Posts by Ashley Ramirez41

Jeremy Davis7 said:I see meditation is a pretty hot topic on this forum lately, so figured I’d throw my two cents into the ring.

I started messing with this stuff as a kid, totally by accident. And I’m telling you, anyone who gives it a shot is going to hit experiences that blow past the mind and all that conditioning that keeps our consciousness boxed in from reality.

You won't find this in any book.

It’s not in some ancient scroll, and it isn't part of any "school" or organized spiritual movement out there.

This is a pure, homegrown American product!
Just a random discovery by a dumb kid from a suburban neighborhood—and honestly, it’s the most effective meditative technique I know. No fake modesty here: compared to anything I’ve ever practiced or anything taught by gurus throughout history, regardless of where or when they lived...

It just blows everything else out of the water with how simple it is. It makes everything else look like background noise.

Sounds unbelievable, but it’s the truth.

I’m putting this out there for the first time, so if you’re interested, be my guest.

Do me a favor and try to kill that reflex to be skeptical right away. Just for a second, set aside all the nonsense you've been conditioned to believe—all the ideologies, the tantras, the mantras, the gurus, the spiritual ego, the thousand-year traditions, the mystical gimmicks... just try to feel the simplicity of what I’m saying with an open heart. Just for a moment. Without judging.

Meditation on the Infinity of Space;

Try to actually "grasp" what "space" is.
Take a second to really think about what space even is.
No matter how hard you try to imagine where it ends, you just can't do it.
It’s always baffled me how our minds just spontaneously "close their eyes" to this simple fact—this incomprehensible reality that the brain is physically incapable of processing or limiting through mere chemistry.

It’s so gripping and fascinating that the mere attempt to "understand" spatial infinity pushes the mind right to its breaking point.

You don't even have to close your eyes.

Just put in the effort and truly contemplate it.

You’ll get the strongest effect on clear, bright nights when you can see the Milky Way stretching across the stars.
Trying to feel the vastness of the universe standing right in front of you is something that will absolutely leave you breathless.
Find somewhere quiet, far away from the city noise, sit down, and as you watch the outlines of the galaxies, just let the infinity of the space you're staring into swallow you whole.

The mind, quite simply, cannot wrap itself around what I’m talking about, and eventually, it’s going to snap.
Your consciousness will spontaneously leap past the boundary of the mind to merge with the infinity you’re provoking by pushing your perception to its limit.

At first, you might just get a hint that something is stirring beneath the surface...
But after a while, you’ll get these sudden "flashes," unexpected moments of realization—an indescribable state of perception that I can only describe as a magnificent, breathtaking experience.

The "eyes" of your inner being will snap open without warning, and you will undergo a cognitive explosion into something incomprehensible and grand—something that literally knocks the wind out of your lungs because the mind just can't handle it.

The sheer, brutal power and magnitude of the experience will knock you off your feet. All you'll remember is this frustratingly beautiful feeling that something slipped away.
It was right there, within reach, literally a millimeter from your nose, and in a heartbeat, it vanished.
It’s like you saw "everything" for a split second, but you didn't have the capacity to process what you saw, so you reflexively retreated back into the safety of your thoughts.

Literally.

It's worth a shot.

If it was possible for a little punk kid like me, it’s definitely possible for anyone else who tries.

PS.
And honestly? It’s all for nothing. Nobody even has to cough up a dime.

🙂

Jeremy Davis7 said:I see meditation is a pretty hot topic on this forum lately, so figured I’d throw my two cents into the ring.

I started messing with this stuff as a kid, totally by accident. And I’m telling you, anyone who gives it a shot is going to hit experiences that blow past the mind and all that conditioning that keeps our consciousness boxed in from reality.

You won't find this in any book.

It’s not in some ancient scroll, and it isn't part of any "school" or organized spiritual movement out there.

This is a pure, homegrown American product!
Just a random discovery by a dumb kid from a suburban neighborhood—and honestly, it’s the most effective meditative technique I know. No fake modesty here: compared to anything I’ve ever practiced or anything taught by gurus throughout history, regardless of where or when they lived...

It just blows everything else out of the water with how simple it is. It makes everything else look like background noise.

Sounds unbelievable, but it’s the truth.

I’m putting this out there for the first time, so if you’re interested, be my guest.

