Posts by Benjamin Taylor6

casualtiger2 said:As above, so below.
What you see on the outside is exactly what's going on inside.
And honestly? The grammar—and the logic—is just as messy.

Maybe just send him to a basic grammar workshop—seriously. It’s like they didn't even try. Just look at what happened to that fisherman they sent over there:
I was reading through this piece earlier—it’s one of those stories that just gets under my skin because of how much unnecessary friction it creates—about that whole mess involving the local transit authorities and the budget disputes. Honestly, it’s the same old song and dance we see in cities like Chicago or Philly every single year. You have these bureaucrats sitting around, arguing over pennies while the actual infrastructure is basically held together by duct tape and prayers, and then they wonder why everyone is so frustrated. It reminds me of this time back when I was trying to navigate the subway system during a blizzard—total chaos, mind you—and all I could think about was how much money was being funneled into "administrative oversight" instead of actually fixing the tracks. It’s a systemic issue, really. We see it constantly in America; there’s this massive gap between what the public needs and what the decision-makers prioritize. They get caught up in these little power struggles—much like the arguments Benjamin Taylor6 was having on the forums the other day regarding municipal spending—and the average person just ends up stuck at a bus stop in the rain. The article touches on the tension between the council and the department heads, which is just... predictable. It’s always about who gets to hold the pen when the checks are signed. There's no vision, just a constant tug-of-war over existing resources. If we spent half as much energy on actual solutions as we do on these political posturing matches, we might actually have a functional system for once. But hey, that's probably asking too much from people whose primary job is to manage bureaucracy rather than progress.

It’s one of those stories that sounds like a total fabrication, but I kid you not—it actually happened. A fishmonger over in Boston got slapped with a fine of over 1,100 bucks just because he wouldn't stick to the "proper" way of labeling his catch. This guy isn't some amateur, either; he’s a seasoned fisherman who knows his stuff inside and out. He had these handwritten signs posted out front of his shop, using the local dialectal names for the fish he was selling—you know, the kind of terms people actually use when they're standing on the docks. So, he’s got signs up for fresh sardines and red seabream, written exactly how anyone in the neighborhood would say them. Well, everything goes sideways when an inspector from the local port authority rolls by for a routine check. Instead of looking at the quality of the fish—which, let's be honest, is what actually matters—this official zeroes in on the signage. Apparently, according to the strict rules of the books, you have to use the standardized, formal names for everything. So, instead of the local terms for sardines and seabream, this inspector insists he should have used the textbook versions. It’s absolutely absurd—getting penalized for speaking the language of the community he serves. It makes you wonder where the hell we're headed when bureaucracy starts policing common sense and local tradition like this.

And then, after all that, you’ll end up with a brand-new spiritual leader—someone who actually knows what they're talking about. Heck, maybe he'll even be a fisherman.
So, I was walking along the coast by the Mediterranean Sea the other day—just one of those long, winding strolls where you end up thinking way too much about things—when I spotted these two brothers. They were out there working the water, just two fishermen casting their nets into the surf. One was Simon called Peter, and his brother was Andrew. Suddenly, this man approaches them and says, "Come with me, and I’ll make you fishers of men!" It was such a heavy moment, honestly. And without even a second thought—no hesitation, no checking their schedules or worrying about the gear they were leaving behind—they just dropped everything and followed him. Just like that. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? How many times do we pass up a life-changing opportunity because we're too busy tending to our own little nets?

😁

ambercrane722 said:I'm talking Freemasonry, Nietzsche’s whole Ubermensch vibe, and those ancient Egyptian pyramid mysteries. Where can I actually find deep dives on this stuff? Yeah, okay, I've skimmed through all kinds of random junk online, but I'm looking for actual, substantial quotes and heavy reading on the subject.

Take it one step at a time—no need to rush through things. After all, it’s already written down right here:

So, there was this one guy—just a regular person, really—who was absolutely fed up with the daily grind of suffering. He reached that breaking point where you just can't take the mental noise anymore, you know? He wanted to transcend all that petty, everyday misery and reach some kind of higher state of consciousness—something profound, something real. So, naturally, he decided to head out to a Buddhist temple, searching for a teacher who might actually have the answers to help him navigate his way out of the chaos.

When he finally sat down with the teacher, he didn't beat around the bush—he just went straight for it: "Look, Master, if I commit to four hours of meditation every single day, how long is it actually going to take me to reach that higher state of consciousness?"

The teacher just gives him this look—you know the one, that patronizing, "I've seen it all" stare—and says, "Look, if you manage to meditate for four hours every single day, maybe, just maybe, you might actually ascend to a higher state of consciousness in ten years." Ten years! It’s almost funny how they frame it—as if enlightenment is some kind of slow-motion marathon where you get a participation trophy after a decade of sitting on your butt. It reminds me of this guy I knew back in Seattle who spent years trying to master some obscure breathing technique... absolute waste of time if you ask me.

Thinking he could actually squeeze a bit more out of the experience, the guy goes ahead and asks—with that typical, misguided confidence we all get sometimes—"Oh, Master, what if I commit to meditating eight hours a day? How long would it take me to reach a higher state of consciousness?"

The teacher just looked him dead in the eye and said—with that sort of terrifyingly calm certainty—"Look, if you can manage to sit there and meditate for eight hours every single day, then maybe, just maybe, you might actually ascend to a higher state of consciousness... in about twenty years." Twenty years! It’s almost funny how we always expect these instant breakthroughs, isn't it? We want the life-changing epiphany by next Tuesday, but real growth is more like waiting decades for a slow-moving train in Chicago.

"But why on earth would I need more time just because I decide to meditate longer?" a man once asked me—and honestly, it’s one of those questions that makes you want to sit down and explain the entire philosophy of existence right then and there. It sounds simple, doesn't it? Like, if I spend an extra twenty minutes sitting on my yoga mat instead of rushing off to grab a coffee at Starbucks, how does that change the math of my day? But life isn't a linear equation, and neither is the mind. It’s more like trying to untangle a massive knot of fishing line—the more you pull, the tighter it gets—so you have to slow down to actually find the loose ends. It’s about depth, not just duration.

The teacher put it this way—and I really think we need to sit with this for a second—he said, "You didn't come here to sacrifice your joy or your very life. You’re here to actually live, to find happiness, and to love." It sounds simple, right? But man, it’s easy to get lost in the grind. He went on to say that if you push yourself to the limit during a two-hour meditation session, but then decide to force yourself through eight hours just because you think more is better, all you're doing is burning yourself out. You'll miss the entire point and end up hating the process. Just give it your all in the moment, and maybe—just maybe—you'll realize that regardless of how long you spend sitting there, the whole goal was always to be able to go out and live, love, and be happy anyway. It's about balance, not just mindless endurance.

ruggedmaker2 said:Look, a buddy of mine is in a real bind right now—his entire paycheck is basically being swallowed by loan payments. It’s brutal. But, thank God for the laws we have, because they can't actually seize his whole check; legally, they can only garnish up to one-third of it. The rest has to go straight into a protected account. From there, he manages what's left to cover any other debts he's juggling. It's a tightrope walk, honestly.
Look, when those loan payments get snatched straight out of a paycheck based on some official paperwork, that’s basically a wage garnishment. Plain and simple. So, your buddy actually has every right to set up a protected account. He just needs to head down to the IRS, show them the actual documents they're using to garnish his wages, and demand it. Once he proves that's what's happening, they should be opening that protected account for him without any more hassle.

Here is some insight a lawyer gave me regarding this whole mess:

If you sign a loan agreement that carries the weight of an enforceable instrument (or even an execution order), you don't automatically have the right to open a protected account. That only becomes possible once a court or a notary issues an official garnishment order based on that loan agreement, and then the court or the bank forwards that paperwork to the IRS.

Now, when someone is taking out a mortgage, they usually provide other
security instruments—like promissory notes—which allow the bank to execute a garnishment on the account without waiting
for a formal court order. But even in that scenario, the bank is the one
submitting the note to the IRS, and naturally, they only do that if the borrower stops paying.
It is also entirely possible that the bank will ask him to sign a voluntary
wage garnishment authorization, which allows them to pull directly from his pay if
he defaults on the loan.

If he wants to make sure this new loan takes priority over any later garnishments,
he might need to work something out with the bank to sign a wage garnishment statement
that gets sent straight to the employer immediately. However—and this is the catch—he would likely need to
miss a couple of payments first. See, a bank can't just seize assets
in violation of the loan contract itself (and those contracts usually specify exactly how many
consecutive missed payments are required before the bank can activate the notes, the wage authorizations,
or trigger a full legal garnishment, etc.).

rowdyraven112 said:Your entire paycheck is going toward credit?
That looks just like this:
An administrative freeze is hitting my credit limit, and it’s being enforced by a private firm, not the IRS. Since I'm short on cash, I've been cycling through credit cards just to stay afloat—to the point where there's absolutely nothing left from my paycheck. What am I supposed to do?
How close am I to the truth?

