Posts by Bradley Fisher20

Rebecca Miller2 said:Oh, so you’d just be the moderator!🙄
That’s how it works... they just make up "official" positions out of thin air...
People just scratch where it itches...
Such massive egos...👎
I'M AGAINST IT!

😁. So tell me, where does it itch for you?

Nah. I just opened a thread titled "Middle-Class Mentality." It definitely belongs under the Sociology subforum. For real. That whole attempt you guys made to act all smart by trying to predefine our suggestions into "natural" versus "social" sciences? Yeah... turned out to be pretty pointless... 😎.

So, instead of just embarrassing yourselves all over again... 😁Hey, can we just rename the social sciences subforum to "Society"? It’d be way better. That way we actually have a spot to hash out all those sociological phenomena and random stuff that doesn't strictly fit under the umbrella of formal science...

As for psychology... honestly, that whole spirituality thing just feels like it’s pulling me right back toward it... 🙂He's got plenty of room to go pick that thing up, right...

PS. Honestly, if we actually had a dedicated spot to host these kinds of debates all in one place, I bet it would spark some seriously massive improvements from the admins, the mods, and everyone over at the Vulgaris forums...

If people actually took a second to look in the mirror and own up to how they act, all that petty bullshit—the small-mindedness, the sheer lack of class, the snobbery, the straight-up stupidity... you name it—would pretty much vanish. It would shrink down to almost nothing. Honestly, if we could just cut out that nonsense, this whole forum could actually turn into a freaking paradise... 🙂.

Alex Thompson5 said:I think this is the big one, because people constantly mix these two up. Compassion and empathy aren't the same damn thing as pity. Honestly, if you look at what’s actually driving them deep down, the mental processes are totally different. Pity... it's got this streak of selfishness baked right into it. And let's be real, there's a healthy dose of hypocrisy there too.

Wait, what even is pity? Can you give me an actual example where you can clearly see the difference between empathy and just feeling sorry for someone?

It’s all about identification, plain and simple. The more you can actually see yourself in someone else, the more empathy you've got... It’s easy to vibe with people who are close to you or just like you.

Velma said:Morality doesn't have to be tied to religion. It’s perfectly fine if it's just built on basic logic and finding some kind of balance that applies to everyone... 😁

👍

BTW, conscience is basically just your internal compass made of social values, designed to keep you acting like a functional part of society. When you go against your own conscience, you feel that gut punch—that massive anxiety spike. Because you're straight up fighting yourself.

Alright, I'm gonna break down the symptoms of this disorder I'm dealing with... Right here...

Quote: Illegal

"Delusional ideas... they're just these totally illogical, surreal, and bizarre thoughts that you can't fix by arguing or throwing facts at them. It doesn't matter how much you try to correct them because they're basically just a reflection of a broken perception of reality. The patient clings to them even harder and starts acting like they're actually happening..."

I’ve actually got first-hand experience with this shit, since I'm a total mess... 😎First off, illogicality and being totally detached from reality? That’s basically standard procedure for most people. Second, those weird-ass ideas actually require a creative spirit. Third, if someone isn't willing to ditch their own little world and let go of their illusions, they just aren't gonna do it. Honestly, that’s totally normal too. The only real difference is where you draw the line on what society finds acceptable... BTW, that crew selling those magnetic blankets doesn't exactly fall under the category of health and schizophrenia, though they seriously could... 🙂So, to wrap this part up... we're talking about a natural mechanism that just gets "misused" by an individual. And the whole reason for that "misuse"? It all comes down to society... basically, the environment you're stuck in...
Quote: Illegal

Illusions and hallucinations... man, they happen way too often. It’s heavy stuff when someone dealing with schizophrenia starts seeing things that just aren't there. Most of the time it's auditory—hearing voices and all that—which is pretty classic for schizophrenia. But it doesn't stop there either. You've got hallucinations involving physical sensations, touch, smell, taste, or... vida...

