Posts by Noah Sanchez7

Nancy Thompson3 said:But there were just fewer of us back then. Now, we’ve basically decided to burn through a million years' worth of solar energy in a mere century.
When I see those types strutting down fashion runways, wearing overpriced designer boots... they aren't even looking at the world around them. It’s all just lights, their own personal frustrations, some vague design concept, a Vestax turntable, and whatever club track is playing...
Or when I see the corporate types preening in their crisp shirts and ties, driving luxury cars, hiding behind walls of glass and concrete while pretending they’re actually doing something important...
Then there are the idiots like Jack Welch, Donald Trump, and those other lowlifes who recite these endless odes to "business strategy," when in reality, everything they do is just glorified theft...
Or seeing George Bush begging Congress for another few dozen billion dollars just to keep the military machine grinding away in Iraq...
Or noticing how science has basically dwindled down to studying telecommunications, 3D rendering, and building "dream factories"...

And then, when I realize that despite being seventy-something years old, we haven't been back to the Moon, we barely know anything about planets outside our own solar system (aside from that one recently found), we have no clue what's actually happening inside our own planet, and we still haven't figured out anything besides spinning wheels and burning fossil fuels—all while those elites at the top whine about nuclear power plants and play around with their little art school concepts...

That’s when it hits me. We’ve just grown soft in our luxury, lulled to sleep by the warmth of disappearing oil.

126 billion dollars! Approved for military campaigns in Iran. But hey, those are noble missions; they just want to impose democracy. What's the harm in that?

Stinking losers with sick minds. I'm feeling just as fed up as you are..

Respect to Putin, who was the first one with the guts to say NO to the USA...
The first to openly state how sick he is of sick American politics; the first to say everything that Western Europe thinks but lacks the courage to stand up against...

Did we not fall?!

Shame on you, if you think so..

When Al-Qaeda struck the financial centers, planes weren't flying over the USA for three whole days. Temperatures dropped (or maybe they jumped by three degrees—I can't be certain). Regardless, that serves as direct evidence of what causes global warming... just three short days.
If someone would just tell us the truth. Folks, this planet won't be habitable in 50 years, yet we do nothing, or we do very little at all..
shame for People !!! 👎

How could we have been polluting nature 500 years ago??

What good does the massive US nuclear arsenal do, while Iran isn't even allowed to have nuclear energy? What is the real story...?
Damn it all...! 😠

I have a friend from a very "devout" family. He’s read the Bible three times over, and his brother is actually an ordained minister.

To give you an idea, he had to retake a class at the end of high school because he hadn't studied at all. The exam was at 8 AM, but he left the house at 7 just so he’d have enough time to stop by the church and pray to God to help him pass so he could finally graduate...
🙂 🙂 :asshole:

So much for prayer. Look, there is another way people pray, where instead of facing your problems (like fear), you just ask God or some divinity to take over for you. I'm not saying that's inherently bad; even Jesus played that card. Don't struggle, just believe in me, "pray and you shall receive," but what?
A court case won, a 13th-month bonus, a better car, or a high grade in college????

In my opinion, neither capitalism nor communism is a perfect model, even if communism looks like it might be...
A mix of the two is the winning combination. Why? Here is how I see it. Some people can't stand physical labor and prefer mental work, while for others, it's the exact opposite. We are all different, and that is precisely why everyone has their own role to play in this world. Even the "worst" among us has a purpose...
Therefore, pure capitalism cannot be the sole model. It just can't. I am wired to sit in the yard while someone else mows the lawn, but that doesn't mean I have a privileged position or that they are my servant. They are simply doing what they like, just as I am...

In an ideal country, there shouldn't be any strings attached, nor should there be one specific model where you take everything and leave nothing behind.