There’s a way out, you just have to Google it. The real issue is that administrative freeze, which can only be bypassed by filing an enforcement action for unpaid child support. There are plenty of articles online advising people how to handle this. Basically, half the paycheck goes to the ex, and the other half sits in a protected account. A friend could go to a notary and swear a statement claiming he was basically a "deadbeat" who walked away when the kid was born, effectively acknowledging the debt from unpaid support. According to our brilliant legal system, once that statement is made, the statute of limitations on those unpaid payments resets. The beauty of the American judicial system? It doesn't care about "justice," it only cares about the letter of the law. Any judge will rule that a debt exists if the parent agrees they owe it. Here's the kicker: in that statement, you can specify any amount you want—not just the legal minimum. Once the child has a final judgment, they can file for enforcement and put a lien on the property. The only catch? If there's already a lien on the house, you're stuck.
I've been digging through the legal codes, but I can't find any specific section stating that an official notice based on unpaid child support takes precedence over all other liens or garnishments. So, I’ll just ask: is that actually a thing? Don't give me any of that "it's implied" nonsense—I'm not buying it. If it's true, I want the Law and the specific Article. My eyes are starting to cross from staring at this screen all day.

Another perk of our legal system? If that first lien exceeds the actual value of the property, the "lienholder" can actually petition to have full ownership of the unit transferred to them. When that happens, all the other secondary liens just get wiped out as uncollectible. So, even if a big bank tries to start their own foreclosure process, they might find themselves left empty-handed.

Exactly. He told me that if he opens a protected account, he'll run into trouble with his company, because they are the ones redirecting his funds to pay off his loans instead of depositing them into his account.
I was giving him some advice regarding a divorce scenario—specifically, having his adult daughter sue him. He had all the ingredients ready: the mother isn't working and she's basically bankrupt, owing money like she's living in Greece. Meanwhile, he's got his whole salary tied up in loans. But somehow, they managed to scrape by because his wife was selling excursion tickets illegally on the beaches.
Anyway, his wife transferred half of her small house to their daughter a while back just to make sure the girl wouldn't be left destitute. I think she's safe now since it's been exactly three years.

P.S

Something very important!

In a few months, my friend will only have one loan left. There’s some cash sitting in his sister's account from the sale of their mother's apartment, and he holds power of attorney.
He’s thinking about buying a studio apartment for himself, but he’d buy it through his daughter as a co-signer so that she is technically the owner.
He would then try to pay the monthly installments from his unprotected income. But the snag is that he’s also a guarantor for his wife's loan, and her business has completely tanked. If the bank decides to call in his guarantee, will they have priority over the payment, or will a fresh mortgage take precedence?

I suggested to him that he could claim the money from his sister was just a loan to help him survive, and they could even draft a contract to back that up, stating he has to pay her back one day. Then, he could withdraw the full amount all at once and formally buy the apartment for his daughter. He wouldn't actually pay the sister back formally, so if she ever sued him for fraud, he could argue he was just paying her back for food and living expenses, not for the money used to provide housing for his daughter. If the sister's lawsuit moved faster than the bank's, the bank where he's a guarantor might have to back off.
And on top of all that, the bank can't even pin a fraud charge on them because they had this whole verbal agreement—it’s all very unofficial—where one sister takes control of the apartment, sells it, and then splits the cash. They felt forced into this little scheme because there's another sister involved who survives entirely on government assistance in public housing. It would be a total disaster for her if she suddenly showed up with 20,000 USD in her account from the sale of her late mother's place. She’d lose every cent of her social security benefits instantly. (Just to be clear, the money isn't being split openly; the sister who took over and sold the unit actually uses two different accounts at two separate banks—one where her brother holds power of attorney, and another where the other sister holds hers—so legally speaking, they aren't the owners, just the ones pulling the strings.)

ruggedmaker2 said:Look, a buddy of mine is in a real bind right now—his entire paycheck is basically being swallowed by loan payments. It’s brutal. But, thank God for the laws we have, because they can't actually seize his whole check; legally, they can only garnish up to one-third of it. The rest has to go straight into a protected account. From there, he manages what's left to cover any other debts he's juggling. It's a tightrope walk, honestly.
Look, when those loan payments get snatched straight out of a paycheck based on some official paperwork, that’s basically a wage garnishment. Plain and simple. So, your buddy actually has every right to set up a protected account. He just needs to head down to the IRS, show them the actual documents they're using to garnish his wages, and demand it. Once he proves that's what's happening, they should be opening that protected account for him without any more hassle.

The whole thing feels incredibly sketchy to me. Either he’s just being totally incompetent and they refused to let him open the protected account, or what???!!!
To make matters worse, there’s another massive disaster looming on the horizon. He acted as a guarantor for his wife’s tour boat business. That boat has been sitting high and dry at a dry dock for five years now. As for her? She bolted to France to work as a housekeeper in some villa—off the books, obviously. If only the creditors weren't breathing down his neck.
Now, he’s staring down a $20,000 garnishment because he signed as a guarantor for her.
He’s trying to dodge this hit because some young lawyer told him his current loans aren't "primary" since they supposedly aren't under a direct court order.
The theory is that if the garnishment hits him as a guarantor, it becomes the primary debt, which would theoretically freeze his ability to pay the other loans.

So, it turns out the initial assumption was wrong—he *can* open a protected account. Mind you, he’d still be paying all three of his current loans out of his full salary. Two of them are ending soon, but one has five years left. So, the plan is to open the protected account, clear the two expiring loans, and then he'll be left with just that one remaining loan, which can be paid out of his regular, unprotected account. Once the garnishment as a guarantor kicks in, he'll essentially be in a state of financial limbo for five years. He’s banking on the idea that the bank will eventually give up on chasing him through the courts for the full five-year stretch.

He also thinks that once those two loans expire, he could take out a smaller mortgage. But here's the twist: he’d be a co-signer on a place his daughter buys in her own name, though it's intended for him to live in.
(Just so they don't seize his property.)
Now we hit a second snag: he’ll technically have a mortgage on a house that isn't his, but his daughter's. And that monthly payment will come out of his unprotected account (plus whatever trickles over from the protected one).
Is it possible for a creditor, who can't get their money because he's prioritizing his daughter's mortgage as a co-signer, to sue him using a fraudulent conveyance claim!!???

It’s a very specific mess: the creditor can't collect because the debtor is busy paying off a mortgage for his daughter as a co-signer. And they can't touch the house because it belongs to the daughter and it's already under mortgage.

Naturally, my friend wants to take out this mortgage over as many years as possible (he’s 58, after all), so the bank chasing him as a guarantor would have to wait 15 or 20 years. ( ....provided the people aren't older than 75 when the final payment is due.
And in that time... well, who knows who's still standing!

(By the way, the guy received some cash after his mother passed away, but he's keeping it in his sister's account—he has power of attorney—because he's terrified of that garnishment hitting him as a guarantor.)
So, my advice to him is to close out the current credit, use the leftover cash to get that mortgage, but do it as a co-signer for his daughter on her place, ensuring he has a life estate or the right to live there for as long as he lives.
I just don't know if the bank could still come after him with a fraudulent conveyance lawsuit since he's effectively transferring his wealth to his daughter instead of them—even if he's doing it via installments rather than all at once!!!

Brandon Hill8 said:If the company has been liquidated, then no—it doesn't exist anymore.

Look, if a company has been liquidated, your only move left is a private lawsuit against the former owners or the management board. But there's a catch—you need SERIOUS EVIDENCE that the firm was funneling money directly into their own private pockets or somewhere similar.
And let me tell you, proving that is a total nightmare. Especially here in the USA.

That said, some people aren't taking any chances and will even hire private investigators to dig through the mess:
http://www.detektiv-mreza.com/Lovci_na_ljubavnike.pdf

I actually have a question for the group:

A friend of mine—who basically lives paycheck to paycheck because his entire salary goes toward loan payments—wanted to set up a protected account. His wife just lost her job, and he’s struggling to keep up with all the credit obligations.
The folks over at the IRS told him he couldn't even open that kind of account without official paperwork regarding a foreclosure or seizure!!??
It sounds completely backwards to me—as if he's supposed to default on a loan first, wait for the bank to sue him and trigger a legal seizure, and *only then* can he head down to the IRS?!!!
That logic is just... well, it's nonsensical, isn't it?

Lisa Morales4 said:It seems like people are being molded by those in power just like any other tool, and then right when they think they’ve finally achieved perfect compliance, everything falls apart—leaving them right back where they started, shackled once again. 😍

After all my years hanging out on this forum, I’ve developed a bit of an intuition about the people here. It feels like many of you have spent your real lives being bullied by those in positions of power. I suppose that’s why we all instinctively gravitate toward strong, dominant personalities; it’s just a natural byproduct of that ongoing struggle for control. For some, it’s vital to ensure their position at the top of the pyramid remains unshakable above everyone else, and for me, it’s much the same—I just want to make sure my own light stays steady and bright, serving as a testament to the sheer scale and strength of my own authority.

