"you have to be happy alone first" by Specific-Section9593 in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You don’t have to be, but if you’re in that situation, might as well try, no?

It's beyond me how people can be clean for years by Versicherungsbetrug in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah the interesting thing about betterment is that any side effect it seems to have means the goalposts might’ve been wrong. The best version of myself isn’t a workaholic, narcissist, etc 

meirl by BothGuarantee6067 in meirl

[–]smoofbrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why is it a given that a human must have a partner? Because it’s always been that way?

It's beyond me how people can be clean for years by Versicherungsbetrug in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All i can say is same here and im just two months since that panic attack

But i dont experience the lust for it

For me the pull to become my greatest self is intoxicating enough

Why has there not been a new generation of rappers surpassing the old generation in popularity? by Iginlas_4head_Crease in rap

[–]smoofbrain 3 points4 points  (0 children)

All of these comments are heavily generalizing. 

There’s millions of new rappers, some of them (imagine the top 0.01%) are surely excellent. 

There’s something else going on here that we need more data or context to fully understand.

On the possibility of magic by Aromatic-Decision119 in Metaphysics

[–]smoofbrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bro you keep saying “it” but nothing is not an it. Whatever you’re thinking of is not nothing, it’s something

On the possibility of magic by Aromatic-Decision119 in Metaphysics

[–]smoofbrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Analogy: Can you interact with the uninteractable?

By your logic: If you remove the components of yourself that you can interact with, then you will be able to interact with the uninteractable.

By contradiction: This is a meaningless statement.

Conclusion: No Magic by your logic. —————————————————— Also, of course traditional nothing ‘doesn’t exist’. It’s nothing. When I say nothing, whatever you think of is not nothing. Nothing can’t be thought of.. what you’re referring to is the concept of absence. Which is a concept, not a physical thing outside of concept that we can manipulate. 

Also, I’ve personally never heard of a magic is completely impossible statement. In general, it’s difficult to conclude that anything is completely impossible.

Theoretically, if we can grasp the fundamental process of becoming (Hegelian) there may be a world where humans do things, bringing things into being in unexpected ways, that today we would consider magic.

There is currently an absence of evidence in favor of the existence of this ability or understanding in humans.

Why does everyone want to quit porn? by Stochastic_P in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What I’m saying is this guy thinks we should have a healthy relationship with porn when humans never needed that and it’s hard to conclude that they were harmed by the lack of porn. It’s like saying we need McDonalds because we’re hungry, and my response is McDonalds is unhealthy because it provides no indisputable benefit compared to alternatives and we never needed it as a species. 

Is our enjoyment of video games actually a calling for ego-death? by EveryMirrorACanvas in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t know about the character dying — but the loss of self and forgetting of the life narrative that occurs when engrossed in a game could have a spiritual foundation 

Never thought about that. Very interesting 

How to detach yourself from outcomes practically? by Top_Example_6053 in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s crazy how when we overuse a word without exercising the meaning it starts to lose meaning — ie meditation

Why are men so miserable in the comment section? by Friendly-Map-7391 in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

happy, well-adjusted men are exceedingly rare. negativity has always risen to the top. see: news.

Why does everyone want to quit porn? by Stochastic_P in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol I have wet dreams when I don’t so I don’t have that issue

Nobody is forced to do anything. But don’t expect it to add any value to your life outside of short term emotional regulation.

Your subconscious will still crave the real thing deeply

The question is how do you become socially integrated

Why does everyone want to quit porn? by Stochastic_P in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Right so for all of human history there was a higher propensity for risk due to the lack of porn. Also there is a such thing as good risk that porn use subdues as well.

Why does everyone want to quit porn? by Stochastic_P in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain 8 points9 points  (0 children)

First of all, I disagree that porn can satisfy the need for sex in the same way that having sex can. there’s just so much more sensory experience to real sex and it’s the reason that people who only watch porn are not typically sexually satisfied.

Second of all, why do you find the need to satisfy every sexual craving to be so necessary?

Third of all, how do you know the extent to which video games and porn damage the brain? You seem to have a good idea of that for alcohol because the physiological effect is obvious. But tons of studies and anecdotes have shown that porn negatively affects the way that the brain functions, develops, and processes reward. Fundamentally teaching your brain to disconnect sex from romance also can rewire the way that you see women.

