ye i know what you mean…sometimes the stuff seems to work wonders, and at other times, and with the same mixes and zilch, or the times where u were better off not wearing them at all as the girl had a negative reaction to it…so its a good thing really though, it teaches us to take advantage of the hits when they do come on strong, as it might not happen with any consistency or frequency. i used to get astounding Ammo hits with alot of frequency, but these days only occasionally. and the Ammo hit will only last in those moments and on that night, as the girls exposed to androstenone usually flake on me later. it is truly, for me anyway. 1 night stand fare. but boy has it given me the opportunities for multiple 1 night stands.
ive struggled to find a potent relationship formula though. IFM mixes have worked on this part, but often times, the stuff is just a little too subtle and does nothing…occasionally though, th4e girls have crushed hard while wearing IFM/IH/IS mixes. a314 im still trying to get the best out of it interms of memorability. none is like brutal caveman - the women is hiot hard by what youre suggesting…i like these refined rone products but struggling with consistency with the spray versions eg. 103 and 102. a314 oil is waaay more consistent but too subtle really.
Oh, don’t take anything I said as a criticism of Androtics products, they “work” very well. I was referring more to the idea that maybe I just don’t have what it takes to make them work, I am not willing to engage in the behaviors necessary for them to “work”.
I don’t pretend to know what attracts women. Confidence? Sometimes I feel like I have transcended that, to the point that many “ego-defensive” reactions people commonly engage in, I do not engage in. Certainly bragging is not something I want to engage in, and at any rate, I don’t have alot of stuff in my life that many people use to measure success- a house of my own, a job, an expensive car. Other people will see that as some kind of curse or misfortune, but it is a subjective viewpoint I don’t agree with. These things do not make you happy, but most people measure a persons happiness or success by the things they “have”, or the false attitudes they believe about themselves. I have told some people this, and they regard me as nuts, as if I were taking some kind of hard drugs, but these are realizations I came to on my own. This “truth” can make people uneasy, and sometimes it feels like a barrier to other people on a deeper level- they don’t see the world the way I do.
I can sympathize on many fronts. I used to feel a similar way. Ironically, something I’m still kinda sore about, but it probably wouldn’t have had such an impact if it didn’t make me sore, was when I got into trouble for my roommate drinking on campus, I was told, Inaction is an action itself.
This was important for me. Yes, I was not bragging, but was I asserting myself at the same time? I may have felt that by not bragging, or by remaining quiet and observant (opposite behavior, IMO, of the dummy rushing headon into a bad situation), that I was a more confident person, but in a way, that was a ego-defense mechanism as well. In a way, by acting the way I did, it was an assurance that no one would call me a dumbass, stupid, or whatever. By being extra careful, I was making sure I wouldn’t be placed in any embarassing situations, that maybe someone was trying to humiliate me, and if I kept an eye out, I could avoid those situations.
But the reality was, that I just appeared to be a quiet guy. Definitely not a spaz or some meathead, but I wasn’t the out-going person I am today. That isn’t to say that I’ve changed, well I have, but I’ve changed only in the sense that I allow myself to express myself more fully now.
If you’re happy with your situation in life, awesome. But it doesn’t really sound like it to me. I feel like you’re dissatisfied, even in your assertions of the typical ‘status symbols’. Personally, my internal conflict for some time, was something similar. I did not believe, like other people, that your job status, car, house, etc..was essential in the social worth/status of a person. I didn’t want my life to reflect that belief. So I was a bad student (school is merely a reflection of effort, not true knowledge or intelligence), and drank and smoked (the age limits are bs, MJ should be legalized, etc..), and in general rebelled against the ‘system’.
But, I respect what my grandfather and my father have sacrificed in order for me to life as comfortable of a life as I have so far. I want to be able to offer my children the same or more opportunities than I had. If I can provide for my children even a portion of what my grandfather/father has for me, I will consider myself a successful man.
That’s where the conflict lay. At first, I couldn’t see how I could become financially successful without buying into the system. I resented, very much so, that I couldn’t live a “natural” life, free from taxes, laws, etc…
But I realized I was deluding myself. The benefits of modern society greatly, IMO, outweight the negatives, in just about every aspect. People were being killed, hustled, raped, and just generally hated all throughout history. Bad shit going down is nothing new, the only thing that’s changed is how comfortably we live in between.