I’m just a little confused here—who exactly gave you or Krene the authority to whip up this socialist propaganda cream?
Was it the same authority figure—the one whose very name was used to justify consuming their own children—or were you simply defying them just for the sake of being difficult? Either way, it seems obvious that you both took those authorities far too personally, all while sacrificing yourselves on the altars of false gods. 🙂
Oh, you poor souls lost out there in the wilderness without a compass—come find me. Come here so you can actually start living, or better yet, start thinking for yourselves. It’s time to stop sleepwalking through life and blindly waving the flags of whoever happens to be in charge. What kind of existence is that, anyway? To have no real agency, where you can't even choose which brand of toilet paper to buy because you're staring at a massive selection you simply can't afford? That’s exactly why I moved halfway across the world to the States. 😍
Next time I need to get my paperwork sorted in Chicago or Seattle, I know exactly who to call. 😬

My closest communist relatives:

Just to be clear, I lived abroad for two years straight, and then spent summers doing the same. But even during the height of socialism, I used to sing:

Lisa Morales4 said:Don't you think both the old regime and the current one are cut from the same cloth? They both represent that classic authoritarianism—a system of mindless obedience that felt "perfect, singular, and indispensable" right up until the moment the party elites' grandchildren were being taken care of by Hollywood standards.

It was a time when personal spiritual growth was trampled underfoot, replaced by an eight-day vacation at some state-run resort by the Atlantic if you were lucky enough to afford it, or just using your meager vacation pay to buy shoes for your kid for the new school year—where you could actually travel wherever you wanted without needing a permit, unlike people in the Soviet Union who needed permission just to shop in Leningrad instead of Moscow.

Truly, the depth of one's spiritual life seemed directly tied to how close they lived to the center of power—whether that was DC or somewhere closer to the coast—even if people did make trips to Istanbul or Bucharest. Meanwhile, those fancy concerts and shopping trips in Vienna were strictly reserved for the "reliable" party members and their kids, who are about as independent as someone living under a government-subsidized roof today.

p.s.
Back in 1979, I remember listening to a priest's sermon: "Brothers in faith, we must fight all forms of atheism. Even if that atheism is painted red."

But the priest didn't end up in handcuffs.

It wasn't because he was safe; it was because there was no one left to snitch to. The authorities were already busy padding their offshore bank accounts, and the ones left behind were just waiting for the curtain to fall.
... ... .. That was when the tragedy of fifty years of stifled spiritual growth finally hit home. You saw the true psychology of the masses: a crowd where individuals exist only to act on instinct—to lash out, to run, or to dump their problems on someone else's doorstep.

Hmm, such authority usually demands such obedience.

Furthermore, the impact of that brainwashing was so profound that even today, many still can't
even grasp what I was saying on the previous page of this thread, let alone begin to apply what I described as the practices for a functional society—principles based on the universal moral and spiritual (Christian) values of our modern era.
Values that view a human being as a dignified individual who requires no authority other than those principles.

Please, read over what I listed above again, and through that lens, observe with the same scrutiny— your own actions, the actions of a three-year-old child, the decisions of a school principal, the moves of your politicians when they're updating the city's bus fleet, or even your President when he took his son (who, by the way, isn't even disabled and doesn't need a stroller) on an official trip to America.

Every person is given equal authority and an equal obligation of respect toward others and toward themselves by God.

Where people refuse to acknowledge the truth, or simply choose to look the other way... that’s where things go south.

People during the socialist era actually held each other to strict standards. Even the big shots were called out: "Comrades, I noticed that Comrade Mika Špiljak put copper roofing on his weekend cabin. Such a waste of resources isn't fitting for a true member of the party."

Basically, the old system wanted to create this:

But they tried to force it!

"Money is never a blessing—it’s just a constant headache, whether you’re swimming in it or scraping by. People all over the globe, regardless of their bank balance, are slowly waking up and gravitating toward intentional communities like this one. You can see how many people are chasing true fulfillment through movements like the New Earth Project. It was a group that released a video proposing the creation of independent, self-sustaining communities worldwide—communities that wouldn't rely on the government—and once that video went viral, the response was overwhelming. It wasn't just folks wanting to move in; we saw thousands of people offering to donate money, land, houses, entire estates... anything to support the vision. For a lot of people, money is losing its grip, and they're finally realizing that happiness and genuine human connection are the actual point of living, not what kind of luxury car you're driving," Maja explained during her interview with an American news outlet.

She noted that the Ubuntu community, which operates out of Africa, is structured so that volunteers generally stay for about three months at most.
"There’s no rush there—none. Whatever responsibilities you have, they just sort themselves out. Plus, the people surrounding you radiate such positive energy and love. It gives you instant motivation to get things done. There aren't these rigid nine-to-five shifts, either. We’d go on excursions, host guests, or sometimes spend days straight focused on specific projects—like digging and building wells. Personally, I spent my time growing vegetables. It’s something I truly love. I work with organic farming and permaculture, which is incredibly fascinating work," added the woman from Alabama.


Regarding leadership, Lao Tzu wrote:

17. On Governance

When the perfect leaders arise, the people barely notice them,
when the slightly better ones arise, people praise and love them,
when the mediocre ones arise, people fear them,
and when the worst ones arise, people despise them.

Only when there is trust in the Divine,
does trust among the people grow.

The leader does not use empty words;
every action leads to fulfillment.
And the people say: "We did this ourselves!"

Lisa Morales4 said:To be fair, having half a century of absolute communist rule (is there any better example of total control and forced obedience?) left deep scars on the American soul: sing this song, don't sing that one, clap now, show affection here, procreate there, but stay away from this, and stay away from that. If you aren't compliant, you're out in the cold; if you aren't obedient, they'll be eavesdropping on your conversations; and if you aren't a loyal follower, they'll find a way to shut you down or freeze you out. It goes on and on.

That didn't stop me from succeeding, though. Back in 1975, I pulled an A in religion class during my confirmation exam before the Archbishop. Then in 1977, I got an A in Marxism. A year later, I aced TIPSS with another A. Even in college in 1981, I walked away with an A in Marxism again.
By 1986, I landed a job at what was basically the crown jewel of industry in the old America.
But even there, you could feel the grip of the Communist Party. To give you an idea, the local branch in Zadar actually forbid the director from handing out salaries higher than three times the average in a state like America. We were all suffering because of those restrictions.😲😁😲
In today's terms, that would be like the government stepping in to cap everyone's salary at my company, leaving me, a young engineer, stuck making only
15 $0.00 !!!
Part of me almost misses those dark days. I have to quote Smoje: damn whoever lit the lamp for this kind of "democracy."
Am I exaggerating??!!
No.
Here’s why:

Also, check this out:

p.s.
Back in 1979, during a midnight mass, I remember listening to a priest preach: "Brothers in faith, we must fight against all forms of atheism. Even if that atheism happens to be red."

And unlike some people, that priest didn't end up in a police cell for it.

Mark Torres14 said:That’s not really "understandable." It's a matter of culture. And hopefully, you'll agree that in different cultures, the "seven deadly sins" would look completely different.
It's more like an exaggeration. Go ahead—name just one sin that doesn't have a positive side or could actually be seen as a virtue in a specific situation.

That’s the nail on the head right there. Every single virtue, the moment you push it too far, morphs into its exact opposite. It stops being a strength and turns into pure weakness or straight-up madness. Besides, trying to obsessively avoid every little sin? It’s exhausting. Just plain exhausting.

Matthew Evans said:Look, I’m not some New Age cheerleader. I’m explaining existence from the perspective of the Self, straight from the source, rather than following someone else's script. I live in this era—that much is obvious. I am HERE and NOW, which is why there's naturally going to be some overlap with what people call the 'New Age' movement. Our connection isn't ideological; it's linguistic. I use a vocabulary that makes sense to the modern American, but we all draw from the same source. That same source is what connects us to Taoists and everyone else talking about the same thing. The only difference is that instead of using the terminology used by Bedouins, Romans, or ancient Chinese thinkers two millennia ago, I’m using the language of my contemporaries—the way people actually talk in everyday life today.

By definition, New Age is just contemporary spirituality that hasn't been packaged into a formal religion or a rigid philosophical school.
And that puts you right in that category. Just like it puts this Australian colleague of yours—the one people constantly confuse you with—right in the middle of it:

It’s actually a good thing when two people are saying the same thing, even if their delivery is a bit different.

The real headache, though, is how does one even approach this transcendental knowledge? Some people claim we absolutely need spiritual guides:

But these "guides" often hide their true intentions, much like a snake hides its legs.😁

Sadly, sometimes what shows up isn't a guide at all, but an "anti-spiritual" guide. I suppose those are the ones sent by the late Friedrich Nietzsche:
"If you can't teach someone how to swim, teach them how to sink as fast as possible" :😬

Take my neighbor, a decent guy I knew, for example:

The man was genuinely trying his best to grasp the Supreme Mind—to let it take hold of him. And the poor soul, instead of achieving transcendence of consciousness, ended up getting beaten senseless by people and finishing up in a psychiatric ward.
So, it really makes you wonder: why do certain guides appear to some people without even being summoned? And why do others, despite screamingly loud calls for help, find themselves met by "anti-guides"—people who, instead of offering grace, just rub salt in the wound? 😲 😁 😲

Essentially, a person acts according to this:

But they end up with http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer

Matthew Evans said:God isn't everything that exists. If God were simply everything, then God wouldn't be unborn, uncreated, or unchanging. The mere fact that anything undergoes change proves it isn't God. God doesn't pass through change. God is unborn, uncreated, uncreatable, and immutable—absolutely absolute.

