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Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 11, 2004

hollowviper72 said:And what exactly are you ruling over then?

Myself.

Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 11, 2004

hollowviper72 said:I used to think people dismissed intellectuals as nothing more than outdated old farts simply because certain individuals—and I won't name names here, but you all know exactly who you are—tend to drag down the average for the rest of us younger folks... 😁

But honestly, let's not forget there are still those who actually have some life in them; the ones who aren't just searching for a philosophical substitute for their mother's apron to hide under, hoping to feel safe, warm, and insulated from all the nasty things happening in the world. 😁

Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 11, 2004

hollowviper72 said:P.S.

Alexander Parker69, if the wind carries you, can that very same wind break you? You need to remember that we’re talking about a proverbial sailboat and a proverbial sky here. There isn't a patch of solid ground in sight. 😉

I'm talking about the principle of water. You can try to wall it off with a dam, and it won't fight back. But no damn dam on Earth can hold back even the smallest stream forever. The world isn't some territory waiting for us to conquer; it's something we're meant to understand. And frankly, it's pretty hard to grasp the nature of the "wind" when you're busy trying to scream your way through it, wouldn't you agree?

Let's not take our aircraft too literally. We don't need to go *ad nauseam* with this. 😛

The world is matter—an illusory series of natural occurrences. We are here to conquer it, to master it, to subjugate it, to dismantle it, to grasp it, to harness it...

Of course, you could just choose to surrender and be nothing more than another biological entity—just another animal, perhaps slightly more intelligent but not by much—and in doing so, you'd miss out on what the human body is actually capable of achieving.

Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 11, 2004

hollowviper72 said:There you have it. Now feel free to go ahead and tear into Tao and Ching all you want. 😁

Per the request of 😁

It’s just that those guys always frame their little philosophies as if they were ancient sages. In reality, they're just senile old men who probably can't even make it to the bathroom without help anymore, so they pivot to being "deeply balanced." It isn't actual wisdom; it's just a lack of options. It's an excuse for the weak 🙂
But I suppose it was hard to survive back in the day when life was brutal. You had no social security, you were physically failing, and anyone could walk up and mess with you. So, naturally, you start playing the wise man act just to claw back some semblance of respect 😁

Arthritis is just a euphemism for your entire philosophy, 🎉

Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 11, 2004

Mr. Pes said:And who exactly is rushing? 😛
Personally, I’m in no hurry at all. Are you? 😁

Gaudrath, are you absolutely certain that a sailboat actually harnesses the wind, rather than just being dragged along by it?
Or perhaps it was designed simply because he was bored—just something to keep his hands busy, a way to find some semblance of purpose through constant tinkering? 😁

It isn't about rushing; it's about what happens when a storm hits and you realize a jet engine might actually give you a fighting chance compared to a sailboat. 😁

But since you don't have any jets, and you clearly know you won't survive a real storm, you just close your eyes while drifting and pretend you're a sturdy raft just to feel a little more secure. At least until the first real gale rolls in. 🙂

Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 11, 2004

Mr. Pease said:That’s just not how it works. A raft doesn't give a damn whether the waters are calm or rough.
A sailboat, on the other hand, is entirely at the mercy of the wind; if you hit a storm or the breeze simply dies out, you're looking at an immediate, forced landing. 😁

Honestly, I suspect you people are all just sailors pretending to be drifters because you lack the technical know-how to actually manage a jet engine.🙂

Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 7, 2004

hollowviper72 said:I’ve already made my point. 🙂

Honestly, you say this all the time. It’s becoming a bit of a cliché, isn't it? You can't actually win an argument when you're just blathering on without any foundation, logic, or actual knowledge, yet somehow you still manage to play the victim and act like your feelings are wounded just because you can't hold your own.

Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 7, 2004

Have you ever truly experienced that specific kind of hunger that hits right after a day of grueling physical labor out in the elements? Or perhaps that deep, bone-deep relaxation that only comes from sinking into a steaming hot bath after an absolutely exhausting day?

If it weren't for that intense exertion, his idea of "relaxing" would be completely meaningless; he wouldn't actually grasp or feel the sensation, and he’d be nothing more than a lazy slob rather than reaching a state of enlightenment.

