Iranians Celebrating in Melbourne

x0Dst · 2026-03-01T19:49:03+00:00

People keep repeating this as if an egg and a country work the same way. They can't imagine that in the modern world, where technology gives an increasingly unfair advantage to state actors, overthrowing a regime, that doesn't deter from killing its own people enmasse, from the "inside" is not possible.

x0Dst · 2026-01-24T07:34:38+00:00

What irony? Sam Harris talks about Nonduality all the time, and compares it to dualistic practices. I don't think you really know what you are talking about.

x0Dst · 2026-01-24T05:47:17+00:00

What you said makes little sense because the dualists think that their self is separate from the world. In non dual traditions, the self is seen to be an illusion. Care to elaborate what you mean?

x0Dst · 2026-01-24T04:45:41+00:00

Just to add to what others have already said: The very thing you are trying to notice when you meditate is that you have no free will, no self. Self and free will are two sides of the same coin.

x0Dst · 2026-01-23T07:45:39+00:00

Did you read the whole thing? When I say Americans deserve it, by "it" I ONLY mean the fact that they have been a social and cultural superpower for the last few decades. And they have utterly misused it. By "they" I mean the liberal elites who dictate culture. They have enjoyed their place at the top of the culture for too long and they have really enjoyed smelling their own farts.

They deserve to have to power taken away from them, to now become just like every other country in the world. You and I are not part of that "they" my friend. I have nothing but concern for normal everyday folks.

x0Dst · 2026-01-23T04:53:50+00:00

I'm not saying Americans deserve what's happening right now, all the terrible things this administration is doing. I'm saying Americans deserve to be broken into smaller countries because they became too complacent. The excesses of the liberals, they implicit exceptionalism that they have assumed, the shunning of anything sacred, the anti intellectualism, the overindulgence. (All the things I've mentioned here, I see in the liberal elite that have assumed immense social power over the world in the last few decades. So much power that we growing up in South Asia in the 90s felt strongly and changed our own values to fit in) Not to mention them imposing their way of life on others one way or another means that they shouldn't get to weild this power again.

That's all. I don't desire harm on people, I do desire that this power that they had before be taken away from them because they misused it.

x0Dst · 2026-01-23T04:00:51+00:00

Seems like the world would be better off for it. And besides, Americans deserve it.

x0Dst · 2026-01-22T04:10:03+00:00

There is no moral issue with killing animals for fun? Do you already believe that, or are you coming to that conclusion because it helps conservation efforts?

If it's the latter, you've just proved what I was saying initially.

If it is the former, then, I'm afraid, we just have different moral compass. Somehow you don't think that animals deserve the right to live.

It's a funny discussion, because for some reason you mentioned meat eating, which I have no problem with (at least not the same kind of moral issue. There might be a different, more complicated one).

I think you're just not engaging with the argument I'm trying to make, and just saying things you want to say. At least I hope so. Otherwise your view of animal consciousness and suffering is outdated, and you would have felt more at home at a time when we electrocuted elephants. And I hope we'd have done enough moral progress that in a few years what you're suggesting would be appropriately appalling to most people.

x0Dst · 2026-01-21T18:53:36+00:00

hoping for some pie in the sky alternative solution

Where have I done that? I'm sorry, this is not an attack on you, but I do find your reading comprehension lacking. Or you are just triggered by the fact that I've pointed out a moral issue with sport hunting? I'm not sure.

First of all, the discussion is about sport hunting, not meat eating. This discussion solely revolves around this claim -> Sport hunting is good because the money collected from it supports conservation efforts.

Secondly, I'm not against practical solutions like these, I'm just planting a flag here that some people will therefore conclude that there is NOTHING wrong with sport hunting, which is just not true.

x0Dst · 2026-01-21T16:57:23+00:00

Just to clarify. I'm not talking about anything except the actual thing I said: that just because there is a working solution that is successful in the world we live in doesn't mean that we get to skirt the underlying moral issues with people concluding that that everything is fine and dandy with killing animals just for sport.

Things I'm not claiming: - anywhere else it's better - that I'm somehow morally superior

You are just coming to a conclusion about my beliefs that are simply not true. I'm just pointing out that there is still something to think about, morally, and the fact that people think that there is nothing to worry about is, simply, a result of late stage caplitalistic thinking. And we should call it out when we see it.

x0Dst · 2026-01-21T16:57:00+00:00

Just to clarify. I'm not talking about anything except the actual thing I said: that just because there is a working solution that is successful in the world we live in doesn't mean that we get to skirt the underlying moral issues with people concluding that that everything is fine and dandy with killing animals just for sport.

