People wonder why I don't take their advice.

[Jon]

I'm very familiar with Buddhist philosophy. I accept everything as-is but I still prefer certain things. I am a nihilist of course, so there is nothing inherently right or wrong. In the end, whatever pleases me is what I do.

Doesn't that make you a Hedonist rather than a Nihilist?

Nihilism is simply realizing that there is no objective reality outside the human experience. Beyond that, anything goes. A hedonist would say all men should aim for pleasure. I do not.

So if a tree falls and nobody is around, it doesn't make a sound?

If an individual percieves it as such.

But nobody is around... so no perception occurred by a human.

But if there is no noise, why does the deer jump and run off?  Or are you counting the deer as an "individual" who is part of the "human experience"?

I know you're going to say "but how do you know the deer jumped if nobody was around?".  To this I would say, I don't know, but that doesn't negate the reality of the situation.  Unknown != Unreal.

Reality is merely a perception, even the entities that are obscured.

There is no reality. There is only you. There is only your perceptions. Everything is a perception. Everything, in essence, is you. We are you. You are we. We are perceptions.

Getting me?

I get you, but trust me when I say you're just using rhetoric to avoid really facing the big questions.

Trust me when I say there are no big questions. My points is that things are only relevant when you want them to be. Anything goes.

It's hard for me to assign any relevance to your questions. So what if a tree falls down and that I am not there to perceive it? In the end, I can make the reality whatever I wish and it would be the same as if it actually happened.

I say release all bonds you have to your supposed reality, social conventions and even yourself. Just live, let live. That's at least, how I perceive.

Heh, in summary, it just doesn't matter to me. Why should it matter to me? It brings me no scarce joy.

[notme]

Trust me when I say there are no big questions. My points is that things are only relevant when you want them to be. Anything goes.

It's hard for me to assign any relevance to your questions. So what if a tree falls down and that I am not there to perceive it? In the end, I can make the reality whatever I wish and it would be the same as if it actually happened.

I say release all bonds you have to your supposed reality, social conventions and even yourself. Just live, let live. That's at least, how I perceive.

Heh, in summary, it just doesn't matter to me. Why should it matter to me? It brings me no scarce joy.

I hope that one day you will truly care for another person.  On that day you will understand.

Or, perhaps you will build up your ego-centric attitude to the point that you will never allow anyone close enough to develop a bond.  You wouldn't be the first person to die alone and miserable.

Your road is the road to misery.  You won't believe me, and you won't care about the claim of some idiot on the internet, but it is reality.  You can reject it as false for as long as you'd like, but if you do so for too long, you'll never be able to escape the snare you've put yourself in.

I understand your cockiness is expanded by all the attacks you receive, and that is a shame.  If people only understood the monster they were creating, I'd like to think they would stop.  But, maybe they do understand, and like you, just don't give a damn.  After all, the only one who will suffer from your cockiness is you.

You seem to be in exactly the attitude I warned about when I mentioned the Yoga Sutras.  Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

[Jon]

I love people because I want to. I love people selfishly with no expectation or sense of entitlement. I am not obligated to serve anyone and nobody is obligated to serve me.

This isn't a bad thing. It's liberation.

[notme]

I love people because I want to. I love people selfishly with no expectation or sense of entitlement. I am not obligated to serve anyone and nobody is obligated to serve me.

This isn't a bad thing. It's liberation.

One final time: check yourself before you wreck yourself.  Seriously, you sound like a recording of me 5 years ago.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Or maybe I'm right, but I know you won't listen.  Either way, I'm done.  Good luck.

[Jon]

I love people because I want to. I love people selfishly with no expectation or sense of entitlement. I am not obligated to serve anyone and nobody is obligated to serve me.

This isn't a bad thing. It's liberation.

One final time: check yourself before you wreck yourself.  Seriously, you sound like a recording of me 5 years ago.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Or maybe I'm right, but I know you won't listen.  Either way, I'm done.  Good luck.

I'll be vulnerable for you:

I am seriously considering what you have to say but it ends at an empty wall: What does this man want me to do and why?

Is he looking out for my happiness or does he want me to serve his whims? I am already happy, my current ways have developed great bonds and an enjoyable life. If you want me to serve you or your indirect goals, I can only laugh.

It seems the alternative you propose is really self-sacrifice: Loving people outside of self-interest. What a terrible life to live, loving and giving to people with no happiness, haha.

[notme]

I'll be vulnerable for you:

I am seriously considering what you have to say but it ends at an empty wall: What does this man want me to do and why?

Is he looking out for my happiness or does he want me to serve his whims? I am already happy, my current ways have developed great bonds and an enjoyable life. If you want me to serve you or your indirect goals, I can only laugh.

It seems the alternative you propose is really self-sacrifice: Loving people outside of self-interest. What a terrible life to live, loving and giving to people with no happiness, haha.

It is counter-intuitive, but you have to give up self-interest to obtain lasting happiness.  Otherwise, you only have "fair-weather" friends.  I live, love, and give with no guarantee of happiness.  In my experience, it comes back to me.  It's a hard step to take because it requires faith that there is some force that will make it work out.  It doesn't matter whether you call that force "God" or the "Law of Attraction" or whatever.  The important part is learning to trust yourself enough to take a leap.  Unless you already have faith, you have to trust that even if the universe fails you and lets you fall flat, you will be able to pick yourself back up.

I want nothing from you, I'm merely attempting to help a fellow citizen of earth by sharing what I've learned.  I'm singling you out, because I see similarities between your current state of mind, and a state of mind that used to be my experience.  Because I can give with no expectation of return, I don't have to want anything from you in order to share.

Or maybe I'm delusional and seeking validation.  That's up to you to decide, but I can tell you I've been delusional, and where I am now is nothing like where I was then.

Life is hard to "get".  There are no shortcuts.  Careful study of history and sacred writings will slowly reveal what you need to know, but the minute you start to think you have all the answers, you need to recheck your assumptions.

In addition to the yoga sutras, I can recommend anything by Chogyam Trungpa (especially "Shambhala" and "Training the Mind"), and Hofstadter's Godel, Escher, Bach.

[Jon]

notme, I'm mostly with you but the illusive aspects of human relationships aren't as relevant to me. That seems to concern you.

I have accepted that human relationships and related phenomena cannot be fully quantified. Individuals can be, given a proper relationship, haha.

I have no expectation of people either, notme, as I've already stated. My happiness comes from within. That's why I don't reject people in my life.

Love, friendship, respect, admiration are the emotional response of one man to the virtues of another, the spiritual payment given in exchange for the personal, selfish pleasure which one man derives from the virtues of another man’s character. Only a brute or an altruist would claim that the appreciation of another person’s virtues is an act of selflessness, that as far as one’s own selfish interest and pleasure are concerned, it makes no difference whether one deals with a genius or a fool, whether one meets a hero or a thug, whether one marries an ideal woman or a slut.

Anyways, I appreciate the links to literature. I'll certainly enjoy these. Thank you, friend.
 

[kokjo]

okey, the first one was good. please stop now. make a thread!

[Matthew N. Wright]

okey, the first one was good. please stop now. make a thread!

Too late. Already posted it like 20 times. I'll make a thread now though.

[sgravina]

That's not the average man.  First off half of all men are women.   So the average man is sexually indeterminate.

Here is the average man.

>Man is born.
>Man dies.

Here is a particular man, average in many ways but not all.

>Man is born.
>Man is me.  Awesome!
>Man is not dead.  So far so good.