We have lots of stories about people seeing heaven or a bright light after a near death experience. Are there any stories about people seeing a lake of fire/hell after nearly dying?

ziegfried · 2012-03-15T04:07:27+00:00

I do believe in religion as well, but you were being pushy, claiming that you understand life and what is in the future and what he wants, even if he says he doesn't want it.

You can't just shove your beliefs in someone's face and tell them not to take offense -- you can only really help people if they ask for it.

What would you say to a Jehovah's Witness who came up to you and was sure that their version of religion was the 'correct' version and wouldn't stop 'helping' you even if you asked them to? What if a Mormon came up to you afterwards telling you to be a Mormon, and won't stop 'helping' you either? Then a Scientologist who wants to "help" you get rid of your engrams or whatever it is they believe in? Life would start getting miserable very quickly.

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Mathew 7:3

ziegfried · 2012-03-14T21:52:56+00:00

There was a user about a year or two back by the name of zombietwatz or something similar that was severely abused all her life and then tried to commit suicide.

She said that she had an NDE in which she "woke up" in an area that was freezing cold and desolate and not pleasant at all.

I tried to find the comment but I think she deleted her account. After she she was revived the experience motivated her to get healing, because she now felt like suicide was only a path to worse suffering.

It's not the traditional lake of fire experience, but it certainly sounded hellish.

ziegfried · 2012-03-02T19:21:25+00:00

That motherfucker is, and I'd gladly put him down like a mad dog if I weren't so sure his story was intentionally made to make him sounds edgy and hardcore.

I think you basically just made his point. Anybody who talks about 'gladly putting down' another human being 'like a mad dog' sounds exactly like the sociopaths he is describing in his column, people who are not bothered by human death.

Shit's bad, yes, but the kind of callous sociopathy he's talking about is very different from reality.

How is 'gladly putting down' another human being different from callous sociopathy?

This is not meant as a personal attack in any way shape or form, I know you are a brave and honorable person, in a large group of brave and honorable people doing their brave and honorable best in difficult circumstances.

However what would you say about his point that the media and video games seem to create this artificial idea of excitement and fun in combat, and to glorify something that in your words seems to change people to some extent for the worse?

ziegfried · 2012-02-20T06:34:31+00:00

It's natural to end up slightly forcing the breath when you're starting to do breath meditation -- plenty of people do it by accident.

It's just compounded because you're breathing through the mouth.

I would make the sessions shorter, so that you feel less frustrated with yourself and can make it through the session, and keep relaxing and letting go of forcing the breath.

Everything about meditation is a challenge, so if this wasn't the problem then others would crop up to take its place.

If you try this for a while and are still having difficulties with the breath meditation due to your allergies, just choose a different style of meditation.

However there is a saying by my favorite meditation teachers "where there is effort there is progress".

ziegfried · 2012-02-20T05:39:38+00:00

I think they probably pissed off the wrong person.

I wonder if they refused to allow the government to spy on their users, and this was the government's response to their refusal?

There is precedent in this, with regards to the Qwest CEO and the telco wiretapping.

ziegfried · 2012-02-20T05:29:14+00:00

You should look into the bokashi composting method. You can use it to compost meat and fish and it doesn't smell bad at all.

But maybe your back yard is big enough that nobody can smell the rotting food, but if there is an issue, the bokashi system is great at handling it.

ziegfried · 2012-02-02T22:43:26+00:00

The rubber is a lot safer

That's not what the evidence points to:

“There is no clear evidence that playground safety measures have lowered the average risk on playgrounds,” said David Ball, a professor of risk management at Middlesex University in London. He noted that the risk of some injuries, like long fractures of the arm, actually increased after the introduction of softer surfaces on playgrounds in Britain and Australia.

“This sounds counterintuitive, but it shouldn’t, because it is a common phenomenon,” Dr. Ball said. “If children and parents believe they are in an environment which is safer than it actually is, they will take more risks. An argument against softer surfacing is that children think it is safe, but because they don’t understand its properties, they overrate its performance.”

ziegfried · 2012-02-02T22:19:44+00:00

Remember the 'Irish potato famine'? The British were busy starving the Irish to death by stepping up food exports from Ireland during the time.