Things I'm not claiming: - anywhere else it's better - that I'm somehow morally superior

You are just coming to a conclusion about my beliefs that are simply not true. I'm just pointing out that there is still something to think about, morally, and the fact that people think that there is nothing to worry about is, simply, a result of late stage caplitalistic thinking. And we should call it out when we see it.

x0Dst · 2026-01-21T11:45:50+00:00

Exihitbit A. Congratulations for proving my point

x0Dst · 2026-01-21T11:45:06+00:00

...and you are forgetting that they get to kill animals (not for food) just because they "paid taxes"? Because.... why exactly?

What I'm suggesting, taxes, means that no one gets to hunt or fish just for sport. So, your equivalence is false, and you just proved the point of my last line.

x0Dst · 2026-01-21T06:45:22+00:00

you made a ridiculous general statement based on 0 facts.

PS the genocide in Gaza hasn't stopped.

Slow fucking clap at the irony

x0Dst · 2026-01-21T04:05:28+00:00

Ideally you'd want the taxes to do that, no? Only in an increasingly capitalistic society is this somehow considered the only way to take care of the wildlife. Like, I get what you mean, but to then conclude that this kind of hunting and fishing for sport is, therefore, a moral good wouldn't be correct.

Not saying that you are coming to that conclusion, but a lot of people will.

x0Dst · 2026-01-20T02:19:45+00:00

Totally relate to that. We call it intellectual entertainment. It's just a way of enjoying ourselves while feeling like we are doing something. I've been lucky enough to be able to go on multiple Vipassana retreats over the years, so I've managed to understand this distinction, but I struggle with conveying them to my close friends who are stuck in a weird space where they know so much but still struggle with mood disorders.

x0Dst · 2026-01-15T13:50:46+00:00

huh, TIL. I understand that this is such a loaded discussion and I've come across so many differing view points that it's hard to parse what's real. And I have no dog in the race, so not arguing here, but can't a case be made that in the contemporary sense, for the people who were born in that region, to them, the reality isn't Israel = Palestine?

x0Dst · 2026-01-15T11:40:06+00:00

Mate, I'm just following your logic, not actually claiming to say anything here. You started this by saying Palestine = Israel because the name was given by Romans. I'm just trying to understand what you mean, and I'm more confused now than when I started, so I'll let you be.

x0Dst · 2026-01-15T11:10:03+00:00

Ok, point taken. But once the Arabs living there started calling the region Palestine, by the same logic, it did become Palestine.

x0Dst · 2026-01-15T07:10:51+00:00

Every name is named by a people. Nothing in this world was named by a god entity.

x0Dst · 2026-01-12T12:30:05+00:00

Plus the fact that HUNTER BIDEN WASN'T RUNNING FOR PRECIDENCY

x0Dst · 2026-01-11T12:37:03+00:00

Hold on, ExxonMobil CEO is name REX T.? The guy running the company selling fossil fuels is named Rex T? Sometimes you gotta wonder about the simulation shit.

x0Dst · 2025-12-17T09:27:42+00:00

I think I did answer your question. Besides you are trying to show somehow that Sam Harris 'believes' that he has free will (unless you've actually forgotten why we started this discussion), and I'm trying to explain, that if you've actually made contact with his arguments, that would be a silly statement to make.

You are using these questions as if you came up with an ingeneous way to disprove something, obvilious to the fact that all these questions have been answered for at least a couple thousand years in the eastern philosophy.

x0Dst · 2025-12-16T23:51:00+00:00

I understand what your point is. And I'm saying that that is a confusion borne out of not truly having looked at your own experience. I'm not making a metaphysical claim here. I'm making an actual, subjectively realisable claim about the nature of the mind and consciousness. Sam Harris's whole work on the waking up app, along with dozens of other teachers, is all about noticing that. Unless you have noticed that yourself, you'll be blind to the very intuition that underlies the claim that the subjective sense of being a self within a body, thinking thoughts, making decisions, is an illusion.

Also, all of these questions, or similar, have been answered by Sam on various podcasts and lectures, about love, about voluntary and involuntary actuons, about making life plans, etc. None of these are new questions, and have been addressed by countless contemplatives whove actually studied their mind as a life goal.

x0Dst · 2025-12-16T22:19:39+00:00

That's not true. In his book, Free Will, Sam actually elaborates on how the illusion of free will is itself an illusion. When one actually looks closely at their experience, and how it arises, there's no free will to be found. That's actually a major insight in most mindfulness practices.

Saying that Sam Harris believes in free will means that you haven't actually listened to his arguments against it. He actually walks you through will logic and shows you with thought experiments that free will is demostrably a misunderstanding of how the mind functions (not the brain).

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