So now my goal is different. My goal is to etch out a little portion of paradise, with as little ties to the system as possible. Get as green as possible, etc…Hopefully the system doesn’t change me I guess, while I gets mine.
Whatever, it’s a big topic to talk about. I just wanted to comment.
Maybe true. If I were to focus, though, on the things I do not have, I would be less happier right now. And the right now is all that really matters. I think the issue is, where do I go from here? Not so much that I doubt myself, but I’m not sure what to do with these insights I have gained, and that I still am gaining.
Oh, I don’t favor anarchy or some libertarian utopia where people just “do their own thing”. Quite the contrary, I believe even less in libertarianism now than I did a year ago.
Technology will not solve these issues alone. On the other hand, technology can be used in a way oblivious to the consequences. On the contrary, I am not sure at all that we are moving towards a better world. While positive trends such as material developement and technology are generally good, negative trends such as the rise of large corporations and the influence of Wall street, the influence of marketting and media consolidation, all point in a very dark direction. In the western world there is a very large spiritual vacuum that is only filled with very hollow delusional consumerist thinking at its core, and where there is spirituality, it is often of the “magical thinking” variety that doesn’t lead to integration and being able to solve real problems (on the contrary, it leads to misunderstanding and tribalism). In Asia, OTOH, over a billion people live under capricious whims of authoritarian state capitalism. The world is more enslaved now than ever. To top it off, the world faces serious threats from fossil-fuel dependence and Global Warming, and many people are still thinking very much like children, passing the buck to somebody else.
Yeah, sure, but those aren’t your only options. I don’t see it as embrace materialism and be hollow, or reject materialism and have substance. I think it’s perfectly feasible to embrace the creature comforts of modern society while maintaining a healthy balanace of spiritual and intellectual pursuits.
Often times, people put ‘material goods’ in the extreme negative. Yea, if you’re buying car after car, sure it can get hollow, but if you are walking to work, or have limited job opportunities due to not having a car, it can make a big difference on the quality of your life. If you feel down because your car isn’t a BMW, well..that’s not my issue.
But definitely, that is the question isn’t it? Where do we go from here? I don’t know. Perhaps your answer will be different than mine. I decided that I don’t have to let my possession of material goods ‘define’ me, either in having them, or not having them. Rejecting material goods doesn’t have any bearing on my moral compass. It’s just stuff, having it, or not having it doesn’t make me any better or worse. Now..the things I do to get it or avoid it..that’s what makes me a better or worse person.
I’m not well versed in politics. I was just a teenager, pissed off at all the bullshit rules I saw. Yes, we shouldn’t murder people, but when you’ve got tobacco and alcohol killing people a couple times a day, every day, I don’t see why I gotta go to jail for smoking a fucking joint. And don’t even start with the ‘addictive’ argument..That hasn’t stopped those two, along with gambling, eating, porn, and the other myriad addictions available for our convenience.
As for anarchy in the sense of not having governments..or establishment, I only hope we humans could be so civil that we wouldn’t need a larger group of fellow humans telling us how to behave..but I know it’s not a practical solution.
I’m not sure what kind of politics a Libertarian Utopia would be, but either way, my problem isn’t really with the laws, it’s the bullshit behind it.
Certainly, but I just said we live more comfortably in between, not that we’re moving towards a better world.
I’ll agree. We are in a lot of trouble indeed. But I’m sure more than a couple people have said that throughout the years. I doubt there will be a time when everyone on the planet can agree at once, it’s all good. No, such is a nature of life, shit happens. You could argue that, that’s the beauty of life.
Speaking of ‘passing the buck’, it’s all the fault of the legal system, corporations, etc… They taught us that our ‘responsibliities’ need to be legally defined, and if it isn’t explicitly stated, we’re not responsible. There is no accountability in our society anymore. If someone dies because a pharmaceutical drug wasn’t researched enough, sorry, we didn’t know. Not our fault.
IMO, dealing with issues via punishment, usually only breeds cowards. Or, perhaps we’ve developed into a society of cowards, unwilling to stand up for their actions. Like I said..it’s a much larger issue, or rather, it’s a culmination of several, hell, multiple large issues.