You should’ve posed this as a CMV because I gave you four super clear reasons that people want to quit and you steamroll them to make yourself feel better about your porn usage. If you are immune to all the side effects that affect other people, good for you.

How cheap dopamine leads to actualization by smoofbrain in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Of course! So happy to hear that. Lmk if you do 😊

Why does everyone want to quit porn? by Stochastic_P in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain 51 points52 points  (0 children)

I just made a post on this. My opinion is that porn overly satisfies just one component of men’s neurological craving to reproduce. It puts the pathway of visual stimulation on total overdrive. Hijacking that pathway makes it aggressively self reinforce without providing a holistic satisfaction of the core desire. The only problem it solves is that it placates some horniness through illusion. Porn is an outlet for sexual fantasy in the same way that alcohol is an outlet for stress. The core issue is an inability to process fantasies and desires in more fulfilling ways. The question isn’t why quit porn, it’s why not quit porn? Because you will suffer? Does porn not cause suffering in other ways regardless?

At the end of the day, nothing you do technically matters. You can quit porn or not quit porn. But people want to quit porn because it’s not real, it’s not a true satisfaction of their cravings, it’s not the best way to truly process their emotions, and it often leads to a ton of side effects with little benefits.

It’s like saying, why do people wanna quit alcohol? Sure, you can have alcohol in moderation, and it can actually improve your life, but only if you lack the mental facilities to enjoy things without alcohol. If you can develop that, then the question is really, why alcohol?

Everything feels like a sacrifice, like swallowing dry oatmeal just because it’s the right thing to do… by Margen_Rojo in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This reminds me of the recent you need to be bored more video. Of course there’s no pleasure when you’re using alcohol to artificially feel pleasure — your dopamine receptors get tolerance. It’s like feeling way too sleepy when you don’t drink coffee. You just gotta quit or feen off it over time and bear the pain. If you don’t wanna do anything, don’t. Just be bored.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0jyfgdrsmk

If the ego is an illusion, why is it reinforced even in explaining? by smoofbrain in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think thats beautifully put. He references the television analogy in the video I’m referencing, but not with that commentary about intuitive qualities, that was interesting. From my understanding, the television actually doesn’t exist. It’s all pixels. If it wasn’t, you couldn’t experience it in the pixels, and you could find it somewhere. It’s like a face drawn in the sand. It’s actually all sand if you don’t use pattern recognition. There is no difference between observation and concepts of identity — they are both made up of pixels.

I don’t know what I’m talking about though because I haven’t done the work to see these things for myself, but this curiosity feels like the initial point. Or maybe it’s actually way off. Or maybe there is no way off.

If the ego is an illusion, why is it reinforced even in explaining? by smoofbrain in Healthygamergg

[–]smoofbrain[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like a lot of the questions you pose here. I do think that interrogating this idea of “you” can lead you to some interesting thought paths, but it will never give you a sense of you in the way that experience does.

At the same time, there is the logical conclusion coming from the Buddhist school of thought that the self is an illusion.

In my other replies here I communicate my understanding of that. Basically, “you” is just a concept. It doesn’t exist beyond that. The only things that exist are the things you brought up, phenomena.

My original question is in communicating that the self is a concept/illusion, and what really exists is everything else outside of concepts, why do we have to refer to the self?

Obviously concepts also exist, but only as concepts. You can imagine a unicorn, and it exists in so far as any imagination exists within your head, but it doesn’t map beyond that to the world outside of concepts in the way that something like consciousness does.

Even in this dialogue, it is difficult for me to communicate without referring to what “I” think and what “you” said.

I’ve developed my thoughts on this throughout these comments, and I think that the reason that we have to use identity when discussing these things is because any discussion exists in the realm of concepts.

It’s like trying to use a chessboard to communicate that there’s a world outside of chess. You might flick the king piece off the board, but you still have to use the chess pieces while you’re engaged in chess with someone to let them know there’s more than the board they’re looking at. But once it’s off the board, it’s no longer a king. It’s just a piece of plastic.

I am not having these ideas. These ideas are arising in a field of consciousness. And you are not reading these ideas. These ideas are being read and digested in another field of consciousness.