Do me a favor and try to kill that reflex to be skeptical right away. Just for a second, set aside all the nonsense you've been conditioned to believe—all the ideologies, the tantras, the mantras, the gurus, the spiritual ego, the thousand-year traditions, the mystical gimmicks... just try to feel the simplicity of what I’m saying with an open heart. Just for a moment. Without judging.

Meditation on the Infinity of Space;

Try to actually "grasp" what "space" is.
Take a second to really think about what space even is.
No matter how hard you try to imagine where it ends, you just can't do it.
It’s always baffled me how our minds just spontaneously "close their eyes" to this simple fact—this incomprehensible reality that the brain is physically incapable of processing or limiting through mere chemistry.

It’s so gripping and fascinating that the mere attempt to "understand" spatial infinity pushes the mind right to its breaking point.

You don't even have to close your eyes.

Just put in the effort and truly contemplate it.

You’ll get the strongest effect on clear, bright nights when you can see the Milky Way stretching across the stars.
Trying to feel the vastness of the universe standing right in front of you is something that will absolutely leave you breathless.
Find somewhere quiet, far away from the city noise, sit down, and as you watch the outlines of the galaxies, just let the infinity of the space you're staring into swallow you whole.

The mind, quite simply, cannot wrap itself around what I’m talking about, and eventually, it’s going to snap.
Your consciousness will spontaneously leap past the boundary of the mind to merge with the infinity you’re provoking by pushing your perception to its limit.

At first, you might just get a hint that something is stirring beneath the surface...
But after a while, you’ll get these sudden "flashes," unexpected moments of realization—an indescribable state of perception that I can only describe as a magnificent, breathtaking experience.

The "eyes" of your inner being will snap open without warning, and you will undergo a cognitive explosion into something incomprehensible and grand—something that literally knocks the wind out of your lungs because the mind just can't handle it.

The sheer, brutal power and magnitude of the experience will knock you off your feet. All you'll remember is this frustratingly beautiful feeling that something slipped away.
It was right there, within reach, literally a millimeter from your nose, and in a heartbeat, it vanished.
It’s like you saw "everything" for a split second, but you didn't have the capacity to process what you saw, so you reflexively retreated back into the safety of your thoughts.

Literally.

It's worth a shot.

If it was possible for a little punk kid like me, it’s definitely possible for anyone else who tries.

PS.
And honestly? It’s all for nothing. Nobody even has to cough up a dime.

🙂

Jeremy Davis7 said:I see meditation is a pretty hot topic on this forum lately, so figured I’d throw my two cents into the ring.

I started messing with this stuff as a kid, totally by accident. And I’m telling you, anyone who gives it a shot is going to hit experiences that blow past the mind and all that conditioning that keeps our consciousness boxed in from reality.

You won't find this in any book.

It’s not in some ancient scroll, and it isn't part of any "school" or organized spiritual movement out there.

This is a pure, homegrown American product!
Just a random discovery by a dumb kid from a suburban neighborhood—and honestly, it’s the most effective meditative technique I know. No fake modesty here: compared to anything I’ve ever practiced or anything taught by gurus throughout history, regardless of where or when they lived...

It just blows everything else out of the water with how simple it is. It makes everything else look like background noise.

Sounds unbelievable, but it’s the truth.

I’m putting this out there for the first time, so if you’re interested, be my guest.

Do me a favor and try to kill that reflex to be skeptical right away. Just for a second, set aside all the nonsense you've been conditioned to believe—all the ideologies, the tantras, the mantras, the gurus, the spiritual ego, the thousand-year traditions, the mystical gimmicks... just try to feel the simplicity of what I’m saying with an open heart. Just for a moment. Without judging.

Meditation on the Infinity of Space;

Try to actually "grasp" what "space" is.
Take a second to really think about what space even is.
No matter how hard you try to imagine where it ends, you just can't do it.
It’s always baffled me how our minds just spontaneously "close their eyes" to this simple fact—this incomprehensible reality that the brain is physically incapable of processing or limiting through mere chemistry.

It’s so gripping and fascinating that the mere attempt to "understand" spatial infinity pushes the mind right to its breaking point.

You don't even have to close your eyes.

Just put in the effort and truly contemplate it.

You’ll get the strongest effect on clear, bright nights when you can see the Milky Way stretching across the stars.
Trying to feel the vastness of the universe standing right in front of you is something that will absolutely leave you breathless.
Find somewhere quiet, far away from the city noise, sit down, and as you watch the outlines of the galaxies, just let the infinity of the space you're staring into swallow you whole.