Just some more thoughts on meditation. Data mentioned OOBE’s. While I don’t want to discredit that such a thing is possible, I also want to point out something that Japanese Zen monks practising meditation call makyo. Makyo literally means “world demon” in Japanese, and reffers to disturbing or horrific imagery or feelings that sometimes accompany meditation. Zazen practitioners are just instructed to accept such feelings without judgement, to neither believe or disbelieve them, having no particular significance in themselves. The purpose of zazen/vispassana is to gain a deeper grounding/insights into reality, not to travel to other dimensions (that’s New Age).
Incidentally, I haven’t yet experienced makyo. I have had some of the wierdest thoughts when not meditating.
Also, I’ve been visiting some message boards and apparrently some people experience disorientation, brain fog, or deepening depression from binaural beats and similar phenomenon. I think I have experienced a bit of “brain fog” from binaural beats, listening to alot of delta and theta waves, but not really from traditional anapassati type meditation. It could be binaural beats may have mental side effects, especially if a person is not mentally prepared.
Incidentally, I wore Instant Gentleman and 2 mcg of androsterone today, and 10mcg of TAK. I took my dad out to eat (Taco Bell, then we went to Best Buy but they had nothing I wanted - I was looking for new headphones and maybe a new MP3 player). My dad seemed a bit agitated, everything tends to tick him off, and I must have said something to him (I’ve forgotten now) that clicked, and he looked at me and said “are you on drugs? you seem really mellow today”. I think this was partly due to the pheromones, and also perhaps somewhat due to insight. Instant Gentleman is suppossed to make you “mellow”, right? It wasn’t Instant Gentleman alone, though.
Also, people at Best Buy kept bugging me, asking me if I needed help. I just told them “no, thank you”. Actually, it was grating on my nerves a little Not because I didn’t like them, but because I suspected they wouldn’t be able to help me. There was a young woman though that seemed eager to answer a question I had (I was looking for network storage drives, and she actually knew what I was talking about- normally I feel like I might as well be speaking Greek).
I’ll probably just order some new Sennheiser headphones off the net. The ones I have are about 4 years old and the drivers seem to be going.
I do reject materialism. I don’t reject material things. There is a difference. Material things are empty of independent substance, they are tools to be used- materialism is another illusion, the idea that just another bauble will make us happy forever, that a persons worth can be measured by the amount of stuff they “have”. Some material things, on the contrary, are necessary for survival.
At some point, I will have to find some way to make money. But I should not let that occupy my thoughts too much in this moment. What other people may see as something bad, I have realized through insight is an oppurtunity. An oppurtunity to learn.
I could imagine a more enlightened society, where people do indeed walk to work, though. Sometimes the poisons of fear and aversion prevent people from imagining other possibilities. “That’s too crazy, that would never work”.
Now days we do need lots of laws to tell people how to behave, many people can’t see the merits on their own. Have you been to the typical Wal-Mart and seen how much merchandise is destroyed or damaged?
I’m not a penologist, but I do believe that our society is focused on exacting revenge and has too much focus on condemning people. A judging, condemning mind can cause people to make mental leaps and not focus on holistic views and solutions, and to not see unintended consequences. Also, people tend to not take the idea of compassion seriously, believing that compassion is only something reserved for people or things you can like- cute fuzzy things and children. Is that really compassion? I don’t think so.
Today was “no pheromone day”. I sat around all day, but I won’t say I did nothing I meditated for about a half hour and played around with my new software. I also decided, I am getting so into this stuff, I went ahead and ordered a biofeedback monitoring device, it comes with a game that has meditation and biofeedback games (LightStone Wild Divine is the name). I can plug this into my current piece of software.