This probably sounds pretty weird to you guys. But seriously, once that filter I mentioned earlier breaks down, you get hit with this whole spectrum of stuff. Just try going three days without sleep and you'll see what I mean... Now, when someone starts having hallucinations, society just treats them like the enemy, which only pushes them further away from reality. It’s just one more reason for people to retreat into an imaginary world. Honestly, looking at this cluster of symptoms, it feels like psychiatry has the whole approach completely wrong. I remember reading an article maybe 6 or 7 years ago that said exactly what I believe... about facing it head-on and finding a middle ground with the hallucinations instead of just living in fear and running away. I'd actually love to hear from you all on this... how is modern psychiatry even dealing with this stuff today?
Quote: Illegal

Those freaking identity disorders... where you just lose touch with who you even are... It’s like you lose any sense of ownership over your own damn desires, your moods, or even your own actions... It feels like someone else is reaching inside your head, snatching your thoughts away or forcing them on you, making you feel like you're being driven to act against your will or something...

Hehe. You guys really should've tried harder... Anyway, I’d say what we're seeing here is just exposing the massive gap between the conscious and subconscious mind, and then this desperate attempt at "rationalizing" the sensation. Since we clearly can't control this stuff, we'll just happily slap a label on it like it's some kind of foreign object invading us...
Quote: Illegal

When you start losing your grip on where you end and the rest of the world begins... everything just blurs together. You feel like you're merging with literally anything—an object, a tree, the whole damn universe... it's wild...

🙂 All in all, it’s pretty obvious that once someone gets lost... like, truly lost... they start feeling this whole spectrum of stuff, like depersonalization and whatever. And when those feelings start getting deeper? It drags you into a headspace that’s honestly hard for a normal person to even wrap their mind around...

The total lack of insight and zero ability to see how sick they actually are... that’s basically the hallmark of every single psychotic disorder out there. You’ve got people with schizophrenia who will straight up deny they’re even ill, refusing to touch their meds or any kind of hospital stay they're offered. It's just constant...

Look. If we’re accepting the fact that people just dodge reality as long as they can—until they actually have to deal with it—then this whole ignoring thing makes total sense. Honestly, watching "normal" people react when I throw their precious little dogmas right in their faces... it's the exact same pattern. Don't touch it until it's critical. They'll always scramble to find some massive list of excuses just to stay tucked away in their comfort zone... Oh, and yeah. I guess when those nasty attacks finally hit and they lose that safety net, these patients are more than happy to go get "treated." Only problem is, all they'll find waiting for them there are sick psychiatrists... 😢.
Quote: Illegal

The level of denial is all over the place... like, some people actually recognize they're sick but then they just downplay the symptoms to make it seem like no big deal. And then you get those extreme cases where they straight up deny they ever had any mental health issues at all. They refuse to cooperate with doctors or any kind of treatment, and they just claim everything is some kind of persecution or punishment... ridiculous...

It’s a totally normal thing. Seriously, people... if you aren't even aware of those mechanisms happening inside your own head, you're lucky you haven't gone completely off the rails... 😉.
Quote: Illegal

Withdrawing from reality... autism is basically just this schizophrenic retreat into your own little magical world filled with fantasy, symbols, desires, and fears...

Safety...

It can show up in all sorts of ways, you know? Like, a total break from reality isn't even that common... But usually, while someone is drifting away or just straight-up running from what's actually happening, they're also desperately trying to cling to or claw back that reality they lost in the first place...

Yeah, exactly. That’s where I feel like everyone needs to step up and give it their all. Show people the way, answer the damn questions, and all that... Honestly. It’s really just about reducing entropy in a system. But you can't help anyone if you can't tell the difference between actual information and just straight-up garbage... Or if you can't point out the methods to actually get it done...
Quote: Illegal

3. Total mental breakdown and personality disintegration—we’re talking chaotic thoughts, zero logic, just complete mess... everything is scattered, blurry, or basically impossible to follow. Then there's that weird detachment where they spout ideas or act out with totally cold, inappropriate emotions that would make any sane person lose it (like laughing while talking about death)... stuff that should make you happy makes them miserable, and vice versa. It’s like their face doesn't match what they're feeling at all—they'll be smiling while they're actually depressed. You get these conflicting emotions hitting them all at once toward people, things, or whatever situation they're in. And the behavior? It swings wildly from acting like a goofy kid to this unpredictable, agitated, high-strung mess... honestly, it gets to the point where they can't even handle basic daily life...