The mind, quite simply, cannot wrap itself around what I’m talking about, and eventually, it’s going to snap.
Your consciousness will spontaneously leap past the boundary of the mind to merge with the infinity you’re provoking by pushing your perception to its limit.

At first, you might just get a hint that something is stirring beneath the surface...
But after a while, you’ll get these sudden "flashes," unexpected moments of realization—an indescribable state of perception that I can only describe as a magnificent, breathtaking experience.

The "eyes" of your inner being will snap open without warning, and you will undergo a cognitive explosion into something incomprehensible and grand—something that literally knocks the wind out of your lungs because the mind just can't handle it.

The sheer, brutal power and magnitude of the experience will knock you off your feet. All you'll remember is this frustratingly beautiful feeling that something slipped away.
It was right there, within reach, literally a millimeter from your nose, and in a heartbeat, it vanished.
It’s like you saw "everything" for a split second, but you didn't have the capacity to process what you saw, so you reflexively retreated back into the safety of your thoughts.

Literally.

It's worth a shot.

If it was possible for a little punk kid like me, it’s definitely possible for anyone else who tries.

PS.
And honestly? It’s all for nothing. Nobody even has to cough up a dime.

🙂

Jeremy Davis7 said:I see meditation is a pretty hot topic on this forum lately, so figured I’d throw my two cents into the ring.

I started messing with this stuff as a kid, totally by accident. And I’m telling you, anyone who gives it a shot is going to hit experiences that blow past the mind and all that conditioning that keeps our consciousness boxed in from reality.

You won't find this in any book.

It’s not in some ancient scroll, and it isn't part of any "school" or organized spiritual movement out there.

This is a pure, homegrown American product!
Just a random discovery by a dumb kid from a suburban neighborhood—and honestly, it’s the most effective meditative technique I know. No fake modesty here: compared to anything I’ve ever practiced or anything taught by gurus throughout history, regardless of where or when they lived...

It just blows everything else out of the water with how simple it is. It makes everything else look like background noise.

Sounds unbelievable, but it’s the truth.

I’m putting this out there for the first time, so if you’re interested, be my guest.

Do me a favor and try to kill that reflex to be skeptical right away. Just for a second, set aside all the nonsense you've been conditioned to believe—all the ideologies, the tantras, the mantras, the gurus, the spiritual ego, the thousand-year traditions, the mystical gimmicks... just try to feel the simplicity of what I’m saying with an open heart. Just for a moment. Without judging.

Meditation on the Infinity of Space;

Try to actually "grasp" what "space" is.
Take a second to really think about what space even is.
No matter how hard you try to imagine where it ends, you just can't do it.
It’s always baffled me how our minds just spontaneously "close their eyes" to this simple fact—this incomprehensible reality that the brain is physically incapable of processing or limiting through mere chemistry.

It’s so gripping and fascinating that the mere attempt to "understand" spatial infinity pushes the mind right to its breaking point.

You don't even have to close your eyes.

Just put in the effort and truly contemplate it.

You’ll get the strongest effect on clear, bright nights when you can see the Milky Way stretching across the stars.
Trying to feel the vastness of the universe standing right in front of you is something that will absolutely leave you breathless.
Find somewhere quiet, far away from the city noise, sit down, and as you watch the outlines of the galaxies, just let the infinity of the space you're staring into swallow you whole.

The mind, quite simply, cannot wrap itself around what I’m talking about, and eventually, it’s going to snap.
Your consciousness will spontaneously leap past the boundary of the mind to merge with the infinity you’re provoking by pushing your perception to its limit.

At first, you might just get a hint that something is stirring beneath the surface...
But after a while, you’ll get these sudden "flashes," unexpected moments of realization—an indescribable state of perception that I can only describe as a magnificent, breathtaking experience.

The "eyes" of your inner being will snap open without warning, and you will undergo a cognitive explosion into something incomprehensible and grand—something that literally knocks the wind out of your lungs because the mind just can't handle it.

The sheer, brutal power and magnitude of the experience will knock you off your feet. All you'll remember is this frustratingly beautiful feeling that something slipped away.
It was right there, within reach, literally a millimeter from your nose, and in a heartbeat, it vanished.
It’s like you saw "everything" for a split second, but you didn't have the capacity to process what you saw, so you reflexively retreated back into the safety of your thoughts.