Amanda Flores2 said:I really need to vent for a second... I’ve been struggling with these tiny breakouts all over my face, and honestly, it’s destroying my confidence. I feel so incredibly self-conscious. I’ve been seeing a dermatologist for months now—just going through the motions—but nothing seems to be changing. It’s frustrating, really. People keep telling me how beautiful I am, but I just can't see it; I feel terrible. I look at all these girls walking around the city with absolutely flawless skin—it feels like they're everywhere—and then there’s me, feeling like I want to hide whenever I step outside. Even when I'm talking to someone, I can't help but wonder if they're just staring at my blemishes instead of listening to what I'm saying. Every single morning, I find myself staring into the mirror for ten minutes straight, checking every possible angle, picking at my skin like some insecure teenager... even though I'm well past that stage. And yet, everyone insists it isn't even that noticeable—that they're just minor little spots! Why is it so hard for me to just accept this as part of who I am and stop obsessing over it?

It’s crazy how much we get inside our own heads. Everyone has something they're tripping over deep down... 😉
For example, I don't even know what "tiny breakouts" really look like, let alone if they're small. I'm 99% sure if a girl had them, I wouldn't even notice at first glance. And even if I did, I honestly wouldn't give a damn...

Still, I'll share something with you that might help. Not too long ago, a girl I knew from back home and I ended up living together in NYC. We were roommates.
It never even crossed my mind that I was secretly into her. She wasn't conventionally beautiful or particularly hot, but she had something about her that made her lovely once you got to know her. One night, we threw a little bash at our place—a party, I guess I'm using the right word 🙂—and obviously, everyone had a few drinks. Five of us stayed over, but there were only two beds. Three of us (her, me, and another guy) shared one, and the other two shared the second. Under the influence, she leaned right up against me, everything became clear, and we drifted off to sleep. I actually had to nudge the other guy because he clearly wasn't paying attention while my hands were wandering under the covers since she was in the middle...
I didn't rush anything; I just let things play out for a bit...
During that time, she always seemed a bit washed out. She was like a plant that needed watering or a fish gasping to get back into the river; she just looked wilted...
Once I made the first move and we hooked up, literally just a few days later, she underwent an incredible transformation. You wouldn't believe it. She changed for the better by like 550%. She became a truly beautiful woman, gorgeous, a total knockout...
As time went on, she became more perfect to me, which had a positive effect on me too—I felt better, more upbeat, more positive, etc...

What did I learn? People need love. Without love, we become unattractive—truly unattractive.
She is someone with massive potential (whether for a career, art, or something else—it doesn't matter), but that potential was being totally misdirected... channeled into dissatisfaction, irritability, fighting, bitterness, and jealousy. A little love acted like a magic wand...

And one more thing... the less you obsess over your breakouts, wrinkles, lines, or stretch marks, the less they'll seem to exist on your body...

Nancy Thompson3 said:There is a massive difference between possessing something and simply EXISTING!

That's exactly what I'm saying.

hiddentrucker16 said:But what exactly constitutes "wisdom"—and more importantly, how does one actually practice being "responsible"?

First off, you have to be responsible to yourself, because that’s how you end up being responsible to everyone else too..

How do you become responsible? The word itself gives you a hint, plus there are a few tricks..
If you tell yourself you’re going to do something—if you set that intention—then you actually have to follow through. If you don't, you’re just being an irresponsible idiot, mostly to yourself, but also to others. I mean, if you can't even trust your own word, why should anyone else?
That’s pretty much the core of it..

One more thing... if you're always sticking your nose into everyone else's business, then when things get messy, just say: "I didn't smell anything!!".. and that's one way to stay out of the line of fire..

What is wisdom? I'm not sure.. maybe it's knowledge, responsibility, willpower, sincerity... all of those things, well-mixed together.. 😉

William Reed said:Everything you think you actually own?

Like, every single thing tied to this material life, all that temporary stuff that just slips through your fingers anyway...?

😳

Look, there is another way to look at it. Not everyone is religious. If you’re totally fine being part of all these stories, living life at a hundred miles an hour, chasing after whatever you want and knowing exactly how to get it, and if acquiring those things doesn't weigh you down, then you don't need to give anything up. Because you aren't carrying any weight...