And when he starts talking about the Middle Way, he's describing something quite ascetic. Just look at the rules of a monastic community. We're talking poverty, eating just one meal a day before noon, celibacy, and so on. To me, the Middle Way means you don't overindulge, but you also don't go fasting for forty days straight—though I suspect eating one light meal a day is actually closer to your personal definition of asceticism than it is to the actual Middle Way. Back in the days of Buddha, extreme tapas—this intense, self-mortifying asceticism—was all the rage in India. The Middle Way is about not punishing the body or the mind with those kinds of extremes, while simultaneously refusing to surrender to worldly pleasures. Buddha's teachings demand a significant amount of discipline and renunciation; please don't misuse the term "Middle Way" outside the context and meaning that Buddha intended. Do you honestly believe a disciple of Buddha, or generations of Buddhist monks, would spend entire days in meditation, striving to achieve what Buddha achieved, if they weren't driven by a desperate craving for liberation?

It is said that one of the fundamental prerequisites for moksha is the active pursuit of it. If you lack an intense, burning desire to end this game of worldly life, you aren't going to achieve it—so why bother? Is it just because philosophical debates about these topics sound sophisticated, making them a nice way to play pretend?

Belonging, Appearance, Sacrifice? in Spirituality · Sep 7, 2004

hollowviper72 said:No. But I can't exactly explain it to people who are incapable of seeing it themselves. That’s just how the search works.

Ha! There it goes again—that impenetrable, lofty wisdom of yours that supposedly refuses to descend to us mere mortals, these poor, unenlightened little souls. 😂

Or perhaps you simply have nothing to offer at all, save for a handful of dry, hollow philosophy. 🙄

Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 7, 2004

It’s quite curious, isn't it? How some people claim passion is our greatest flaw while viewing apathy as a virtue. Personally, I find the exact opposite to be true. Apathy simply erodes a man; it leaves him limp, drifting aimlessly through some sort of ethereal void—much like those tales of 😁 and such. Passion, on the other hand, provides direction. It drives you toward a specific objective, provided you have the sense to set that goal correctly in the first place.

I’m reminded of how folks buy livestock at auction. You see them grabbing a bull by the tail to test its spirit. The one that fights back, the one that shows teeth, proves he possesses genuine fire, strength, and life. Then you have the dull, sluggish ox that just stares blankly with those wet, vacant eyes, letting everyone do whatever they want to him. No one ever buys a creature like that, because in the end, he’s nothing more than useless weight.

Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 7, 2004

Dragonfly said:I’d argue that once he actually hit his "target," all that passion just evaporated.

👍 Good grief, I suppose even I have to concede the point to the fortune teller. 😁

Belonging, Appearance, Sacrifice? in Spirituality · Sep 7, 2004

hollowviper72 said:Siddhartha pursued his purpose with absolute passion. It was only when he finally let go of that very passion that he truly found his way. That’s how he became Buddha, The Awakened One. 😉

It only happens after you've lived a life defined by an intense, burning desire for a specific goal. Otherwise, every single person in this country would be a Buddha. 😁

The only real variable in spiritual progress—if you can even call it that—is the sheer intensity of your drive toward a singular objective. You don't need some fancy technique or a complex philosophy to get there. It’s much simpler and far more brutal than that: the more obsessed you are with your target, and the more single-minded you remain, the further you'll actually get. In anything.

Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 6, 2004

Noah Myers8 said:I don't buy this whole idea of self-restraint.😁

But honestly, what am I supposed to do when I inevitably lose my head and go all in?😍 😁

Belonging, Appearance, Sacrifice? in Spirituality · Sep 6, 2004

Gaudrath said:It’s because passion tends to blind you to the sheer fullness of existence, and one really ought to move through this life with eyes wide open. Why? Because we only get one shot at this, and there is no guarantee of a second act, so we shouldn't be so reckless as to let it slip through our fingers.

That holds true, I suppose, if by "passion" we are strictly referring to an unhealthy attachment to material things—but even spirituality can be a form of passion. After all, Buddha was incredibly passionate in his pursuit of the Middle Way.