When you’re dealing with something absolute, that thing exists uniformly. It means every single "part" of it holds equal weight. Each fragment is just as much a container for all the other parts as the whole is. Look, Man isn't built like that. A human being doesn't carry the entire universe inside them; it's actually the other way around—the universe carries the human. And honestly? Even the universe doesn't hold God within itself.

So, does that mean the universe isn't God?
Not quite.

God is the essence—the absolute Being that possesses Knowledge-of-Self. That specific Knowledge-of-Self-as-absolute (Consciousness) is itself absolute. Because of that, every single individual instance of knowledge-of-self (every "I") acts as a container for all other instances of knowledge-of-self. It’s like a fractal where every part holds the whole. In this sense, the One and Oneness are essentially equal.
So, The absolute (Being) plus consciousness-of-the-Self-absolute equals God.

Think of it this way: there’s a distinction between God, who exists solely within that absolute aspect of the Being, and the Being itself, which is omnipresent. The Being isn't just tucked away in that absolute state; it’s right there in the thick of experience and creation, too. When the Being shows up in the realm of creation, it generates a spirit of creation—essentially a reflection of its own projected state. And just like in the absolute, that reflection always curves back toward the self. It’s a closed loop. So, when the Being projects experience, it creates this consciousness-of-becoming-self, or a creative spirit, through which the Being comes to know itself as a created thing.

Look, when it comes to making sense of the whole mess of existence, most people just can't tell the difference. They struggle to distinguish between what is truly, absolutely present—that Being that permeates everything in existence—and that which is absolute within itself.



Not everything is made of God, but everything that exists—creation itself—is God’s creation. It is built from Knowledge-of-Self, which God projects from Consciousness into individualized experiences. Think of it like this: God projects Ideas (souls) out of Consciousness, but God doesn't project Himself outside of the Self-God. That’s why the absolute, as Being, exists without absolute Knowledge-of-Self (without Consciousness), positioning itself within these individual Knowledges. It does this to create an experience, to actually manifest its own potential through those specific fragments of Knowledge-of-Self. In the process, the absolute (Being) also creates the consciousness-of-becoming-self (creation). Now, within this creation, Being—which is fundamentally the same as what is in GOD—strives toward the Ideal (the Self-God) that it separated from through individualization. But you can only reach that Ideal when your consciousness rises to a level where you can totally surrender to it. You have to let that Ideal strike you, pull you out of the projection, and bring you back to the Self-absolute. I've touched on this in my earlier comments.

But this particular school of thought approaches the concept of God quite differently:

The Great Tao

Born before heaven and earth,
there exists something—vague, yet complete,
silent, empty,
always the same amidst all shifts,
eternally changing, yet eternally the same.
It can be viewed as the mother of all things.
I do not know its name,
so I call it the Tao.
In the absence of a better word, I call it "Great."
Great implies infinite.
Infinite means all-encompassing.
All-encompassing means returning to the beginning.

Therefore:
The Tao is great.
Heaven is great.
Earth is great.
Man is great.
In existence, there are four great things,
and Man is one of them.

Man follows the earth,
the earth follows heaven,
heaven follows the Tao,
and the Tao follows its own nature.

Matthew Evans said:As for me, I don't have much to do with the Bible... I'm not preaching its contents. Not everything in the Bible represents the truth... there's a lot in there designed for other purposes (controlling the mind).

I honestly thought Lawrence Novosel was pushing the Bible just like you push that New Age spirituality.😬

Matthew Evans said:"Quote:"

It’s actually pretty simple: Once you finally return to the Source—once you actually wake up—you realize you are God.
When you finally cycle back from that state and reintegrate into experience—let's say, you’re just an ordinary guy again—you aren't starting from scratch. You emerge as someone with an upgraded awareness of the Self-God. It’s a heightened state of being that you keep sharp, all thanks to that specific process of pulling your attention back toward the Self-absolute.

______________

A bit more context:

First, you need the hunger to know, followed by the groundwork—basically, training the Being’s will and attention to slowly turn toward the Self. But when I say "toward the Self," I’m talking about that thing which can never be perceived through subjective imagery. I mean the true I. Once a Being is sufficiently prepared, the enlightenment of the absolute (the Self) happens exactly when you least expect it. Why? Because that's the only time you're actually free from striving. Every attempt at striving is just an exercise in concentrating attention through the intellect. You can't perceive something that doesn't vibrate using mere logic. As long as you remain conscious of the object you're chasing—as long as you're thinking and focusing on a vibrating thought—enlightenment won't happen. It means you have to be ready to voluntarily surrender everything that makes you a distinct creature, including Consciousness itself. This doesn't imply that, as a Being, you are totally unaware of what you're trying to achieve. Quite the opposite; you've simply placed your intention in the hands of the Self-God. Even before enlightenment, you've already had intuitive flashes of Consciousness (the spirit of the absolute), including glimpses of that "thing" you're searching for. But you could never truly conceptualize it; your intellect just couldn't grasp the absolute. This preparation is essentially an intuitive education in how to surrender unconditionally, placing total trust in that absolute spirit that has been feeding you instructions until now. By developing intuition, you arrive at inevitable Knowledge, which allows you to surrender with confidence. The path to total surrender is the path to total trust—which leads to an absolute freedom from the fear of loss, from death, and from the terror of non-existence. Through this kind of spiritual self-education, you become calm and composed, yet still driven by the desire for total Self-knowledge, ready to accept whatever Consciousness decides to offer you. When you are fully surrendered to Consciousness, that is the moment all barriers dissolve and the spirit of the creature returns to the absolute spirit. Truly, that is when the Being, through a will that is already surrendered to Consciousness, shifts its attention away from the projection of experience—away from the subject's intellect—and onto the absolute itself: onto what remains when the projection is "switched off." Onto the true Self.

It’s pretty simple, really. When a Being directs its entire focus inward toward the self—toward the absolute—that absolute becomes illuminated by an absolute spirit. That reflection of what truly is merges with the thing itself. In that moment, that initial core of what exists (the absolute) and the absolute spirit (Consciousness) become one single, absolute unit of Self-knowledge.

Look, I’m telling you, it all comes down to the Self-absolute. Think about it: if Knowledge itself is absolute, then that Absolute is absolute too. That means every single bit of individual Self-knowledge—which is really just a reflection of the quality of the absolute—acts as a container for every other piece of Self-knowledge out there. In this kind of absolute relationship, the Being becomes God. Once consciousness turns inward and excludes unconsciousness, the human spirit as we know it simply ceases to exist. It has to happen that way for the Source to reveal itself. At that point, the Being isn't some "creature" anymore; it's become the Self-absolute, or God.

If God is the absolute—the one who truly knows the Self—then that Knowledge contains everything necessary for what *is* to actually exist. It’s all there, sitting in that pool of potential. Within that same Consciousness, everything is already known. We're talking total Self-knowledge: every quality of the absolute, the mechanics of projection, the principles of existence, and pretty much anything else you could possibly wrap your head around. But here’s the thing: Knowledge isn't the manifestation itself. Because the Being understands this, it pulls its attention and will back into an individual projection. It carries that Knowledge along, expanding the spirit of creation and trying to fulfill that primal drive—the original intention of the soul to realize itself. That’s why that spiritual Knowledge gets funneled down into the human intellect. It has to be processed and understood so it can actually be put to work, attempting to refine reality until it mirrors the purest expression of the soul.

Thanks for providing such a detailed breakdown of your technique for awakening Man. So, this is the path you’ve walked to reach enlightenment.
It reminds me of how there’s a whole mountain of techniques cooked up by that one single local guru we have over here:

Peter Phillips32 said:Well, if you don't know how to frame your question and you keep getting useless answers, then maybe next time you should figure out how to word it so you don't end up with those same wrong answers you already know aren't helpful.

So, just ask it again in a way that won't trigger those incorrect responses you aren't looking for in the first place.

That's just how you handled it. You reached into your own little stash of knowledge and pulled out something that might sound like an answer, but it isn't. Because I know damn well what continuity is, and I'm fully aware of my own growth. I can look back at myself as a five-year-old kid who knew nothing and had certain emotions, and compare that to who I am today—a woman in her fifties who knows what she knows about the world, politics, people, nations, biology, economics... and so on.

You can only be aware of your own nature evolving in a theoretical sense; having the idea of such change is one thing. But thinking you actually know who you were as a five-year-old? That’s most likely just a manufactured memory mixed with a tiny bit of reality. Those generalizations about how five-year-olds act are just that—tiny bits of reality—and the rest is just making stuff up by stitching those generalizations onto fragments of childhood memories.