But if every morning feels terrible—if you feel sick just thinking about going to work and doing your daily routine, and you're just counting down the days until retirement—then you are carrying a burden that torments you. It's like walking around everywhere with a heavy sack of cement on your back, even just to the grocery store..
And you end up dragging others down too, which is why Jesus sees this as the core problem for humanity and tells us to let it go. Making a sacrifice?! Just make that sacrifice in your heart and let it go, and you'll find peace..
What does a sacrifice actually mean? Maybe giving up a massive salary or something. Though I doubt that's all there is to it..
It could also mean letting go of anything that stirs up feverishness, envy, misery, or desperation within our souls.

Now, I want to write something that is deeply important to me, so please bear with me..
The entire Christian faith is built on handing over your "weights" to God or Jesus.. or renouncing them entirely; in short, surrendering to Christ..

If you're wondering why it works that way, I think I have a pretty logical answer. Back then, Jesus was fully aware of what the people living around him were capable of, and he acted wisely by teaching them that way. He likely knew that was the best way to "save more people" compared to a method where an individual has the will to overcome all those burdens on their own without surrendering to a deity..
That is the reason for the suppression of human intelligence over these last two thousand years (I'm looking specifically at the 15th and 16th centuries). The only thing that was misinterpreted was the idea that Jesus told everyone they could only be "saved" through Him. No, that wasn't his point. He meant it was the most effective path because he recognized that the "masses" wouldn't be able to reach enlightenment through their own means.. That's where the whole shepherd and sheep metaphor comes from, which is often used for Jesus's followers. Personally, I think most of them are just bad actors who go to church not to pray, but to beg—begging for things for themselves. It's incredibly ugly. A terrible desecration of all Christian sanctities...

I've already been hit with 70 penalty points for insulting "believers." Go ahead and ban me, but honestly, I feel like they are the ones insulting me, not the other way around..
Are you all truly aware of how much that mindset and those kinds of people have contributed to humanity regressing all this time? Even Jesus would be horrified by it..

Jesus says:

"Deny yourself, and you will find happiness."

Ha! What do you all think about that?

Jason Johnson4 said:Nothing that isn't eternal is actually real. I don't care what you call it or how permanent it might seem right now—it’s all just an illusion, isn't it? 🙂

I agree, it’s obvious, but Maya is a pretty powerful "reality"

Look, there's plenty of books and movies out there that explain this clearly. You don't even need to look toward Eastern religions or try becoming some kind of mystic.
Just check out the movie "instinct"... That should be enough, or close to it..

People have this urge to own things; humans just love saying "this is mine," so they spend their whole lives just swapping out one "toy" for another.

Is that tree in your backyard yours?

Based on how we usually think, yes. In the sense that you can pick all the fruit and eat it. But that tree doesn't actually belong to us, just like a mother doesn't own her son—though everyone still tries to claim them, and that's where things go sideways..

Lisa Cox4 said:....so here's the copy/paste job 🙂

The ego is totally necessary for surviving day-to-day life because it handles the controlling, the comparing, the limiting, and basically steers a person toward making progress. It’s what separates reality from fiction, allows for planning and procrastination to get things done, keeps you safe from danger, and tells you what's best for you in any given moment.
But even though the ego is vital for getting through daily life, it's also the exact foundation for most people's emotional and spiritual messes. Because of it, a person ends up living in a dualistic world, and it stops them from having any direct contact with their "true self."
That's why all those self-discovery techniques are basically just designed to find a way around it. 👍

Short, clear, concise, and comprehensive... 👍

Ryan Wilson2 said:It isn't the spine, it’s the neck. And where would we even be without society? Most likely stuck in the belly of some animal.

The moment you find yourself needing "action," it means you "desire" something. Desire itself is an illusion because it never provides lasting satisfaction—it's always short-lived, only to be replaced by a new craving, and so on, indefinitely...

I don't see anything inherently wrong with satisfying one's desires. Of course, I am not referring to pathological extremes here, but why should there be an issue if I satisfy my desire for a comfortable bed, a room free of mosquitoes, and a cold beer? It's even easier to just employ some spiritual rhetoric and write something profound like, "I am basking in the infinite moment of present contentment, for past and future do not exist—there is only the now."