Pure chaos. Just disconnecting from reality and losing any way to get decent feedback from the world around you.

"a significant drop in responsiveness to the environment, or an exaggerated, maladaptive reactivity combined with psychomotor hyperactivity; bizarre, unnatural movements or postures that can look totally grotesque; mechanical, repetitive patterns of movement, actions, or speech, or staying stuck in the exact same body position over and over..."

It’s like a closed loop—a desperate attempt to feel safe. Kind of like living in a bunker in 😁 Chicago.

"emotional impoverishment—they come off as cold, distant people who just don't care about what's happening around them; they can't adjust their feelings to new situations; facial expressions and eye contact fade away or vanish entirely;
the ability to actually enjoy things or feel pleasure disappears in more and more situations and activities that normal people find fun."

That’s just what happens when you drift away from the world.

"weakened will—the inability to start or maintain goal-oriented behavior."

This is the part where psychological work becomes absolutely necessary if you actually want to fight this disorder effectively. I mean, the only way to stop this cycle is to build up a sovereign personality—someone who actually has authority over themselves and strength when the fear and panic hit. Something that should have happened a long time ago, because if it had, this whole mess might not have even happened in the first place! I honestly think if you could actually develop a strong sense of self, you wouldn't feel that desperate need to run away from reality into some imaginary world. How to actually pull that off... well, that's the core question of real psychotherapy, IMHO.

Prologue

The framework I'm using to look at health and schizophrenia is based on about 40 pop-science articles and 10 actual scientific papers, plus direct contact with around 20 different psychiatric cases, 15 psychiatrists, and other pros in the field. Plus, messing around with "other" worlds—think hallucinogens, lucid dreaming, meditation—has brought me closer to the stuff that absolutely terrifies and confuses most people out there...

During my research, I got a much better look at how social institutions actually drive science, why they fail so often, and how they constantly dodge the kind of new treatment approaches we desperately need. So, yeah. I’m a total amateur here, but the info I've gathered gives me enough ground to say what I think. And hey, I’m totally down to listen to anyone who can actually add something useful to this conversation. Since I clearly don't know every single tiny detail, please, correct me. Just don't totally dismiss some random guy's theory right out of the gate...

Introduction

Modern science doesn't have an answer for schizophrenia. They don't even know what it *is*. All modern psychiatric science can wrap its head around is "that it's a severe mental illness resulting from disrupted brain biochemistry."

Right off the bat, I see the flaw. That statement just completely ignores the feedback loop between the mind and the body. Honestly, it might be more accurate to say that the consequence of this illness is disrupted brain biochemistry*...

"What causes schizophrenia, how does it trigger the onset, and what dictates the course, prognosis, and outcome remains a massive mystery," psychiatrists say. Well, here's my take...

There’s definitely multiple mechanisms working together to cause this syndrome. A classic one is when there's a massive clash between the external world and the internal one. Because the person can't successfully face reality, their personality fractures, and those standard psychological filters just collapse under the pressure. In that state, the line between dreams and reality vanishes. Depending on how wide those doors are swung open, the dream world starts bleeding into real life. The more that happens, the harder it is to fix...

Because otherwise, you just end up with total chaos. That's when a person stops being a functioning individual...

Then you've got the example of a slow personality decay—which I think is what happened with Kenneth Hill37. But the end result is the same: a collision with a superior force. Anyway, that's when someone slowly and steadily drifts into their own world. Because they can't or won't deal with the outside world, their inner world has to use more and more tricks and maneuvers just to stay afloat. You have to successfully integrate these two worlds. But this trend inevitably causes a drift, leading to that final showdown where the inner world wins. Basically, the person stops being functional. It's an acute attack...