If you really want to convince me I wrote something wrong, you're going to have to try a lot harder than that. Nothing short of posing the "right question" and finding the right answer is going to move the needle for me. And honestly, just a heads-up: stop lecturing me on my "wrong beliefs" regarding how much of memory is made up, and just focus on finding the "right question." I mean, hey, it's your call which matters more to you.

Isn't it kind of weird how everyone who disagrees with him is automatically wrong, as if this "guru of humanity" simply must be right? It's almost like—dare I say it—he's just another spiritualist in a long line of guys delivering monologues about their own superior truth. If reverse psychology exists, then this guru of humanity is the first one to actually prove "reverse gurulism."

And please, for the love of God, stop throwing in convenient little stories about your anti-guru hero, K. g. U.

But look, I personally met Jesus, and I was hit with these heavy arguments about his Truth, his Path, and his Life back when I was just a kid. There was just one tiny little catch, though. Jesus turned out to be just some kid from the neighborhood.

I mean, when you finally come face-to-face with the most powerful figure in religious history—someone who's basically a guru that avoids anyone with a different opinion like Satan avoids frankincense—what happens?

Honestly, you've got pretty low standards if you're just one of those people who thinks, "Well, as long as at least one person finds happiness," and then you pat yourself on the back thinking you've accomplished your life's mission.

You're standing at a crossroads here, and you've got a choice: you can keep churning out these massive mountains of nonsense text just to reach one or two people who will become your mindless little cult followers, or you can actually try to explain your ideas concisely and clearly, aiming to foster some actual understanding through real conversation.

As for what he’s actually achieved or whether he’s being authentic—well, only he knows that. Honestly, you don't even need a special experience; you could just study the theory from spiritual literature, which isn't exactly hard to find in America these days.
He seems to feel this burning need to dump all this knowledge he supposedly pulled from transcendental sources onto us.
Whether it's authentic is hard to prove. All I see is that he's trying. Maybe he should have reflected on that Zen story from the link above regarding spiritual technologies:

A MOTHER'S ADVICE
Jiun, a teacher to a shogun, was a well-known expert in Sanskrit during the Tokugawa period. When he was young, he used to give lectures to his fellow students. His mother heard about this and wrote him a letter:
“Son, I don't think you became a follower of Buddha just because you wanted to become a walking dictionary for others. There is no end to teaching, interpreting, shining, and seeking glory.
I would like you to stop these lectures. Retreat to a small temple in a remote part of the mountains. Devote your time to meditation, and through that, attain true knowledge.”

To him, that advice probably holds no weight since he claims he's already enlightened. Though, to be fair, he hasn't exactly shared any concrete details about this supposed enlightenment of his.

And regarding the whole "guruism" thing, it looks like gurus just can't stand each other, leading them to say things like this:

Zika is Senator Palpatine

Just look at what this guy Mihajlo Slavinski—better known as Zika—wrote. You'll see it's the exact same vibe as the ideas from our new guru here:

"The breadth and freedom of the Soul," "Love." Once my mind stops its initial struggle and resistance, I enter a state of bliss that is difficult to return from. At the same time, it feels entirely new, yet infinitely familiar—a sense
of belonging and connection to everything. Everything is so easy and natural... Every descent into Shunyata leads
me to a new level, a different one, showing me at first how easy it is to dissolve—to discretize—all
the problems and the heavy emotions I carry within myself. I feel a profound relief realizing that all these limitations
are not "Me" and that I can let them go completely, if only I decide to do so.
"I" becomes width, light, a feeling of simultaneously floating in the depths of the ocean and
distant cosmic expanses...
A massive sense of Love and Peace!"

So, there you have it—the actual experience of one participant from a Shunyata course!

The only thing that truly tripped me up when I crossed paths with Jesus—you know, that local kid from the neighborhood who spent all his time preaching about the self—was the question of where he actually went. Because after just a few months, it was like he vanished off the face of the earth; nobody had any clue where to find him anymore.

I once encountered a Christ myself:

The guy knows the entire Bible by heart and just spouts stuff left and right!!! Honestly, he’s even more intense than Matthew Evans

Matthew Evans said:I present my Self-knowledge exactly how I see fit. If the way I deliver it—or what I'm actually saying—doesn't sit right with you (if it doesn't pass through whatever bias-filter you're using to process reality)... then don't read it. (The moment you see my name, just skip it, RUN). What I write isn't specifically targeted at you; obviously, it's meant for whoever needs to read it exactly as it stands. Period.

Maybe I’m just being thick—honestly, maybe I’m just slow on the uptake or my reasoning is fundamentally flawed—but man, I am having a hell of a time trying to follow you through this labyrinth of ideas. It’s like... well, it's like trying to read a map while someone is constantly shaking the table. I'm struggling to keep pace here. 😲😁😲
And that—right there—is exactly why I stick to the PRACTICE.

Look, you actually wrote this:

Even Sigmund Freud couldn't wrap his head around this one—not even close. Because, let's be honest—there’s just zero actual experience to back that up. To even begin talking about confirming something like that, Sigmund Freud would have to stop being Sigmund Freud. It needs to stop being perceived as just some individual expression of the absolute—it’s gotta go back to the Self (the absolute). Only through that direct, raw relationship between one's own Will, focused attention, and the actual substance of the absolute (the Self)—specifically through the spirit of the absolute (Consciousness)—can one finally uncover the truth about the Being that they so stubbornly claim they are NOT.

So, this brings me back to a question that’s been rattling around my brain lately—how exactly does someone like Sigmund Freud, or honestly, any of us hanging out in this digital corner of the internet, actually undergo an experience so profound that we cease to be just some "individual expression of the absolute"? It's a heavy thought, I know, but I can't help but dwell on it.
And that he finally returns to his Source.
I honestly feel like we’re all just sitting here spinning our wheels—fighting over nothing more than which way the wind blows a flag on a flagpole. It feels completely trivial. I’ve been sitting here thinking about this whole mess—this endless loop we seem to be stuck in—and honestly, it’s exhausting. It feels like we're just circling the drain of our own making. You look at what people are saying, how they interpret things through such a narrow lens, and you realize how little anyone actually understands about the core of the matter. Take what Matthew Evans was getting at earlier—it’s almost comical how much effort goes into misinterpreting the fundamental truth. We spend all this time debating the surface level, the trivialities, while the actual essence remains untouched by our noise. It reminds me of those long, pointless debates I used to get dragged into back in college—those late nights in the dorm where everyone thought they were a philosopher because they’d read a single chapter of a textbook. It’s the same thing here. We’re intellectualizing ourselves into a corner. And then there’s the question of the self. Everyone wants to talk about "finding" themselves, as if the self is some hidden treasure buried in the backyard. They don't realize that the self isn't something you find; it's the very foundation of everything. If you don't grasp the concept of the Self-absolute, you're basically just shouting into a void. You're trying to build a house on sand without even realizing the ground is shifting beneath your feet. It's like what Sigmund Freud used to suggest about the unconsciousness—we are constantly being driven by these deep, hidden currents that we refuse to acknowledge because it's too uncomfortable. It’s easier to argue about semantics than to face the reality of our own being. We'd rather stay in the comfort of our delusions than face the weight of true Self-knowledge. Honestly, most of these discussions feel like they're designed to distract us from the real work. We get caught up in the personalities, the egos, the constant need to be "right." But being right doesn't mean anything if you're disconnected from the absolute. It’s all just noise—empty, hollow noise. We need to stop looking outward for answers and start looking inward, though I know how much people hate hearing that. It's too much work. It's much easier to just keep arguing on a forum.

So, let me just wrap this up and put it back to you: what exactly was it that you went through during your awakening?

If we don't find a way to actually experience that kind of "awakening," then we’re all just going to end up like some clueless Joe Schmoe wandering through this life—completely lost, totally oblivious, and frankly, a bit pathetic. A guy walks into a high-end bar in Manhattan—one of those places where even the ice cubes look expensive—and he sits down next to this incredibly polished, suit-wearing executive. The executive looks him up and down, sees his worn-out jacket and tired eyes, and decides to be patronizingly "charitable." The exec leans over and says, "You know, son, if you worked hard, stayed focused, and climbed the corporate ladder like a real professional, you wouldn't be sitting here looking so lost. You could be sitting right where I am, enjoying the finer things in life." The guy takes a slow sip of his cheap beer, looks the man dead in the eye, and says, "That’s funny... because I actually did all that. I worked my tail off, I played by all the rules, and I stayed laser-focused on the goal. Now, I’m just sitting here waiting for the guy who actually owns this place to come out and tell me why my paycheck hasn't cleared yet."

Matthew Evans said:The preparation was simple, but it was intentional.