😁

That's fine by me. I don't think there's anything bad in that. 🙂

Brandon Hall88 said:Hell isn't about losing your ego... it's about what happens when you try to find your balance afterward.
Right now, this process of letting the ego die is basically just an "alignment" with reality, and honestly, it feels a lot like euphoria.
But once that emotion finally drains away, your consciousness gets flooded by all those suppressed contents... things people often mistake for hallucinations. You’re suddenly forced to face everything you thought you were, and everything the world around you holds.
The issue isn't actually you—it's just that the Samskaras, those unconscious patterns, start igniting rapidly. The real problem is that you're still tethered to the collective "reservoir" of the unconscious surrounding you. That whole mess starts catching fire, and it won't stop until you've dealt with it head-on.

A person still uses their mind, but they aren't shackled by mental logic or the mind itself anymore.
As long as you're living in this reality, you have a mind. Whether you like it or not, it's there. Now, they say there are extreme cases—people like certain famous Masters—who have managed to exist in Nirvikalpo samadhi while still functioning and living right here in this reality...

You put that well.

That part I bolded >> hmm... that truly describes a Master. It’s like being given the task of merging two incompatible worlds into one and actually succeeding.

So, what would the "guidance" have to be? I suspect the only way is to choose actions guided by this world while completely renouncing any desire to reap the rewards of your own work.
Then, you stay pure.

urbangardener35 said:If anyone actually wants to give me an answer... 🙂
Is the ego inherently bad or good?
Is the ego absolutely necessary, or is it just baggage?
How are you even supposed to tell what part is your ego and what part is actually *you*?
And what even is this "true nature" everyone talks about? Isn't that just another manifestation of the ego anyway?

It feels a little strange seeing you ask this, since I've always thought of you as quite the philosopher—unless I'm mistaken about who I'm talking to, which I'm not..

Where is this coming from?

The way I see it, logic isn't the end goal; it's just a tool you have to learn how to use properly to reach your destination, and you certainly know how to handle it..
Maybe try factoring in a bit of human psychology to find a common thread. Find that sense of what truly sets you free versus what keeps you stuck, and then just follow the right path..

Ryan Wilson2 said:It may not be the only factor, but it remains critical because the ego is the primary mechanism through which we interface with the external world.

So, I ask you: what else distinguishes us from animals if we set the ego aside?

No. With our ego, we just interact with other egos, which isn't about the outside world at all—it’s just about social circles. If there weren't another ego facing mine, we wouldn't just have contact; we would have a connection that is much more beautiful, pleasant, and noble. That is the whole point..

The difference is that we can consciously influence ourselves, whereas an animal is a slave to its desires; that link is the only thing connecting us to the animal kingdom. That's why they say humans are part animal and part God. We exist somewhere in between, and that is our "greatest curse"..

Everything material depends on the material. Wherever there is dependency, there is no absolute freedom, and therefore no total liberation... Not until death..

I would describe Buddhism, or perhaps Buddha himself, as a "truth fanatic." And even if truth itself is eternal, we as we are are not! We are "trapped" in the material, so truly, our actions should be directed against "repeated action." Why?
Because truth leans toward purity, and birth itself is inherently messy when viewed from that highest point of truth..

However, there is still plenty of acting and dying left to do here, because judging by the collective consciousness of the people, we are "still young."
What is the "world of action"? It is this world.
The moment you find yourself needing "action," it means you "want" something, and desire itself is an illusion; it never satisfies us permanently, only temporarily, before a new desire arises, and so it goes on forever..

Ryan Wilson2 said:Without the ego, we are nothing more than animals drowning in an endless sea of brotherhood and oneness.

That's just not true. Our humanity, which is what actually sets us apart from animals, isn't defined by the ego. Saying the ego is the only thing separating us from the animal kingdom is a huge mistake.

Nancy Thompson3 said:That's right! 👍
The ego is just part of being human. It gets messy when human nature tries to run the show for the divine. But it’s just as bad when the divine smothers our humanity entirely.
So, yes to the ego. But the ego isn't God. It’s not the boss; it’s just a tool.
And I'm the one holding the leash. Believe me, I am. It’s bumped into plenty of people, and now they’re all crying about it. But I only bumped into them because they were busy using their own little egos to come after me.