There's also childhood schizophrenia, where the genetic material—basically the brain's physiology—just isn't equipped to process information systematically, which leads to mental chaos...

I'd point to a genetic predisposition there. But I wouldn't call it a purely genetic disease, since the odds of it repeating in identical twins is only about 50%. That's pretty low, honestly. What we really see is that certain psychological profiles are just more prone to personality fragmentation...

You can see the principle of the "power of simplicity" here—the average Joe simply isn't capable of maintaining such an imaginary world while drifting away. So, for an average person, it's not a big deal. But for people inclined toward higher intellectual spheres, it's incredibly easy to veer off track if even one thing goes wrong. It's a natural human mechanism called the "easy way." Unfortunately, the easy way is often irreversible. Heh, looks like schizophrenia might actually be an autoimmune disease of the CNS 🙂.

cosmicpilot31 said:If the ingredients are supposedly all-natural and the body treats them like actual food, then why bother?

As far as I know, you can even use a Multivitamin as an antacid. And honestly, it might be totally fine. But look, antacids don't do anything besides kill heartburn. Even the strongest antacid out there—like baking soda—isn't gonna cure cancer or boost your immune system or whatever else people claim...

Obviously, something like Advil can wreck your liver if you aren't careful, but this isn't some harsh, unnatural chemical concoction... allegedly...

Every single drug is a poison. It’s all about the dosage. If it wasn't, we'd just be dealing with pharmacologically inert junk that does absolutely nothing, which is exactly what the name implies.

Bottom line? Buy the Nature Made, sell the Nature Made. But seriously, I've got way better stuff for you, and it's cheaper too. Hit me up 🙂.

BTW, once you see the packaging 😲 you're gonna fall flat on your face.

Real wisdom? It's knowing exactly when to shut your trap...

I swear, I think you're obsessed with that phone.

Solaris said:P.S. I always thought fear was the opposite of love...

hehe. Honestly, I thought the opposite of love was just emptiness 🙂. But man, all this actually fits perfectly with the whole idea that things are multidimensional—basically, they have way more layers than we think. It’s totally different from that basic duality stuff people talk about...

Nah.

manwe said:On an intuitive level, I can totally feel that hate is bad, that it eats away at you and everything... but honestly, nobody has ever really broken down *why* that is...

Let me give you my take. It’s because your subconscious is flagging what you're doing as being against the core principle of life. Love. Toward existence, toward yourself, toward everything. That disconnect right there? That’s conscience.

But what if the people living in negativity actually enjoy being negative? Aren't they technically enjoying life?

Heh, if they didn't get some kind of satisfaction out of it, they wouldn't do it. See, hate fulfills you just like love does. But it’s cheap fulfillment. It costs way too much in the long run.

Look, let me point something out. Both love and hate feel "full." But love feeds on perfect harmony, so it actually sets you free. Hate? Hate feeds on draining others—and by extension, draining yourself. Love builds up. Hate destroys. It destroys us.

Now I got a question. Can all that fulfillment from hate actually turn into love? And if so, what's the price tag?

Dragonfly said:Hate?
Like, a mild version of hate would be: I love eating chocolate, but I absolutely loathe spinach puffs. Okay, if someone serves me those damn spinach puffs and forces me to eat them, I’m gonna get pissed at them. If they lock me in a basement and feed me nothing but spinach puffs every single day, I might actually start hating them😁.

Hmm. Now I'm just confused. If love is unconditional acceptance, then maybe hate is just unconditional non-acceptance?

However, (answering the other question), it could happen that I suddenly discover the beauty of the taste of spinach puffs. Then hate turns into affection—not just toward the puffs, but toward the person who unconsciously or consciously forced me to love those freaking spinach puffs, making me realize everything in life is relative.😁 Or I could just stop eating and starve to death, but I guess that’s just a form of hating myself, right...😁

And once you accept it, you start loving it 🙂.

bipolar says
I wonder, I really wonder... isn't the mechanism you're describing just that—a mechanism? One that can work through all sorts of different ways of showing various shades of feeling, basically camouflaging the Truth which is the hardest thing to reach. Maybe hate is something else entirely.