Last night I had a very interesting experience. I listened to delta waves for an hour. For the first 20-30 minutes, I superimposed some delta wave pulses over some soft Chinese devotional music chants, which seems to be very calming, but the music seemed to keep things from going too “delta”( it was very ethereal and I felt like I was inside the music). Then for 15 minutes I listened to pure pulses, with no music. After 5-10 minutes, I got the sensation that my breathing had dramaticly slowed. In fact a fear entered my head that I could not pin down. I felt like I might stop breathing, my breathing was so shallow, and perhaps I would die, I also realized how distant my body was- not physically but emotionally, and yet at the same time I was more aware of my surroundings that ever. I pressed on, and did nothing except focus a bit on my breathing. I also experienced feelings that are hard to describe- I want to say “paranoia”, but it wasn’t exactly like that. I felt almost like some kind of presence was around me, and I also heard odd noises inside my head, like hissing or crackling. I felt like my consciousness was very diffuse, and not tied to anything in particular.
I believe the “dread” moment, and the wierd noises inside my head, might have been makyo, I’m trying to ask some other meditators on another message board about it.
OK, here’s the really wierd moment. The night before last, I only slept for 6 hours. Last night, the same thing, only 6 hours sleep. And yet I feel perfectly fine.
Sure, if you want to assume that a society that walks to work is more ‘enlightened’. But even so, asking the entire world to start walking to work, or adapting their life so that they can walk to work is a bit short sighted. Without complicating the discussion by getting into the many benefits of being able to drive to work, and the necessary changes to our societal structure in order to facilate walking to work, it’s not that driving to work is what’s stopping us from becoming a more enlightened society.
I think it’s more than just walking to work, or any of the other ‘solutions’. The solution is really more complex I think. Or rather, the answer is simple, the hard part is organizing the world and getting everyone to play along. As far as America is concerned, we need the political system to start truly reflecting what’s best for the people and not what’s best for the politics and business. We also need to start spending a lot more money on education in this damn country. Good education goes a long way.
Well, in a way, the laws are sorta the problem, in a twisted way. I feel like a lot of people, especially parents, end up justifying something because “It’s the law.” What happened to just putting some balls behind your beliefs? “Son, don’t do that, because I don’t believe that’s right.” There is no law against kicking my stuff, but I don’t do it today because I was simply taught not to.
People shouldn’t be acting nicely because of the law, they should acting nicely because that’s the way they should want to act. Companies are the worst. They act only as far as they need to according to the law. They don’t feel responsible for anything they aren’t legally liable for.
People are beginning to act like companies, it isn’t their responsiblity unless explicitly stated, and with small infractions of the law, they figure, no big deal.
I don’t know how a society focused on revenge and punishment ends up in people not taking compassion seriously. I may have missed the train somewhere. But as far as I see it, people are taught to forgive, but now how to forgive. Where do we see forgiveness? Not often. I personally don’t see the justice system as fair, but I’m sure depending on what view you maintain, it varies.
I’m no meditator, so I can’t comment from that perspective, but I have definitely experienced something similar a couple times. The first time it had happened, it was sort of an accident, but I tried to reproduce it and succeeded.
When you’re about to slip into sleep, your breathing is automatically regulated and is shallower than when you are concious. This is the sensation that you are speaking of I think. When I was in that state, I couldn’t really speed up my breathing and panicked, especially because I couldn’t move at all. Maybe a finger or two, bur for the most part, I felt like there was a giant weight on my entire body, keeping me grounded, a couch-lock, if you will.
But I kept breathing, still shallow, but never stopped. I began to relax and it was much more pleasant. It was basically like a half-sleep. My body was sleeping, but my mind was still awake. I started to construct dreams and they seemed more vivid than simple daydreaming, more like a night dream where you feel like that IS the world.
The second time I tried this, I was able to open my eyes. I still couldn’t move or conciously regulate my breathing. I couldn’t stay too long in that state though, so I had to ‘break out’ of it. Which..is more like escaping from molasses. I literally had to unstuck an arm, trying to scream (which I couldn’t actually do), and when my arm responded, it flung up like a magnet was holding it down and it’s grip finally broke. After that the rest of my body responded relatively quickly, but my body was definitely sluggish. I found that if I stayed calm and relaxed, I could slip back into that state, I’d be able to discern exactly when I my body started to get heavy and when my breathing became shallow.
I don’t know about hearing any noises. I was too consumed with the sound of my own thoughts saying “Hmm..now this is strange…but interesting..” Also I tried speaking and I could only mumble. Even my yells/screams were only “ugghhs”.