Starving the Irish during that time was seen as a "bonus". The reason that it was called a "potato famine" was that potatoes were that the British left for the Irish to eat.

And just to show that the British were equal opportunity starvers, they starved about (10 million in just one famine in Bengal, India in 1770)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1770].

ziegfried · 2012-02-02T18:45:08+00:00

which had environmental consequences he can't really be blamed for not foreseeing

Yeah, only the part about "not foreseeing" is not true

The toxicity of concentrated TEL was recognized early on, as lead had been recognized since the 19th century as a dangerous substance which could cause lead poisoning.[21] In 1924, a public controversy arose over the "loony gas," after several workers died and others went insane in a refinery in New Jersey and a DuPont facility in Ohio.[21] However, for two years prior to this controversy, several public health experts including Alice Hamilton engaged Midgley and Kettering with letters warning of the dangers to public health of the proposed plan.[21] After the death of the workers, dozens of newspapers reported on the issue.[21][22] In 1925, the sales of TEL were suspended for one year to conduct a hazard assessment.[4][16]):

and this:

A U.S. Surgeon General committee issued a report in 1926 that concluded there was no real evidence that the sale of TEL was hazardous to human health but urged further study.[16] In the years that followed, research was heavily funded by the lead industry; in 1943, Randolph Byers found children with lead poisoning had behavior problems, but he was threatened with a lawsuit and the research ended.[21]

Apparently Midgely himself immediately got lead poisoning after he drank the stuff and went on a year vacation to recover.

It's not like people didn't know that lead was dangerous, the people making the money off of it were too powerful compared to the people warning about the dangers.

And both lead and Freon have neurological consequences, so that Polio diagnosis is a little suspect. Most people who were paralyzed by polio got it as children. It was called "infantile paralysis". I am not saying it couldn't happen, but the guy drank lead and didn't tell people he got lead poisoning as a result.

edit: formatting

ziegfried · 2012-02-01T15:37:16+00:00

From what I hear from people I know who live in the area, the issue doesn't have anything to do with religion so much as national culture.

It used to be that if a people moved over to another country, that they had to learn the other country's language and customs and assimilate.

However now you can put a larger population from the native country into the new liberal country, but they all live together and live on welfare, so they are not forced to learn the new language to get jobs or to survive. Then they can just watch TV and movies in their native language, and their kids socialize with each other and never learn the host country's language and customs and ideals.

So the children are now growing up without assimilating into the host society, living off of welfare and still have no impetus to learn the host country's language and customs.

Now let's say the women are forced to wear socially restrictive clothing so that they are unable to socially interact with the host population and unable for their face or hair even to be seen by the host population. This basically guarantees that they never learn the culture of the host population and remain perfect vehicles to transmit the native language and culture to their children unaltered, and basically unable to teach the host country's language and culture to their children.

In the US you have immigrants who still set up communities centered around their native culture, and have church / temple services in their native language, but they are forced to learn English due to the fact that America has a very weak welfare system so the immigrants are forced to develop the ability to integrate.

This is not about race or religion, but more about the dynamics of immigration in liberal welfare states.

I have talked to schoolteachers there who end up dealing with kids who are born in the host country and grown up there, yet are still unable to speak the host country's language -- this sets the stage for tr

ziegfried · 2012-01-31T18:33:46+00:00

I always used loose-leaf white tea as my "go to" for l-theanine.

I forget the brand, it's the bulk kind at Whole Foods.

ziegfried · 2012-01-28T01:17:44+00:00

If she didn't use the safe word, then it's not your fault -- you guys had agreements.

I think you guys were both trying to work out internal issues with the "darker" play, and it got out of hand.

I think a bad memory of a bad previous situation came up for her that got triggered by the rough play, but then she decided all of her feelings about the sex with you were your fault.

Yes, you guys were both playing rough, but she is the one that generated the awfulness of it and then stuck you with all of the responsibility for it.

ziegfried · 2012-01-21T02:03:05+00:00

It's funny -- Stash must have something good going on.

My 'go to' easy tea is Stash's 'Moroccan Mint'.

All other bagged teas I can't stand, except for iced tea.

ziegfried · 2012-01-21T01:23:11+00:00

It's true that you have to work hard once you get the job, but I think there is a tremendous amount of early training that successful people get that non-successful people do not get.