Literally.

It's worth a shot.

If it was possible for a little punk kid like me, it’s definitely possible for anyone else who tries.

PS.
And honestly? It’s all for nothing. Nobody even has to cough up a dime.

🙂

James Lee77 said:But let’s be real, nobody is actually 100% independent. It's kind of obvious how much we're all influenced by stuff. To pretend—on paper, at least—that people are autonomous when they aren't really (because they're basically being steered by things they don't even notice, like the news, old traditions, or just plain old biases and wishful thinking...) is just burying your head in the sand.

So, yeah, I'm totally with you that every adult citizen's vote should count the same. But the real kicker is: when is someone actually considered an adult?

Basically, I guess government is necessary for people who aren't self-governing yet—you know, the "kids" or the immature ones. But what happens when most people fall into that category?

Or, to put it another way: I agree, once people are truly grown up, they don't need any government at all. So, the less government there is, the better. But man, what if people never actually grow up?

James Lee77 said:The planning part isn't even the issue. It's something else entirely, which I didn't really catch until yesterday. 😳

Why isn't the procedure the problem? Basically, the whole idea is to scrap Congress and hand its power over to the entire political community. Right now, we have a system where a bill goes to Congress, there's public debate, amendments, and then a vote. The big shift here is that this would all happen online, so you wouldn't be limited to just a few hundred people. So, technically, it's actually doable. Every citizen would have their own "representative key," and electronic voting would involve everyone who passes an online test. This test would check if you have the basic knowledge and skills to help decide on a specific proposal—maybe something you could knock out in fifteen minutes or so.

But the real headache is how you stop people from faking it on that competency test if we're using the internet. I mean, someone lazy or just plain clueless might just sell their digital key to someone smarter for a few bucks. I guess that's where the whole concept starts getting way too complicated. 🤷
Quincey:

I’d suggest holding a lottery every four years. You just pick, I don't know, maybe 200 random people to head to D.C. That way, you'd probably end up with every kind of person imaginable. You'd get a huge mix of education levels, viewpoints, attitudes, expertise... basically a perfect representative sample of Americans. They’d spend those four years working solely for the good of the country. No salary, obviously—just food and housing covered. Their only motivation would be avoiding public backlash. I think something like that might actually happen in the future.

It's pretty interesting because back in Greece, democracy meant exactly that: picking leaders by lot. Based on the principle that "everyone is equal, so it doesn't matter who rules."
I personally think that's a pretty terrible way to run things.

Edward Flores4 said:I have to disagree here!

Look, a democratically elected government is made up of human beings, not gods. If people are inherently good, then nobody needs to rule them in the first place. But if they’re fundamentally flawed? Well, then any government chosen through democracy is going to be flawed too. It seems pretty clear to me that even on paper, democratic rule doesn't quite hold water.

Sure, we can use democracy to decide things like whether shops should stay open on Sundays or whether we should join NATO. But using democracy to elect a handful of semi-clueless, wildly ambitious careerists—people who will inevitably break every single campaign promise they made—only to have them ignore us entirely for the next four years? That doesn't sound particularly good to me, even in theory.

there simply isn't enough critical mass to sustain ideas of justice and democracy on a global scale.

I don't see it that way... there are plenty of critical thinkers out there, they just aren't interested in playing the political game. Most democratic governments use the media to sideline intellectuals—and if they do happen to ask an expert for their opinion, it's usually just for show, so they can claim they "consulted the experts" before doing exactly what they planned to do anyway.

Plus, there's this fundamental clash between actual ability and raw ambition. The most capable people generally have zero desire to sit at the same table as thugs like boss, Đapić, Rojs, or Čehok—those kinds of caricatures whose IQ you could probably calculate just by multiplying their shoe size by two.😁

Brian Foster3 said:Look, I get the legalistic side of it. 🙂

But let me add something here because this is driving me nuts: when you look at how people actually behave within those big corporate or government systems, they’re constantly finding ways to cut corners or just go through the motions to suit their own selfish agendas, which honestly just proves my point that an institution is nothing more than the sum of the people running the show. 🙂

Brian Foster3 said:I'm not defending you. It's the institutions that shape the people.

bluemason3 said:Buddhism is, quite literally, Buddha's teaching. By that logic, the only true Buddhism is the one closest to the source. What you're practicing might be your own Barbabiancism, which could be better than Buddhism, but it isn't Buddhism.☕ 😁

bluemason3 said:That’s exactly why they ignored the Vinaya rules... essentially, they started "zenning" themselves. Most Zen monks outside of Japan—like in China where it originated, or Korea—wouldn't do that. In fact, they aren't exactly thrilled about how Zen developed in Japan.