Back during that phase, I had this driving, almost obsessive need to figure out "who I am." I started cultivating that curiosity through things I did while taking breaks from my painting—I’m a painter by trade. Every day, I’d head out for a coffee, but eventually, I decided that instead of just sitting there, I’d listen to the same old repetitive chatter with the usual crowd and just... observe. I’d peek inward into the self. That’s what I was doing at the coffee shop. I’d find a spot, usually somewhere quiet where the sun could warm my back without blinding me or burning. I’d sit there, nearly every single day, lay out a pen and paper, close my eyes, relax, and just soak up the sun until I was completely loose. It was a kind of meditation right there in the middle of a Starbucks or a local diner—a specific way of meditating that felt right to the self, something I’d also do in my studio during breaks. Once I hit that state of no-thought, that total stillness, I’d stay there as long as necessary. Then, the second a thought surfaced in my mind, I’d start writing. I did my writing exclusively in coffee shops.

I’d jot down that first word, and I wouldn't even think about the second; I’d just recognize it as it emerged in my mind and instinctively line it up after the first, and so on, until it became clear that some kind of story was flowing out of me. While writing, I’d naturally grasp the meaning of what was already intuitively known within my spirit, and I’d just keep letting it flow into order. Usually, by the time I took the last sip of coffee and that brief little story wrapped up, I’d put a period on it.

Every story, every poem, carried its own message—something that spoke unerringly of Consciousness. Not my individual consciousness, which most people call "human consciousness," but Consciousness as the Source of all Knowledge, as the Truth.

So, the preparation was conscious and deliberate, though I had no clue what answers or insights would be left behind. The preparation itself was really just a gradual opening of the spirit toward the spirit of the absolute, so that at the moment I was sufficiently ready, my spirit could merge with the spirit of the absolute. At that point, the self vanished from the attention of the being, and the absolute became "visible" to the self. I didn't experience the enlightenment of the absolute in a coffee shop; it caught me off guard in bed, at home. Still, it happened as the direct result of all that disciplined preparation I had been doing.

This feels strangely familiar to me—it’s like déjà vu, honestly. I’ve been sitting here, staring at my screen, trying to make sense of this whole mess—this endless cycle of people talking past one another—and honestly, it just makes me want to walk away from the keyboard entirely. It feels like we're all circling the same drain. Look, I’m not trying to be difficult, but when you look at the way certain individuals approach these deep truths, it’s almost painful to witness. There’s this persistent tendency to strip away the actual weight of things, to turn profound concepts into nothing more than shallow, digestible bits of trivia. It’s lazy. It’s fundamentally lazy. Take what Matthew Evans was saying earlier—if you can even call it that—and compare it to the actual substance required for true Self-knowledge. You can't just skim the surface of the universe and expect to find the core of your own being. It doesn't work that way. It’s like trying to understand the entire American legal system by reading a bumper sticker; you aren't getting anywhere near the essence of the matter. And don't get me started on the constant misinterpretations of historical figures. People love to drag names through the mud or twist their intentions to fit some modern, flimsy narrative. It’s exhausting. We have these massive, complex ideas—concepts that touch on the very nature of the I-man and his relationship to the Self-absolute—and yet, we treat them like they’re just items on a grocery list. I remember back when I was first diving into these heavier texts—really digging into the stuff that actually challenges your worldview—I felt this immense frustration because everyone around me seemed content with the superficial. They wanted the comfort of easy answers, whereas I was looking for the grit, the struggle, the actual judgment of one's own soul. We need to stop this trend of intellectual dilution. If we are going to discuss the nature of the Being-that-is or the complexities of the unconsciousness, we have to do it with some level of respect for the depth involved. Otherwise, we're just shouting into a void, wasting our breath on a debate that has no foundation. It’s just noise. Pure, unadulterated noise.
It’s not just happening at some local dive bar, either—it’s happening right out in my own backyard. Usually happens late at night, too. And we aren't talking about a casual cup of coffee here; it’s more like a glass of whiskey and a Coke—and, of course, a Black Devil cigarette. 😁

I’ve never really felt that spark—that sudden, driving urge to actually sit down and put pen to paper. Writing just isn't my thing. But I have definitely experienced a different kind of stimulus—more like these sudden, intense bouts of physical twitching—that makes me want to just writhe around. 😲

Every single story—every poem, really—has always carried its own core message. It’s something that speaks with an unerring clarity about Consciousness itself. And I don't mean my own little personal consciousness—the kind most people mistakenly label as "human consciousness"—but rather Consciousness as the Source of all Knowledge, the ultimate Truth.

It reminds me of the way Aleister Crowley used to scribble away at The Book of Law—just that same raw, unfiltered energy.

So, look—I was going about my preparations with total intention. It wasn't some accidental drift; I was being conscious, deliberate, and purposeful about every single step. But even then, I honestly had no clue what kind of answers or insights I’d end up leaving behind in the process. The whole preparation phase was really just this slow, gradual opening of my spirit toward the spirit of the absolute—almost like a tuning process. I was waiting for that specific moment where I’d finally be ready enough, so that my spirit could simply merge and become one with the spirit of the absolute. Back then, the I-man simply faded from the Being's perception—and in that moment, the I-absolute finally became "visible" to the self. Now, don't get me wrong, people always expect these massive spiritual breakthroughs to happen in some trendy coffee shop or a bustling downtown bistro, but that wasn't my story. I didn't hit enlightenment while sipping a latte at Starbucks; instead, I was just caught off guard right there in my own bed, at home. In the end, it happened—just as a direct result of all the deliberate groundwork I’d been laying down beforehand.

I’m curious, though—how did this sudden "awakening" of yours actually trigger? What was that process like for you, and what was really going on inside your head during the whole thing?
As for me, unfortunately, I haven't quite managed to leap across the abyss yet while practicing my own little routine out in the garden:
I’d fix my gaze on one particularly brilliant star. I’d start visualizing how, 13.5 billion years ago, everything was just a single point. Not just that star, mind you, but the entire universe and the entirety of my own SELF within it. I’d try to perceive myself as the original singularity—the "I." Then, this intense sensation would kick in—something I first encountered back when I was doing those yoga jumps at the local gym. Except, in this case, that core desire for movement—which usually sits at the base of the spine in that technique—would migrate up into my neck and my head. It triggers this violent, churning feeling because I'm desperately trying to mentally leap over the void, but I just... can't.

Matthew Evans said:What you’re suggesting just doesn't work—and honestly, you've already admitted that yourself by saying we weren't born together. Since we didn't share a birth (and even if we had), our paths haven't been identical. Our experiences aren't the same. Some people spent their lives stacking up wealth, others are still grinding to get there, and some have spent their years accumulating knowledge through trial and error. Then there are people like me, who did all that, only to add one specific experience to the tally—something that fundamentally rewrites the meaning of everything else. That experience—if you can even call it that—is the total redirection of attention back to the Absolute-Self.

Leading up to my return, I felt this intuitive preparation taking hold. It was like portions of Knowledge were just pouring directly into my spirit. The more I realized exactly *how* it was happening, the more frequently it occurred—until eventually, it just became my baseline. It stayed that way, a steady routine, right up until the moment I finally let go. I dropped the logic, shut off the intellect, and merged my spirit with the Absolute-Self. To put it plainly, I experienced what most people spend their whole lives trying to describe as being "Self-God."

No, it isn’t some kind of delusion. Before that moment, even though my spirit was flooded with intuitive insights, I couldn't even wrap my head around what it actually meant. Then, the intellect just... evaporated. I was left alone with my Self. But in that solitude, strangely enough, you aren't actually alone. In fact, it’s more than that—you aren't just a lonely individual; you are the entire container and everything contained within the One. It doesn't feel like isolation. It feels like absolute self-fulfillment. As long as the rational mind stays out of the way—as long as the Being's attention remains fixed on the content of the Absolute-Self—everything that exists becomes crystal clear to itself. It couldn't be any sharper. The essence of everything has finally revealed itself to the Self.

Look, this Being—the One, the only one—is what religion and the masses call God, which is why I framed it that way above. Personally, I call it Will, the Absolute, the Being, or the being-that-is. It could be "the one who is," or some qualitative plurality, or whatever else you want to throw at it. At the end of the day, I know deep down that none of those labels actually change anything about its essence. It remains itself, regardless of the name. 🙂

.

By turning my attention back inward to the human self, I’ve embraced the spirit of creation and the Absolute Knowledge held within it. But here’s the thing: my intellect just can't wrap itself around what that actually looks like. It's impossible to grasp the whole thing in one single moment—not for me, and honestly, not for anyone else either. Yet, despite that mental wall, the Absolute Knowledge remains accessible to me, and I can shape it into words whenever I choose.