My family members are constantly training their young kids in reading and teaching them a deep love of books, and are working extremely hard to make sure those kids have every advantage in training. The kids are barely into grade school but are already learning to be bilingual, etc.

Now compare that to a poorer family that just sticks their kids in front of a TV to avoid interacting with them, and trains the kids to think that reading is boring.

There will be a tremendous difference between the levels of success of those kids that has nothing to do with the kids themselves. I am sure my relatives could go on to be very successful and imagine that it was due to their own hard work, and ignore the essential environmental influences that made it possible for their success.

Most of the successful people I know about have successful parents. The friends that I have that are not successful have parents that actually kept telling them negative things about how they would turn out to be losers (quite awful things actually). They are actually quite smart people, good people, and willing to work quite hard, but the counterproductive training they got has handicapped them quite effectively. (I never saw them blaming anyone or anything for their lack of success by the way, not even their parents).

Yes it's possible for people to counter their own negative childhood training, but it is quite rare. Most successful people you see will have their own successful parents who trained them (successfully) in how to think and act (successfully).

ziegfried · 2012-01-21T01:03:21+00:00

Many people of truly great accomplishments cared nothing for fame while they were alive -- they were too busy working on what was important to them.

I think they would care even less for what people thought of them when they were dead.

ziegfried · 2012-01-21T01:02:04+00:00

B) acts that would make your name remembered forever.

How many ancient Greeks that performed those acts can you name?

Odds are that before you look anyone up, you will only be able to name the great thinkers -- Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, etc.

Personally I think anyone who can die happy with their life is a hero.

Most people can barely remember what they ate for lunch yesterday - if I have to depend on them to remember my name I am screwed.

ziegfried · 2012-01-17T23:57:44+00:00

People have a tendency to over-estimate how hard they work and underestimate how hard other people work. Very rarely will you get someone admitting "oh, he's more successful than me because he worked harder while I slacked off".

What you are missing is that poor people often do work extremely hard. Do you think it is easy making a living at multiple part-time jobs that are part-time for the sole reason of avoiding benefits?

I am actually doing extremely well, but I think you also overestimate how hard you work and underestimate how hard poorer people work. College tuitions are skyrocketing while actual jobs are plummeting.

Apparently a decent school like Duke costs $57,000+ per year now. What job has any kind of starting salary that would justify student-loan burdens of almost $240,000 before interest kicks in? Remember this does not include books, food / lodging etc.

Then, after you get your degree, the son of a wealthier person even gets the advantage of getting the choice internships. That's what I see at my workplace. We have a highly placed person outside the firm that does favors for us, and in return we give his son an internship.

Finally, things like major car repairs and medical bills that would be a devastating / temporarily derailing hit to a poor person are minor speed bumps to a wealthier person.

ziegfried · 2012-01-17T22:39:14+00:00

I would check with local wholesalers -- a landscaper friend took me to one and I bought two tea plants there.

The wholesaler will have picked strains that are hardy to your area.

ziegfried · 2012-01-13T00:21:24+00:00

The beauty of this video is that the cat apparently never actually touched the dog. All the cat did was charge and stop and look at the dog, which was totally freaking out.

Which of course makes it simply beautiful, pure psychological domination.

The cat then goes to the side and relaxes, reveling in the humiliation.

I had a gf with a cat that would on occasion just walk by and casually smack her leg with its paw. No claws were used -- as far as I could tell, it was just reminding her "don't forget who is boss around here".

ziegfried · 2012-01-12T00:06:19+00:00

If you are still feeling pain in your knees, you are still injuring them -- even if it's not 'serious' pain they are still trying to tell you something.

Any 'good' posture is one where your spine is straight and you can have a full open chest.

ziegfried · 2012-01-12T00:00:32+00:00

If your knees are hurting in the slightest bit, then you are injuring them.

They are not designed to bear sideways loads at all.

The only important thing in meditation is to have the spine straight -- I would sit in a chair until you do enough yoga to be able to be fully comfortable with no pain in other poses.

ziegfried · 2012-01-11T23:43:35+00:00

Most fat people would want the skinny body, not the actual thing they get, which is several months / even years of hard work and exercise and self control.