Spot on. You put that perfectly, and I'll just add a thought to prevent any confusion...
Think of the ego as both a cat and a shield. Without the ego, you lose both.

All this talk about the ego is beautiful, but it's also incredibly slippery ground. If a person isn't guided by someone who has already successfully walked that path, they can easily slip—to the point where the ice takes over and they won't even know how to get back up.

Nancy Thompson3 said:I’m not going to bother commenting on your experience; you were honest about it, so I guess there isn't much point.
As for my answer to your question:

Yeah, I want to be part of this world. It feels like my mission—and honestly, it's the mission for everyone actually participating in this thing. To do nothing would just be pure selfishness, and that would basically mean failing our purpose.

I want to be human, but I'm not *just* human. I know what I am, which is why I can play the human role without feeling any disgust or shame or whatever.
But I won't let "humanity" take over me. I'm the one in control here.
I'm already something more, and being something less... well, that's just not my mission.

If that's your answer—and I'd say it's the answer for most of you, including myself—then you actually need an ego..

If you want to change things, let me be blunt.. If you want to contribute to this world and you know that (change) aligns with what God intends, then you need an ego..

You need it at least enough to show others that you don't actually need one.. (nor do they).

Alright, I see this is one of those (rare) topics where the "experts" have gathered, so I’ll be completely honest with you..

I have lost my ego entirely. I don't think it happened all at once; it was more of a process..
If you're asking how, I don't really know how to answer that, but I can say I just followed that innermost voice..
And there's one more thing: I shifted my entire focus to the opposite side—moving from the object to the subject.
The object was the world around me, and the subject was me. Or rather, my existence in this world..

In the beginning, it was nice—blissful, even. I was focused (and still am) on my chest area, and there is nothing but absolute peace and tranquility there..
That lasted for a while..
Then I started descending. I should mention that it is a truly, deeply unpleasant experience. I don't know how to explain it; it’s like falling off a thoroughbred onto a donkey, or like trading gold for scrap iron and being forced to pay extra on top of it..
My thoughts turned to: "What have I lost?" I began this futile search for my former self, but going back was impossible..
To make a long story short, I'm lucky I stumbled upon the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It gave me some direction; otherwise, I’d probably be on lithium and whatever else people with schizophrenia take..
It was an experience where logical self-control vanished—a total absence of reason, where a flood of subconscious or unconscious content literally overwhelms my mind..
Do you have any idea what kind of hell that was for me?!
I’d be sitting with my mother, my brother, a friend, a neighbor—doesn't matter who—and this torrent of subconscious thoughts just keeps flowing. They’re talking to me, and I’m just staring at them, completely losing it, while a mass of dark thoughts and everything else attacks me. Literally, everything that crossed my mind, out of nowhere, became reality..
There were times when I’d be sitting alone on my bed, and what was around me wasn't reality, but just distorted projections of it—hallucinations.
Or I’d go out for a drink, and the sound of a car would be so piercingly loud that I’d start feeling nauseated by the noise, or the sound of sticks hitting the pavement..😲
I'm telling you, thank God someone finds a teaching like the Tibetan Book of the Dead in a state like that..

All those hallucinations were due to my karma. Whatever karma I had, those hallucinations were the result, whether good or bad..

Even now, I don't have a "self," but I haven't reached enlightenment either. I'm somewhere in between, and as the book says, I am in the process of re-forming—finding the new body I will inhabit... This might all sound a bit too mystical for some..

But let me ask you something. Before you start overthinking all of this, ask yourself one question: do you actually want to participate in this world? Do you want to be a human, something more, or something less?

For Ludacris..