That’s why I say what you’re suggesting just isn't doable—not that you don't see it, but it's an impossibility. We weren't born at the exact same moment, nor were we born as the same spirit. Because of that, our perceptions and our grasp of self-existence and being aren't going to match up. You can't exactly walk up to some guy and explain that he has the capacity to know everything any other person has ever known. He’s an individual. He’s got a spirit that belongs only to him. He lacks the lived experience required to actually verify your claims, even if you were standing right there. So, I’m left doing what I feel called to do within that Absolute-Self connection. It’s something I only really grasped after returning to the Self: I give what I know. Period. I don't care who judges how I give, when they judge, or if they even wrap their heads around what I’m talking about. But, since I’m still "alive"—meaning Being is active and present within me—I can engage with everyone I meet here, in this moment. I can listen to their questions and try to offer explanations that feel familiar to them. Still, after doing this every single day for seven or eight years, I’ve realized something: it is impossible to explain something that feels obvious to me to someone whose level of consciousness simply isn't high enough to catch it. Now, that isn't a dig at people with a "lower level of consciousness." It has nothing to do with comparing my value to theirs. It’s just a fact. Some individuals are quite "young" in terms of their cycles of incarnation. Their spirit hasn't accumulated enough Absolute Knowledge to create a foundation where they can easily build upon or integrate new truths into their Self-Being. Another individual might be more seasoned; they've been through the necessary school of life and already possess a massive degree of that Knowledge within them.

Look, this has absolutely nothing to do with IQ. You can have a genius-level IQ, but if you lack the "life experience"—the incarnations—needed to accumulate the right amount of realized Absolute-Self Knowledge, it doesn't matter. Think of it this way: the width of your "consciousness circle," or a specific level of awareness, doesn't dictate its "height." It doesn't change where that consciousness sits within the grand hierarchy of the Being-universe. That’s why we see such a massive spectrum of consciousness among Americans; we aren't all operating at the same stage of experience or incarnation. We haven't all gone through the same cycles required to grasp and truly understand what we think we know.

Understanding alone isn't going to land you at the highest state of existence, but it certainly makes whatever you *do* understand much more useful.

At the end of the day, we all just act according to what our current level of consciousness allows us to do. It follows, then, that those sitting at higher levels have to possess a deeper understanding of those at lower ones. This is exactly why rising in consciousness strips away prejudice; it forces you to become more compassionate.

And just what kind of mental prep work goes into that? I mean, how exactly do you prepare yourself so those little portions of knowledge can actually sink into your spirit without just bouncing right off? ?? 🤔

If that was simply its own inherent essence, then we’re looking at a gift from Nature. Or, if you prefer the language of the faithful—as they often do when trying to make sense of the inexplicable—you could call it a gift from God, or perhaps Divine Providence.

Matthew Evans said:No version of Sigmund holds any authority over that Knowledge, over the truth. From what I’ve observed, he just deals in the history of philosophy rather than TRUTH—which can only be found by turning the attention of the absolute Being back toward itself, toward Self-Being.

Non-Being doesn't exist; it’s a complete delusion. Non-Being would just be a logical fantasy cooked up by a Being that has identified itself entirely with its own manifestation and thought, therefore drawing logical conclusions about existence (about Self-Being) from within that manifestation. Most people mistake that manifestation for "being," which has nothing to do with the truth. The very term "Being" is just shorthand for the act of existing—for existence as an unchanging, absolute, inconceivable "something," the essence of what is.

Being is singular and absolute, while its expressions—CREATIONS—are many and exist only relatively. They are derived forms, shapes cast from that foundation (which we could call Bill), or more precisely: projected relationships stemming from Consciousness (the spirit of the absolute) via Knowledge-of-Self-absolute.

You really should have suggested that Quincy just cut his own hand off. 😲

Because there’s this story...

The legend goes that in the final years of his life, Bodhidharam was visited by
Shen-kuang (Hui-ko, known in the West as Yeka, 486-593), who was a renowned Confucian
scholar of that era, quite proud of his mastery of Buddhist teachings and the prestige
he commanded. When he asked about Bodhidharmin's teachings, this enlightened man, sensing
his pride and how wrapped up he was in himself, didn't say a single word. Hui-ko
stood before Bodhidharam for several days in total, freezing silence.
Meanwhile, the snow began to fall. Once Hui-ko realized that Bodhidharma
was ignoring him, and in order to grab his attention and prove his hunger for true knowledge,
he drew a sword, sliced off his own left hand, and offered it to Bodhidharma as a sign
of his profound sincerity. Only then did Bodhidharma finally ask him:
"What is it you want?"
He replied: "My only desire is that you, teacher, out of your infinite
mercy, would open the doors to the treasure..."
Bodhidharma answered: "Incomparable truth is only achieved through long,
arduous practice. Why would you, with your shallow mind and ego-driven heart,
beg me for the true path and endure the struggle?"
Hui-ko said: "I cannot find peace of soul. Please, calm my soul."
"Lay your soul before me, and I will calm it."
"But when I search for my soul, I cannot find it."
"There!" Bodhidharma interrupted, "your soul is calmed."
At that moment, Hui-ko attained enlightenment, and after Bodhidharma passed away, he became
the next patriarch of the Zen tradition.

Sam Martinez9 said:It isn't just the Word of God; 99 percent of people are always right. Or at least, they act like it.

I think it comes down to upbringing. It reminds me of this TV show—I think it's called *The Speaker*—where high school students are split into two groups, given a topic, and they try to defend their position better than the opposing group does.

It’s the exact same story here on this forum—especially when religious topics come up. You’ve got the atheists on one side and the believers on the other, both dug in deep within their own trenches, just *firing* away with their arguments.

And it goes on like that for years. Users cycle through—some leave, some show up—but the arguments? They never change. Even though they’re hollowed out and have been debunked a thousand times over.

It really ought to be different. We should be working together, pooling our logic and arguments from both sides to actually reach the truth. But honestly? As a society, we aren't quite mature enough for that kind of communication yet.

It’s true. A lot of people are just talking nonsense—it's all weak stuff! 😁

And you know what? It’s all because of a damn flag:

Once, two Zen monks were arguing about why a flag was fluttering. One had this theory that wind is a dead thing—something inanimate—so it couldn't possibly cause a flag to flutter. The other guy viewed the wind as a living force. Their guardian eventually stepped in to end the debate: it isn't the flag fluttering, and it isn't the wind fluttering. It is your mind that is fluttering.
The logic we inherited from our primitive ancestors is great if you want to make artisanal cheese in Vermont. But that same logic is a complete failure when you try to interpret the microworld (or even the macrocosm of the universe).

And things will stay this way until we finally burn our own scriptures:

That monk used to carry around a massive pile of manuscripts everywhere—full of his own commentary, diagrams, descriptions, and theological debates. Then one day, he arrived at an inn, but he was completely broke. The woman running the place told him he’d have to sleep in the straw in the stable. He got hungry, so he asked her for something to eat. She gave him some tea and some cookies. Instead of paying cash, he offered her a lecture. The woman just looked at him and said, "So, you're some kind of specialist in diamond-hard intellect, huh? That teaching which says our present mind is incomprehensible, our past mind is elusive, and our future mind is undefined. Well, tell me: with which mind did you drink the tea and eat those cookies?" He just stood there like a total idiot, unable to give an answer. Legend has it that after that, he threw all his manuscripts into the fire and never studied another thing again.

analogridge312 said:I’d personally suggest listening to Sinan,NO LUCK, NO MONEY, he gets it...😁

Maybe if you actually changed your mindset, your outlook, or just worked on yourself... mmmaybe then the whole world would start looking different to you too...

Right, well—he really ought to repeat these words to himself five hundred times every single day:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal! Instead, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal! For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"

Only then will he find the willpower to actually live in this little shack. And perhaps, finally, be happy and content!

If he's got enough testosterone to handle it, he could always join these ladies: http://www.slobodnadalmacija.com/Moz...8/Default.aspx

They aren't exactly hoarding earthly treasures either, though they seem to be missing one specific thing that only men possess😁

THEY SAID GOODBYE TO CIVILIZATION 'We wouldn't mind if some man joined us...'

And honestly, you need to completely forget about this guru:

Especially his fifth commandment!

5. He who worships money as a god will be richly rewarded. But he who worships
the other God will be stripped bare and left out in the street.

Sarah Nguyen96 said:Yeah, I think that's just a waste of time.
But this frustration with how things are right now is starting to take a toll on my mental health.
Money can be made through hard work and struggle, but I haven't found the right job yet. Here’s twenty bucks. $0.00 You put in twelve hours of work. If you don't like it, just go home.

Alright, let's take a look at what she's saying here: I was reading this piece earlier about the whole concept of manifesting your desires—you know, that idea of visualizing what you want until it just sortically appears in your life—and it got me thinking about how much of our modern "wellness" culture is actually just a glorified version of wishful thinking. The article dives into this process of setting intentions, which sounds all zen and peaceful, but if you look at it through a more practical lens, it’s almost like trying to build a house by staring at a blueprint without ever picking up a hammer. I mean, don't get me wrong, having a Vision board isn't a crime—I’ve seen plenty of people in my time pinning pictures of luxury cars or tropical vacations to their corkboards—but there's a fine line between inspiration and pure delusion. It reminds me of this one time back when I was living in Chicago—just a frantic, busy stretch of my life—where I spent an entire month convinced that if I just meditated hard enough, I'd suddenly land a massive promotion at the firm. I sat there, eyes closed, imagining the corner office and the view of the skyline, practically feeling the leather of the executive chair under my hands. It felt productive. It felt like I was *doing* something. But in reality? I was just sitting in a quiet room avoiding the actual paperwork piling up on my desk. There’s a certain psychological trick being played here. We tell ourselves that by focusing our mental energy on a specific outcome, we are somehow aligning the universe with our needs. It’s a comforting thought, especially in a country as chaotic and unpredictable as America, where you often feel like you're just shouting into a void. We want to believe we have control. We want to believe that if we focus on the destination, the path will simply pave itself. But let's be honest—intentions are just thoughts unless they are backed by grit. You can visualize the Audi A6 parked in your driveway every single morning before breakfast, but if you aren't out there grinding, making the calls, and dealing with the messy, unglamorous reality of work, that car isn't coming. Manifestation without action is just a daydream wrapped in spiritual jargon. Is it helpful to have a goal? Sure. Is it useful to visualize success to stay motivated? Absolutely. But we need to stop pretending that the mere act of wishing is a substitute for the hard, often frustrating work required to actually change our circumstances. Otherwise, we're all just staring at empty boards, waiting for a miracle that isn't coming.