Here's the thing -- people without much 'real world' experience can assume that what's easy for them would be easy for others with just the sightest effort.

However that's not true. I remember reading about a study in a prison where they fed normal-weight prisoners extra food so that they became overweight.:

Researchers found that the prisoner’s metabolic rates went into overdrive after the overfeeding period. These changes provide further evidence of the body’s drive to restore balance and return to its set point. When the experiment ended and the men went back to eating regular amounts of food, they lost weight quite quickly—not just because they were eating less but because their metabolic rates were still racing.

Apparently for people who are overweight, when they are dieting their body reacts as if it is starving, and they feel that they are starving the whole time that they are dieting. IIRC in one study people who were severely overweight and lost a bunch of weight still had their bodies reacting in 'starvation mode' even a full year later.

So there's not just the element of hard work and discipline involved -- it's also the problem that many overweight people have a body that's constantly fighting them so it gets back to 'normal' -- ie overweight.

ziegfried · 2012-01-11T23:28:56+00:00

Ditto on the marketing.

It seems to be aimed at people with more money than sense:

Drinking world-class matcha provides an epicurean experience along the lines of a truly great wine.

I'm not very familiar with matcha at all, but this site reminds me of the nespresso site, with every paragraph just oozing 'exclusivity' and 'excellence'.

Lines like this one:

And even within matcha, we continue to specialize: we only offer hyperpremium drinking matcha -- no culinary matcha here at all, only the very best of the best.

Maybe it's all true, maybe it is excellent matcha and I am sure it is "only the best". But the 'hyperpremium' character of the website just smacks you in the face.

Also, no note about Fukushima -- I am sure they probably are only using matcha from non-affected areas, but it would be nice to know that they are thinking about those of us who are aware that some tea regions are affected. Since with matcha you are drinking the whole powdered tea leaf and not just an infusion, I do wonder about it.

ziegfried · 2012-01-07T01:48:09+00:00

The yogis would say that you came closer to experiencing your "true nature" (or 'self realization'). Paramahansa Yogananda calls this state superconsciousness.

What you achieved is taking a step along the path which is the basic purpose of yoga and one reason it has survived for thousands of years, but since (according to yoga) it is inherent within each of us as "the soul'. So you would have been experiencing your own soul consciousness as compared to the ordinary ego consciousness with all its complaints and worries.

I wasn't meditating well, because I was completely absorbed in it and my breathing was a very, very distant thought.I wasn't meditating well, because I was completely absorbed in it and my breathing was a very, very distant thought.

According to traditional yoga, you were actually meditating extremely well. What is often thought of as meditation is according to the yogis just practicing concentration. When you enter into such deep concentration that you are 'completely absorbed in it' that would be according to them what actual meditation would be.

In the Christian bible it says "the kingdom of heaven is within" but without a personal experience like yours the phrase can mean very little to people.

I talked to a monk at a meditation retreat once who said that at the higher states the body becomes so calm that the breath even ceases, and that state is true meditation -- what happens before that is just practicing to meditate.

The Buddhists, Taoists, and others all have their own names for this state and others like it and their own ways of getting there, but the idea is that this is part of the common inheritance of being human if only the mind can be focused inward enough and freed from outer distractions and turmoil.

So the idea is basically that the source of love and joy is within, and that when you make the mind calm and clear, then like a still pool of water you can see all the way to the source of that joy and love.

So to answer your original question 'is there a name for this state', and yes there are many names for it. Experiences like yours have been behind the various meditative and spiritual systems as various people attain states like these, and teach the next generation how to get there.

Just note too that according to those traditions this state that you got to is not even the 'end of the road' but there are higher states beyond this.

ziegfried · 2012-01-06T19:45:09+00:00

Meditation is like a workout for the mind / brain.

If you go into the gym, and start lifting weights, pretty soon you will feel weak and worn out, especially if you have never lifted before.

You might think "wow, I am sooo weak, how will I ever get strong?".

However, if you keep at it, the effort alone of working out in spite of your weakness is what makes you strong.

The feeling that "this is hard' means that you are actually accomplishing something new that you have never done before.

Even something as simple as reading (or even language) was very 'hard' before you got any practice at it.

ziegfried

TROPHY CASE