Hmm, hate is a feeling. You could look at that feeling as a mechanism to escape reality. But then again...

That's why I can love without hating.

Heh. A mirror of the universe. One way to explain it. Satisfying enough 🙂.

Dada says
yeah, and hate can have positive consequences too. Just like love can have negative ones. Because on their own, they're just pure abstractions, and people or circumstances make them what they are (again, it's just human perception and reacting to how things are). (God, I can't get rid of this damn relativity aaaaaaaa)

Dada, Dada. You're just missing the absolute 🙂.

zubatac said
Hate and love are linked by an intermediate phase, and that's obsession. It can happen under certain circumstances that love, even when it's sincere and real, turns into obsession. It happens all the time in human relationships.

Eeeeee. Finally getting some 🙂 RL. I hate it, honestly, because then I have to actually get stuff done. Isn't that whole gap between real love, obsession, and pure hatred just down to people being too delusional? And their refusal to face the Truth? BTW, so many people just deny the Truth exists, claiming everything is a lie or that there's no such thing... they just build these houses of cards and then wonder why they're so fragile. It’s got nothing to do with actual love, which—as an idea—is basically just pure Truth. So, from what I see, real love, that unconditional kind of acceptance, can't really turn into hate. But fulfillment built on illusions? Yeah, that definitely turns into hate. Ufffff, man, these new concepts and ideas... we should probably move this over to the wiki 🙂.

slavko said:Love and hate are just too far apart; they can't get close, let alone swap places.😎

Hmm. Okay, but what even is hate? Why? For what purpose?

Pandora says
On this earthly plane (hehe...), love and hate are actually the exact same thing, which is why they can morph into one another... it’s basically proof they’re identical.

But hold up, Pandora, are emptiness and love also "identical"? I'm asking you seriously here. Actually, since your take on philosophy seems halfway coherent, I might start a new thread just to prove it—or to let you prove me wrong. Because everything you're saying boils down to "everything is one" and "love is everything." That's fine, but can you actually go any deeper than that?

essenca says
What is love without its role alongside hate?

Yeah, true. It feels like this is a classic issue with people who view everything through a Yin and Yang lens. But first off, do you really think hate is the opposite of love? To me, it feels more like emptiness is the real opposite of love.

gothica says
Personally, I don't hate anyone, but there are definitely people I just don't like.

Have you ever actually hated someone? Like, did your feelings for someone flip from positive to negative overnight? Did you actually love them before?

mali zmaj says
Secondly, I don't think hate is the opposite of love.

Thirdly, hate shows up when our lives become dependent on how everyone else acts; when we feel trapped, inflexible, and lose our ability to choose. Because any negative emotion—hate included—actually carries a sense of liberation within it.
The problem with emotions, though, is that they are just what they are: emotions. They're irrational, instinctive reactions triggered by stuff happening around us. And you have to let them out. When we're pissed, we should be pissed—smash some plates and glasses! And then sit down and think about why and what made us so angry. Otherwise, we risk losing our compass and our freedom of choice, sinking straight into hate.

Yeah, okay. Second point, I'm with you. Third point, sounds pretty interesting. The only thing is, I find emotions just as understandable as anything else. But hey, we agree on the "sit down and think about it" part 🙂. Let me ask you about that idea that hate offers liberation. I know people who hate the world. They don't look free to me... if anything, they look the opposite.

man, what's the deal with
everyone just spill it... tell me what you guys think about hate. specifically this: can hate actually have positive consequences? and I don't mean from the perspective of the person doing the hating (yeah, yeah, I get how human nature works here), but looking at the bigger picture... like, from a broader angle?

hm, you agree that hate isn't good for the person carrying it, right? but if we're talking about the bigger picture, maybe hate makes it easier for the good guys to step up and be good... kind of like how 🙂 works.