Can you give this a shot too? I was sitting there the other day—just nursing a coffee and thinking about how much things have shifted—when I stumbled upon this whole discussion regarding the "Magellan RO materialization." It’s one of those topics that really gets under my skin because people seem to treat it like some casual hobby rather than the profound shift it actually represents. Look, we need to talk about the connection between art and reality. People mention Pablo Picasso or Georges Braque as if they were just painters, but they were architects of perception. When you look at their work through the lens of what we’re discussing here, you realize that creating a vision isn't just about putting brush to canvas; it’s about that internal process—that Vision board we all try to cultivate—actually manifesting in our physical surroundings. It reminds me of a trip I took years ago—I won't name the city, but think somewhere like Seattle or Portland—where I saw a street artist attempting to capture something so ephemeral that it felt less like art and more like a glitch in the matrix. That's where the Magellan RO comes in. It’s the bridge. And don't even get me started on the skeptics. I see them popping up in the forums constantly—people like Benjamin Taylor6 or even analogridge312—trying to apply rigid, almost scientific logic to something that is inherently spiritual or metaphysical. You can't measure a soul with a ruler. You can't quantify the way an idea takes root in the mind and eventually dictates the movement of the world around us. It’s maddening, honestly. We live in a society that demands data for everything, yet we ignore the most obvious truths staring us in the face. There’s a certain secret to this—a quiet understanding that if you don't align your intent with your actions, you're just spinning your wheels. It’s like trying to drive an Audi A6 through a swamp; no matter how much horsepower you have, the environment simply won't allow the momentum. You have to prepare the ground first. I find myself circling back to the same conclusion: whether we are talking about the influence of high art or the mechanics of the Magellan RO, the principle remains the same. We are the creators of our own reality, provided we have the courage to stop pretending otherwise. It’s not just theory; it’s the fundamental way the world works. If you can't see that, then you aren't really looking.
Magellan RO materialization

The Magellan RO materialization symbol—it’s actually quite fascinating how it helps turn a vision board into reality. I was thinking about this the other day while driving my Audi A6 through downtown Chicago—just staring at the skyline and pondering how certain symbols act as catalysts for our intentions. It isn't just some abstract concept; there is a certain weight to it. Some people might dismiss it as mere superstition, but if you look closely at how we manifest our goals, it’s all about focus. It’s like having a roadmap when you're lost in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, it makes you wonder how many people miss out on their true potential simply because they lack that specific spark to bridge the gap between a dream and the actual execution.

The whole point of Magellan RO materialization—if we’re being honest here—is simply the realization of an idea. It sounds simple enough, doesn't it? But there's a catch. When we talk about materializing something, you can't just wander around aimlessly hoping for the best; you actually need to have that core idea or a clear Vision board ready to go. You need to have it available as a fundamental, gut-level feeling. It’s like when I was trying to map out my goals back in Chicago—if you don't have that internal compass, you're just spinning your wheels. You need that visceral connection to the concept before anything real can happen.

The master of the third eye, Count Saint Germain—who spent a good chunk of his life living in...
Back in the days of the French royal court—though honestly, looking at how things run now, I can't help but think of those old-school advisors in D.C.—there was this one fellow who was an astrologer, a scientist, and quite frankly, a brilliant advisor and expert in Magellan RO materialization. He had truly mastered the art of alchemy. He used to charm the ladies of the court by performing these incredible feats, essentially using his skills to achieve Magellan RO materialization of gemstones, which he’d then present to them as these stunning, magical pieces of jewelry. It's the kind of thing you just don't see anymore—everything feels so manufactured today, doesn't it?

Or this: I was reading this piece about life goals and how people actually go about making them happen—you know, that whole "dream it, then do it" philosophy—and it got me thinking about how much we overcomplicate the process. It’s one thing to sit around with a Vision board, pinning up pictures of luxury cars or tropical islands like it's some kind of magic ritual, but it’s another thing entirely to actually put in the work when the initial excitement wears off. It reminds me of this time back in my college days—I was trying to convince myself I could master jazz piano in a single summer—and I spent more time organizing my sheet music than actually playing the damn thing. We love the *idea* of success, don't we? We love the feeling of being someone who *has* big plans. But there's a massive gap between having an intention and having the discipline to see it through. The article touches on this idea of desire versus realization. It's easy to want things. Wanting is cheap. Realizing those wants requires a level of grit that most people just aren't prepared for—especially when you hit that inevitable wall where the novelty dies. You can have all the motivation in the world, but if you don't have a system, you're just spinning your wheels. It's like trying to drive an Audi A6 through a blizzard without winter tires; you might have a beautiful machine, but you aren't going anywhere fast. I think we need to be more honest with ourselves about the "how." It isn't just about wishing upon a star or waiting for some cosmic sign from God. It’s about the grind. It’s about the boring, repetitive, unglamorous stuff that happens when nobody is watching. If you aren't willing to embrace the monotony, you're just a dreamer, not a doer. And frankly, the world has enough dreamers.

When you start weaving together imagery and affirmations, you aren't just making a collage—you’re actually constructing a powerful prayer. It’s that intersection where visual intent meets spoken word, and honestly, it creates a kind of spiritual momentum that most people completely overlook.
I truly believe that a Vision board is hands down the most effective tool out there for anyone trying to achieve some kind of Magellan RO materialization. It’s the ultimate way to manifest what you want. I mean, the whole concept really hit the mainstream thanks to that movie *The Secret*—you know, the one everyone was obsessed with a few years back—but if you dig a little deeper, the roots actually go back much further. It’s almost certainly inspired by the collage techniques pioneered by those absolute legends, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. They were basically the first ones to master that way of layering different elements to create a new reality, and honestly, I think we're all just doing a modern, digital version of what they were doing on canvas all along.

Creativity is fundamentally about the act of making things happen. When you take visualization and pair it with affirmations—those classic tools people use for Magellan RO materialization—you end up with something much more potent: a dedicated Vision board. It’s a way to map out the life you’re aiming for, even during those hazy periods when you aren't entirely sure what your endgame actually looks like. Now, sure, you can try to visualize stuff just by closing your eyes and using your imagination—I've tried that, and let's just say my focus tends to wander—but I’ve always found there's a distinct advantage to having physical, tangible images right in front of you on a board. Usually, what people go for is a heavy-duty laminated poster—think of it like a thick, multi-layered cardstock that has enough structural integrity to stand up on its own against a wall or a display easel without folding under its own weight. You can pin all sorts of things to it: photos, illustrations, or cutouts from magazines. The trick is to pick imagery that actually moves the needle for you—stuff that captures a specific vibe, an idea, or a motif that genuinely sparks something positive inside. It shouldn't just be random clutter; it needs to be visual fuel.

bluewolf0 said:Happiness is the journey itself. Once you arrive, you just start looking for the next road.
I’m not chasing a destination; I’m just enjoying the ride. That’s why I’m always happy, rather than just waiting for one single moment to hit.

Spot on!

Back in ancient India, people placed immense importance on Vedic rituals—performed with such staggering precision that if a priest prayed for rain, the drought would break almost instantly. There was once a man who followed these rituals religiously, constantly pleading with the goddess Lakshmi to grant him wealth.

The guy spent ten whole years praying with absolutely zero results, until suddenly he had this realization—that wealth is just transient, ultimately meaningless stuff. So, he packed up and retreated to a cave tucked away in the Himalayas to live as a hermit.

One day, deep in the middle of his meditation, he opens his eyes to find a woman of breathtaking beauty standing there, shimmering and glowing as if she were made of pure gold. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he asks. "I am the goddess Lakshmi, the very one you spent ten years praying to. I have come to grant your wish."

"Oh, my gracious goddess!" the man exclaims. "In the meantime, I've discovered the profound beauty of meditation and lost all desire for material riches. You're too late. Tell me, why did you take so long?"

"To be perfectly honest," Lakshmi explains, "because of the rituals you performed so faithfully, you have fully earned the wealth you sought. But I withheld it out of love—out of a desire to do what was truly best for you."

*****************************

If you had to choose, what would you pick: having your deepest desire granted, or being shown the mercy of preserving your inner peace?