Don’t you mean “long-sighted”? I never said such a society would be easy to create from what is the status quo, especially in a short period of time. But I could imagine such a society. Indeed, in many societies, many people live without cars. There are many alternatives to having a society that is based around personal automobile transportation, but they don’t occur to people as long as people think “cars good/walking bad”.
I do sort-of agree with you on this, though I don’t think it’s necessarily due to money, and may be due more to percieved beliefs about the value of education.
Forgiveness not being taught, that’s an interesting idea. Honestly, I think people are very obsessed with the idea of getting something back and dishing out pain when they feel they are wronged, especially in this country which is obsessed with a certain masculine image. They don’t even think they need it. Actually forgiving people or showing compassion is incredibly easy, understanding why it is beneficial is not. To quote Pythagoras “He who sows the seeds of pain cannot reap joy and love”. Anger and hate are crops that can be cultivated, and feeding and watering them is difficult to justify. If you cultivate anger, you become anger, no matter what rationalization one uses.
Depends how you look at it. Yes, , long-sighted as far as the direction of our society, but short-sighted in that, the request itself, needs a little bit more thought, or..at least..articulation, in how you suggest attempting to create such a society. How would you ensure that our quality of life is similar, if not the same or better? Everything would have to become decentralized, or..if you prefer, everything becomes centralized within specific regions.
Furthermore, we would need to completely revamp our public transportation systems. There is more to the request than just walking to work, which is why I say it is short-sighted.
Well, nothing worth doing is easy, right? Let’s ask Ghandi, or MLK. Changing the status quo IS hard, but it can be done, as we have witnessed. See what is lacking today that was not lacking in Ghandi’s or MLK’s situation. IMO, part of what is missing is a strong community.
I don’t know if I’d go as far and say that people think walking is bad, but definitely, people will avoid doing things or going places if they have to walk there over driving. If you want to let a small walk limit your world, go ahead. Some people will always prefer convenience. Given a world conducive to walking around..Imagine the entire USA as Manhattan, NY. It’s impossible to drive there, even if you want. People walk all over the place, but it’s not exactly the most enlightened place in the world.
All I’m saying here is that walking does not necessitate enlightenment.
Well, yes, that would be more specific. You’re right, it isn’t the money. It is the value that we place on education, however, how we spend money on education reflects exactly how much we value our education. You’ll buy new tires, wheels, etc..etc…for that new car of yours, because you value it. If we value our education, we need to invest in it, which is what spending more money would partially accomplish, what else is needed is the actual attention and effort of the community.
And the part about forgiveness, I suppose that is what you meant about not being taught compassion. I agree. People are waaay to focused on getting even. It’s that stupid mentality that’s seen two of the kids I went to high school with to jail for life.
I am not an urban planner, but such a thing is possible. Look at “New Urbanism” for instance. I’m not saying “ban cars”, but I am saying is that people can realize that cars are empty of attributes usually given to them in the relativistic sense. In terms of consequences, cars can kill people, they use resources that future generations might need, and they tend to isolate people from their environment and other people.
This may be true, but everything begins in the mind.
Walking would not limit my world. It may not limit a great many other peoples worlds, either. A great many peoples worlds are limited more than by what they think than by anything else.
Very true, and I didn’t mean “enlightened” in the absolute sense. I meant more harmonious or efficient, where things are not working against each other. The Chinese Taoists had a phrase for this “action without action”, wei wu wei.
Cultivation and realization often go hand in hand because what we believe is very often what we become. Self-help people will talk about internal talk and affirmations, it is the same thing. Even internal talk that is positive, seemingly, can limit our thinking, but it is better than dwelling on negative things.
I thought I’d share a bit of the music I like listening to, for relaxing or some kinds of meditation .
Om Mani Padme Hum http://www.buddhanet.net/mp3/Om%20Mani%20Padme%20Hum02.mp3 This song is a devotional chant to Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion and mercy. Avalokiteshvara means “the one who looks down on the world”, and mani padme means “lotus jewel”. In Chinese and Japanese Buddhism he, is actually a she , and is known as Guan Yin, or Guan Shi Yin, or Kannon. Guan Shi Yin means “she who hears the cries of the world”. In Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama is believed to be an earthly manifestation of Avalokiteshvara.
