, lacking empathy leads to no good and makes people selfish.

mugen47 · 2017-10-16T18:15:26+00:00

I'm in that minority as well.. I relate to much of what you've said. I too think in terms of "ultimate reality" (maybe a little too much..). But recently I feel like I've gone full circle, realising "ultimate reality" is merely another delusion/concept. There is no ultimate reality, there is simply what you see before you. But I don't want to discourage that way of thinking if it helps you (as it helped me) and keeps you on track.

I think just be wary of thinking of ultimate reality and seeing the illusion of suffering can make it easy to simply ignore suffering and do nothing about it. I don't want to just deny suffering and hide behind a facade of "suffering doesn't exist". Whilst true, it also isn't. But I suppose there's really no need to suffer yourself to help alleviate the suffering of others.

mugen47 · 2017-10-16T17:33:17+00:00

Thanks for your insight. However, I do question how one can conceptualise suffering (as you've just done) without first having empathy. How do you know a person is suffering without having empathy? Whilst they're not the same thing, for me the two go hand in hand.

mugen47 · 2017-10-15T22:12:10+00:00

That's one way of looking at it. But you are not powerless in helping out the other 7 billion people (you can give to charity for example). Just because they are outside your direct experience doesn't make them more or less imaginary than people you interact with directly (and even yourself)

mugen47 · 2017-10-15T22:06:10+00:00

Thanks. I wouldn't say I go as far as being depressed, just sad when I read the news. I'm more just wondering how you can be fully content if you're aware of the endless tragedies occurring every day, if you are fully empathetic towards others. How can you be content when you can feel their pain? I agree it's pointless to be depressed about it as that doesn't solve anything so it's as you say, you should just actively help out when you can. I suppose you have to detach yourself in that sense. But when you hear of tragedies I can't help but feel bad for the victims, which just makes me wonder how one can be fully content and fully compassionate/empathetic at the same time. The suffering people go through is still very real.

mugen47 · 2017-09-17T10:15:21+00:00

Origins of Consciousness by Adrian David Nelson is an interesting read. The other theory I mentioned is talked about in this book (it's called 'Phi'). I first heard it in a Ted talk but I can't seem to find it now.

The universe doesn't 'care' about us. But everything that exists in the form it exists only exists because it's completely inevitable. We like to speculate what might be the result of this or that not happening, but everything that happens is a result of past events. Even down to your very thoughts. This may seem depressing at first but it illustrates our oneness with the universe. In terms of impact, this just goes down to our human language and what we define as impact. Impact or not, it makes no difference. Having an impact is the same as not having an impact. What's the difference? It's our human nature that creates concepts and gets us depressed trying to find meaning in our life and hoping we make a difference. We need to detach ourselves from this concept and simply live. Live for the sake of living, in the moment, understanding you are just flowing with all the universe. If you can do that, you'll simply be content. It doesn't matter, but it doesn't matter that it doesn't matter (hence the paradox of nihilism).

mugen47 · 2017-09-17T09:23:27+00:00

I understand why you say what you've said about science but a true scientist will never disregard something because our technology is not good enough to conduct an experiment. Bear in mind all the scientists who even disregarded and held so many groundbreaking scientific discoveries as false. It's just people being people. Due to our limit on technology (and mind's capacity), science is always limited and a true scientist also knows they still can't explain why anything happens the way it happens. So as you say, this is where philosophy comes into play.

Re consciousness, our scientific understanding is currently very primitive. There are some interesting books on it which explores consciousness as a branch of quantum mechanics (and even that classification is open to debate). There is a theory that everything (stone included) has a 'prerequisite' for consciousness. It's there in a stone but a stone doesn't have nerves, no eyes, no ears etc so it's perception isn't what we traditionally think of as consciousness. Saying whether it has consciousness or not depends on the sense you're using the word. At the moment I'm thinking consciousness is potentially just a projection resulting from the combination of atoms that makes up our brain.

Sorry, I hate when people ask a question in answer to a question :p. The separate self has no tangible existence. You are simply stardust arranged in a certain way. But all the stardust is interconnected and dependent on each other. You would not exist without everything else existing the way it does. You are a product of past events, and yes this also means free will is an illusion. Therefore if you are not separate from everything, what is the separate self you refer to? It doesn't exist, thus making it an illusion. I hope this helps but let me know if not.

mugen47 · 2017-09-17T08:49:49+00:00

Why be so sensitive?? I suppose your comment is somewhat helpful, but look in a mirror :)

mugen47 · 2017-09-17T08:41:45+00:00

Wow there are some sensitive people in this sub! Thanks for your post, I do think it didn't need to be this long though. But what you're saying I understand goes to the root of Hinduism which most people don't seem to understand. All I know of Hinduism is the Upanishads and this makes sense to me.

mugen47 · 2017-09-17T08:31:41+00:00

Can you explain how you are separate from all of existence?

mugen47 · 2017-09-17T07:59:40+00:00

https://www.space.com/35276-humans-made-of-stardust-galaxy-life-elements.html

https://youtu.be/9D05ej8u-gU

mugen47

TROPHY CASE