I don't think you get it. Nobody is talking about some grand goal or target... a "goal" isn't even part of this whole thing.

aaaaaaaaaaa 🙂. I just don't get 😵.

Or is it that point where we have to give up on ourselves just to actually find who we are?
I see now that I mixed two things up—one is giving up out of negativity, and the other is just... letting go, surrendering.....

This is all looking pretty damn confusing to me.

What if all of this exists, but it just spins in the wrong direction, toward destruction...? What if it leads straight into total emptiness?

It’s not about being tired or depressed. It’s about intentional destruction, because person X thinks that's the only way they can truly unleash their life force.

You're seriously tripping me out, Solaris. Is this intentional? Just trying to confuse yourself and everyone else?

So what's the actual question here? Look, a path of destruction isn't the same thing as letting go. Like, Leb let go, but he wasn't destructive. Then there was this one guy who was incredibly destructive because he refused to let go and couldn't see any other way out.

Anyway, can Yang really only be born from the fullness of Yin? Is that even possible?

I cannot stand this whole yin yang thing. It forces this duality on me that doesn't mean anything at all.

Uffff. Now it feels like you've headed down the wrong path. You realize it's not working, so you want to smash everything to pieces just so you can start over, unburdened by all that bad energy built up.

Man, I feel like this thread is going nowhere unless you're ready to actually take the wheel.

So, Solaris, did you ever actually finish that Parsifal test?

Solaris said:maybe 😕 because he can't see a damn thing out there

maybe he's just blind?

or maybe he just doesn't know how to actually look?

Or maybe there really just isn't any point......

Look, that’s the whole difference between a traveler and a drifter. A traveler actually knows where they're headed and why. A drifter just wanders around until they get bored. I'm guessing you're a drifter. Now that you're finally wiped out, you'll see if you're actually happy with how things turned out. If you ever decide to make a move one day, you'll be able to hit the road. But you're gonna have to figure out the "why" and the "where" first. Just forget those Lao Tzu quotes 🙂.

BTW, what if you just decide to go drifting again?

So if I’m following you, you’re basically telling me that just by giving up, you somehow magically hit the finish line? That’s a cheap trick right there 😢.

Anyway, are we talking about you giving up on things in general, or are you more about just accepting how things are?

Love and affection can turn into pure hatred in a heartbeat. And yeah, the reverse happens too. But why does that even happen?

I'm thinking it's just this built-in psychological defense mechanism. Like, when someone actually opens up—which is basically how you connect with people and find love—but they end up getting crushed because the other person can't handle that vulnerability. Instead of just owning the mistake and moving on, people flip out. This nasty little ego shield kicks in and suddenly treats that person like a threat. How does someone you loved five minutes ago suddenly become a "threat"? What kind of threat are we even talking about here? Isn't hatred just some primitive reflex we should be outgrowing? Or better yet... just leaving behind?

Because at the end of the day, hating someone just burns you alive more than anyone else.

Just breathe. Chill out. Put this whole thing on ice for a bit, so when you finally write back, we can actually tell if you’re just totally burnt out or if you're being objective...

Anyway, this ties right back into that whole thing about how you know, 🙂.

Quincy:

When there's zero motivation left, zero drive, after like a thousand failed attempts...

maybe you're just charging straight at the wall instead of looking for the door? step back from the edge a little...

Quincy:

Is it even worth fighting a battle that's already been lost?

Yeah, if you find it entertaining. If you actually care about the grind itself, rather than just the end result.

Mr. Pink said:The Sociology and Psychology forums, Society and the Individual... it’s all pretty much connected and just as important.

Hell yeah they are. That’s exactly what I’M TALKING ABOUT 😎

By the way, if we want to get things moving, I think it’s best to just start new threads (like in the General section), and once they pick up steam, then we’ll have the leverage to demand their own dedicated space.

I finally figured out why that General section is such a joke. First off, none of this psychology or sociology stuff is actually "general." It’s not random junk. And second, that section is buried way at the bottom, and I don't even bother scrolling down that far.