Belonging, Appearance, Sacrifice? in Spirituality · Sep 6, 2004

Gaudrath said:Actually, I tend to follow Enyu’s lead on this one. 🙂
Whenever I need something to really sink in, I always have a Star Wars soundtrack playing in the background. 😛

"Soul alchemy" is essentially the process where, through deep meditation, accumulated knowledge is absorbed directly into the spirit itself, storing it at a foundational level rather than just keeping it in the intellect. To put it more bluntly, it’s the act of bridging that gap between an intellectual insight you've grasped and those emotional or spiritual deficiencies you still carry. It’s called "alchemy" simply because, much like the creation of the Sage of Stone, the final result becomes something far greater than just the sum of its individual parts.

Like I said before, unless you actually transition into working with metal and getting your hands dirty with physical labor, all this philosophizing is pretty much useless. 😁

njonjonjkokodak 🙂

Is moderation actually a sign of wisdom? in Spirituality · Sep 6, 2004

Noah Myers8 said:which brings me back to my very first thread on this forum.👋 just the new kid on the block, I suppose.😁

in which case, I’ll probably have to bite my tongue to keep from commenting before we all decide to tear you apart too quickly.😁

Flafonja or Štemer? Who are you? in Spirituality · Aug 23, 2004

hollowviper72 said:Some old sage once remarked that the middle ground is where the real wisdom lies. 😁

unknown 😁

Flafonja or Štemer? Who are you? in Spirituality · Aug 23, 2004

Brian Doyle86 said:Who should actually be the judge of this? Is it us judging ourselves, or the rest of the world looking in? You’ve got all these posers out there who honestly believe they’re the real deal 😁 (just high-society pretenders). Then you have the ones playing the part while being total losers at heart. Or those pathetic types who drive the true heavyweights crazy because they’re such desperate losers who secretly idolize the very people they annoy. Or maybe, just maybe, you have a heavyweight who eventually abandons their principles because it’s simply easier to drift through life as a lightweight when you don't have any standards 😁? Because a real heavyweight doesn't whine or beg; they stay silent, they endure, and they answer to no one. They don't hide behind some spiritual movement or its leaders—they couldn't care less about gurus or dogmatic rules (in fact, they exist to break them), even if it inevitably leaves them isolated from the herd of easy-going followers. A heavyweight walks alone. And let’s be honest, that isn't always easy.

I suspect you’re either born a lightweight or a heavyweight; the only real question is how much and when you’re willing to face that reality. There are plenty of reasons why most people would rather just blend into the crowd 🙄

Hmm, now you’ve got me scratching my head. I’ve always considered myself a heavyweight (truth be told, we’re all just softies deep down, but don't go telling anyone 😳 😁) , but then there's this whole fanaticism thing—the gurus, the cult-like devotion...
On the flip side, you see these lightweights constantly complaining about their "journey," claiming they don't need a mentor or a guide. But look, you can't really be a fanatic if you aren't actually holding onto anything, and you certainly can't claim to be a heavyweight if you lack that fundamental fanaticism.

But I think you've finally shown your true colors; you're actually a hardcore lightweight 🎉 😁

Steve Vai in Music · Jul 5, 2004

neonorca11 said:I feel compelled to weigh in here... let’s be honest, most guitarists aren't obsessing over these fanatics because they're writing catchy melodies; they're chasing that raw, surgical technique that feels completely out of reach for mere mortals—especially those of us picking up an instrument in our twenties. That’s just my take, though, and I shouldn't really be speaking with authority since I haven't spent enough time immersed in their discography to judge properly... but generally speaking, people crave melody over mindless shredding, and nobody actually cares about hitting twenty notes in a single second. You have to agree with me on that one!

To me, they remind me of those heavyweights in boxing—you know, the massive guys who beat a guy like Mike Tyson. They aren't there for the skill; they're just there so we can witness the absolute limits of what steroids can do and see what a human being looks like when they're carrying 375 pounds of pure muscle.

I'd argue the exact opposite. Those meatheads are all flash and zero substance when it comes to actual technique.😛

Then you have those skinny technical wizards who are honestly painful to watch when they wrap a giant brute in a knot to secure a win. The real legends are the ones who master both worlds,
take Johnson and Alpine, for example.😛 😁

Steve Vai in Music · Jul 5, 2004

Mark Wells91 said:listen closer, you absolute clown, maybe then you'll actually hear something one of these days

Look, I’m talking about that G3 tour featuring Johnson—it used to have decent sound quality, but lately, it's been completely trashed, and frankly, I have no idea why they let it get that bad.🙄