Of course, there was plenty of interference from military forces in China (Shaolin) too. 🤷
Ultimately, the only true Buddhism is Theravada. 👍
Everything else spread across the world and got mixed up with all sorts of things. Sometimes that resulted in something interesting and unique, and sometimes it just resulted in nonsense.

Chris Peterson53 said:A whole bunch of non-serious sci-fi writers have already weighed in on your question.
Each one brings their own set of assumptions and explanations to the table.
But let’s look at the bigger picture: if a single race possessed internal standards based on skin color rather than merit, how could that ever curb its own arrogance or conceit?
From a scientific standpoint, things would inevitably shift—because you simply couldn't ignore the distinctions between us and them, whether we're talking about raw data or massive scientific breakthroughs. And yet, even today, you still find people—some even right here on this forum—clinging to the idea that the Earth is hollow or that the Apollo moon landings were faked.
Certain perspectives in humanity NEVER go out of style, regardless of what the scientific consensus or the hard evidence says.
The human race will likely never fully accept a simple truth: that man is not the ultimate yardstick for everything in existence.
It’s a psychological defense mechanism, plain and simple.
So, let me flip the script and ask you this: what actually happens to humanity when we finally come face-to-face with an alien civilization that views us the way we view primitive cavemen?

Mark Torres14 said:The question is precise and clear. Read it again.
If you're struggling, swap out "alien intelligence" for any other hypothetical scenario. Maybe intelligent bacteria that built their own civilization deep under the Arctic ice.
What does discovering a second intelligence equal to our own actually mean for humans? How would it shatter everything we thought we knew about the self-world?

Mark Torres14 said:Let’s say humanity runs into an alien intelligence in the near future—something that evolved completely separately from us. That reality would absolutely wreck the scientific establishment. We'd be forced to tear up almost everything we think we know and rebuild our entire worldview from scratch.
The real question is: in this hypothetical scenario, which philosophical stances, theories, and methods become totally obsolete?
For instance, the idea that "man is the measure of all things" would become just as useless as claiming the Earth is a flat disc.

Rebecca Cox2 said:Alright, let's try this again...

First off—can we all just agree that us "Homo sapiens sapiens" folks only exist because of an evolutionary process driven by natural selection, sexual selection, and...

😕 "natural and sexual selection" 😕 😕

Maybe clarify what you actually mean there.

Evolution is a natural phenomenon. You could talk about "social evolution," sure, but that barely even touches the actual concept of evolution.
Evolutionary shifts happen over thousands or millions of generations...
Social changes—the massive ones!—can pop up within a single generation.
The timescales are totally different, so you really can't compare those two processes—and you definitely shouldn't be treating them as the same thing.

mistyfox812 said:But honestly, splitting everything into primary and secondary stuff is totally useless—unless we actually come up with some legit criteria to back it up.]👍

I mean, duh... that whole distinction is pretty much arbitrary, messy, and just doesn't get us anywhere.

But—and this is a big "but"—there’s still a point to talking about biological needs versus social ones. And you can even break down those social needs into primary (the stuff we're born needing) and secondary (the stuff we've picked up along the way).

Sure, if you really wanted to get pedantic, you could argue that *all* social needs are technically "produced" by society, but let's be real—the whole engine of modern American capitalism is basically just manufacturing artificial desires. So, the main difference here is really just about the timing, the momentum, and why they exist in the first place...

Bradley Fisher20 said:It’s just that primal, animalistic urge humans have to own stuff.

illegale said:Just because you’ve lost faith in the Truth doesn't mean the Truth isn't out there somewhere 🙂. Seriously, I'm a walking witness to it myself and I'd be more than happy to prove it to you 😉.

lonescout2 said:Honestly, watching a Congressional session is basically the best comedy show or political satire ever aired on public TV... if you're into that sort of thing.

Laura Green8 said:Just show them the proof and convince them it’s got nothing to do with terrorism...