And also, I like Enya, although if you listen to the lyrics, they are completely nonsensical I like her piano style and minimalism. I also like other kinds of music, of course. Also, koto and sitar/tabla music can be quite nice- I have very ecletic tastes actually.
For classical music, I’m fond of Bach and Vivaldi, and I love baroque recorders and viols. I also like Beethoven, particularly the 9th and 5th symphonies.
I’m all for it, I just don’t have any idea how to go about implementing any solution, let alone actually coming up with a solution. If you’re not gonna do anything about it, don’t complain. I don’t think I’ll be doing anything about that specifically any time soon, so I won’t complain. I’ll just move to somewhere where the community does walk everywhere, ala Isla Vista
In fact, it’s one of my biggest problems with LA. Everyone’s driving around because of the urban sprawl and it’s a large reason behind the traffic, but also it just reaaally isolates people to just their destinations.
I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to the people who would rather do nothing than walk somewhere.
Talk to politicians and get involved with groups that support sustainable developement? That’s just one idea. I already donate some money every year to non-profit groups that work with environmental and developement causes.
As a citizen of a democracy, it is your duty to complain about things you don’t like, and you can do things about it… vote. Don’t be too cynical
Yes, LA, Atlanta, and many sunbelt cities all have that same problem. Even Orlando has alot of that style of developement, in fact most of the developement in Orlando is not even focused around a downtown area, it’s focused along a highway (I-4). The result is bad traffic, lots of deaths on that highway, etc. This is all an unintended consequence of a bunch of policies, starting with the Interstates in the 50’s. Another reason it is good to consider all viewpoints before making a decision on any policies.
Update: Well, I did very little today. It was actually a “bad” day today. I went to the mall with my brother, and I started getting hungry. Sometimes when I get hungry, I get a little thrown out of synch, or even irritable, and my brother seemed to be in a bad mood too and was dwelling on dark things. It’s a very bad habit with him, but today he was a real grouch and unkind. I told him I was really hungry, let’s get some food, and he told me “you can wait”, in a very disrespectful tone to his voice. In fact, I told him that again ten minutes later, and he gave me the same response. I was wearing Scent of Eros and androstenone, with some TAK. I also was a bit worn down feeling, and he just seemed to jab at me verbally over the fact I was a little slow in looking at some games- my mind was wandering everywhere. I was a little irritated with him, honestly (but I did not get angry with him), and regretted going to the mall with him. The places in the mall were packed (saturday night phenomenon- lots of other places around here are closing), and eventually we went to Taco Bell and his mood improved too. I think he was hungry and didn’t want to admit it, too.
I came home and listened to some nice meditation though, a different one (a monk in New Jersey made it, actually- his name is Ven. Nyanasanti, and actually he is younger than me) for about 25 minutes… and that was very good for getting my mind clear. He made some meditations with the Neuro-Programmer software, but I think he tends to use fewer encoded pulses, some of his he specificly has no beats, just voice and music, and occasionally, pulse tones (the music is sort of ambient style, very low sounds). At any rate, it was very pleasant.
Sucks about the day with your bro. Shoulda brought along some IS.
Yea, that’s not a bad idea. Too bad there’s more money in keeping things as is, than changing to sustainable development. A few people stand to lose a lot if the status quo changes, and they’re doing a lot to keep it from changing.
If I were to be cynical, I’d actually say I’m not a citizen of a democracy. Say, you’re in Florida..what exactly DID happen with those recounts and all that bizzy?
It is in most of these groups long term interests to change to sustainable developement. Pitting groups vs. groups is not the only way to view the problem. And the groups that don’t want to change… What are things like corporations, money, etc… they are just empty ideas in the absolute sense. These things only have value or existence inasmuch as people believe they have value or existence.
In all seriousness, if you believe you are not in a democracy, this is how you will eventually behave and act. You will not care to vote or participate in the political process, and soon you will feel like you are indeed not in a democracy. The world does indeed have problems and I’m not denying them, but we can see the problems for what they are, without rhetoric or slogans, we will be able to address the problems better.
BTW, I wore pheromones today, but I have nothing new to report on them. I think I have tried out my limits of pheromones for the moment. I have been using P-20 fixative for a while now and I think it works well, maybe other advanced users could experiment with it, we need to get more ideas.