I don't know how old you are. I'm 21, turning 22 in December. But reading your posts, I find myself thinking absolutely identical thoughts to yours.
Everything started the same way for me. Just a heads up, I used to do quite a bit of drugs, though I don't think that’s even really related (except for speed and ecstasy, which is much heavier stuff).
I started sinking in the exact same way you did. Even five years ago, I remember just passing by the word "schizophrenia" and hearing it, and it—this might sound crazy—immediately pulled me in. It was like it had a certain calling. And when I heard it was described as the "queen of all mental illnesses," I somehow, even more crazily, fell in love with the idea...
Not long after, I went looking for everything I could find about the illness online, in books, and so on. I became convinced that I had "caught" it myself...
Without listing all the symptoms you already mentioned, what attracted me most was the "constant and rapid shifting of opinions"—that's what I felt most intensely within myself.
I smoked weed for a long time without a care in the world, until one day something happened that would have sent any normal person into a total panic. I was sitting in my backyard with my usual crew, working on Joe and... something eerie, indescribable, terrifying, and not just uncomfortable, but truly, impressively frightening. My mind began to "wander" in directions that made zero sense to me, and I couldn't control them at all..
The fact that I perceived my close friends as mortal enemies—I honestly felt like they were threatening me with a knife to my throat—was the final straw in the sea of fear I was feeling. All the while, I was trying with everything I had to stay composed, to not just collapse on the ground and start shaking uncontrollably...
That was my first encounter with death. Death was waving right in my face... I was suffocating, unable to say anything, unable to even call out for help....
Luckily, there was a bottle of bourbon nearby, so I grabbed it and downed a good amount just to try and steady myself as much as possible....

What can I tell you? You mention the astral plane, that experience I had half an hour ago, and things like that. I’ve always been interested in those things too. Everything I’ve ever heard, and still listen to, is psychedelia, which just pushes me further and further away from "this world" and into these unexplored territories. The problem is I'm still young, and you probably are too, and trying to grasp these higher concepts feels like "flying without wings." You're soaring, but you have no wings to maneuver with....

Forget Holstein and Dubravka with their psychologists and psychiatrists. I've seen a few of them, and most are just idiots, with very few exceptions...
You know, to me it feels like that "everybody be cool, you be cool" vibe, and if you aren't, then just come over here and I'll "quietly pop" a pill for you...

What can I say, maybe we're dealing with the same issue, except I've just started grasping certain things about myself, specifically the concept of "growing up." I mean, because of my age, it should be happening, but I simply didn't want it to. As long as I wasn't taking responsibility for my actions, I could do whatever I wanted. Now that I'm supposed to step up, I feel like I've "returned to the womb"... But by the laws of the universe, that’s not how it works....

Keep writing...

Paul Thomas9 said:I honestly don't even know where to start with this... I think it all kicked off back in middle school during the summer. I was just heading back to my apartment, eating some ice cream, and when I went to toss the wrapper in the trash can, this random thought just slammed into my brain: "What if something bad happens if I throw this in right now?" I don't know how to put this into words, but basically, if you go to throw away trash and you miss the bin three or four times, you start getting this overwhelming fear that something terrible is going to happen—depending on what you're thinking about. You can only actually finish the task once you've forced yourself to think of something positive, or just cleared your head completely... It wasn't that intense at first, but it’s been five or six years now and I'm terrified that this condition has spiraled out of control. Is my brain just failing me? I can't sleep most nights because I feel like there are these forces acting on me. I mean, I guess things act on us, but probably not the way I imagine they do... I really hope not. Honestly, the symptoms are endless. I see shadows on the walls and feel like someone is constantly standing behind me or watching me—I can't tell if it's people or something else entirely. It's exhausting. I can't even watch a weird movie or anything involving the paranormal anymore because I immediately think it's actually happening to me. My thoughts get so dark that even a psychiatrist would probably be spooked... There's so much more to say, but I'll save that for another time. So, tell me... am I crazy or what?!!!!!!!

Hmm... First, I'd have to ask how you're doing with drugs.
Specifically ecstasy or speed?

In my opinion, this sounds like pure paranoia 😲 ... But don't worry...

I'm not sure if you've ever heard that song by the band where they sing "Someone is watching us," but I've written about whether everyone feels that way or if it's just us "drug users."
It turns out there are both types of people, though that "syndrome" seems more common among those who use.

I also get the sensation that I'm being watched—"someone is always watching us"—and then it goes, "but who is always watching us, who is always watching us..."

Ultimately, I've concluded that you are essentially "watching yourself," or perhaps something inside you is observing you...

Keep writing... and don't be afraid. We're all here... a bunch of broken people... to help you out... or at least... to offer some... comfort.