Posts by brisktiger56

neonscout5 said:In that context... even a powerful individual hasn't quite managed to overcome their own self-isolation.

Look, a powerful person has power—but what actually *is* power? Let’s stay focused on the question here.

Now we’re drifting into deep philosophical territory 😉... and honestly, philosophy has already proven that nothingness is actually SOMETHING

jademarlin26, when you say: Hey, smart guy...
Are you actually aware of how condescending you're being?

neonscout5 said:When it stems from the mind, it's just your own ego. But when it flows from the void? That's where the true energy, God, unconditional love, and Truth reside.

But... what if this whole "I" thing is actually just my ego talking?

Your whole collection of thoughts actually gave me an idea for a new way to define 😉—maybe something that captures the raw, uninhibited capacity to act, whether mentally or physically, toward someone or something...

Sorry, but I just don't have the bandwidth—at least not today—to jump back into those recent threads that have basically devolved into a circular shouting match and a lot of failed attempts at convincing one another... I’d much rather dive into this quoted bit, which I actually find pretty fascinating!

Ethan Johnson said:Anyone here actually self-aware enough to have a sense of their own "Self"? I’d love to hear a few thoughts from you guys. Once you start digging into your "Self," this weird phenomenon happens where the "Self" starts observing "itself." We basically have to step into the shoes of the thinker—but can the thinker actually know who they are? It's kind of like asking if a knife can cut itself, right?

This whole thing actually popped up from that other thread about "being what you are." But here, I really want to figure out if we can even talk about our "Self" in any meaningful way. Are we just a collection of our thoughts—those random ideas floating through our heads? Probably not, since thoughts just drift in and out whenever they feel like it. So, are we our bodies? Nah, because our bodies are constantly shifting, cells are swapping out, and we're all just getting older. So... what the hell is the "Self" actually?

It seems to me that it is entirely possible for a knife to cut itself—those people who are pathologically self-critical are a perfect example, aren't they?

The "SELF" is (at least in my estimation) the foundation of everything that exists as perceived by us. Without our "SELF," there is no world around us, nor anything else for that matter. Everything filters through our "SELF"; everything passes through it, and it's a struggle to bypass it.

1. Anyone here who is self-aware and has a "Self."My own "SELF" shifts constantly, and I often wonder... which "SELF" was I before? Because right now, I finally feel like *me*. Then a year or two rolls by, and I reach the exact same conclusion about my past version and how I experienced being "me."
2. Could you write a few words about yourself? Sure, I could write a whole novel, but maybe specify exactly what you're looking for.
3. When we begin to look at our "self," this phenomenon happens where the "Self" observes "itself." It's as natural as looking at your reflection in a mirror. Except, the "SELF" is tricky—it's hard to see certain parts, much like how it's difficult to see your own back in a mirror without using a second one to get the angle right.😉
4. We have to step into the role of the thinker, but can a thinker truly know themselves?They can, provided they can psychologically distance themselves—viewing their own flaws and mistakes as if they were observing their worst enemy. That’s incredibly difficult, though, and yet strangely easy if you find the right motivation.
5. Can a knife cut itself?Oh, absolutely. Not only can it cut itself, it can slice right through, which is obviously how you end up with a suicide.

briskeagle3 said:Here’s how I’d define true power:

It’s when you have the ability to act, but you choose not to—not because you lack the capacity, but simply because you can afford to stay still.

That sounds more like a description of a mature, enlightened mind... rather than power itself.

Real power is having 500 horsepower under the hood of a Mercedes-Benz, but actual wisdom is being the driver who doesn't floor it past an elementary school just to prove a point and risk everyone's safety.

What you’re actually getting at is: my power is evident in the fact that I don't feel the need to show it off, because I already know it's there. Sure, fine. But that's really about mental maturity—having a sense of self that doesn't require constant demonstrations of force to feel fulfilled.

But before all that philosophical stuff kicks in, you actually have to possess the power to act in the first place. Our topic here is defining that specific value—that raw, unbridled capacity that exists without any inherent direction or moral compass...

casualmaker13 said:That’s a nice little fantasy you've got going there, but honestly, you might want to open your eyes for a second. Look around. There's day and there's night on this planet where you're currently standing. When it's night, there isn't any light—at least none coming from the sun. Unless, I guess, you actually bother to flip a switch and turn on a lightbulb.😁
Maybe in some other galaxy, it’s just constant night, or maybe it's perpetual daylight, or who knows—something else entirely. But honestly, you can only really sit there and daydream about it. You have absolutely no clue what it's actually like out there.😲

P.S. Good grief, when you really think about it, day and night aren't even real things. It’s just light and dark. The sun is basically just pure light, and then there's all this darkness surrounding it. I guess that's just how it works.
The sun can only light up such a tiny little corner of this universe, which is mostly just darkness and nothingness, I guess.😉

🙂I left you some room to think, and wow, you really got emotionally invested there. So, according to you, day and night don't exist for the sun, but there's this darkness surrounding it? Well, yeah. Darkness was already sitting there long before the sun ever showed up to brighten things up. Light had to be missing for the situation to change in the first place. It's kind of like that riddle in the movie Life Is Beautiful: Say my name and I am gone! Who am I?

Silence!

The moment you say the word "silence," you aren't actually experiencing silence anymore—you've just created a phenomenon that shifts things in a very clear direction > much like those situations Einstein talks about.

Anyway, let's get back to talking about power, or at least try to stay a little on topic.

Anonymous said:

It’s obvious how light and life emerged from pure darkness and stagnation. It’s a pretty incredible transformation for the better.

For whom? God, the Absolute, the Universe, eternity... it doesn't really matter.
If we only look at these concepts through a strictly human lens, we’re never going to grasp the deeper levels. Just try to imagine a reality where "good" and "evil" don't even exist. Try looking at the world through that perspective for a second.

So, a day is just the absence of night, just as night is the absence of day.

The technical definition would be more like: daytime is when a specific part of the planet is exposed to the sun's light...
Circular definitions like that don't actually explain anything, nor do they help anyone truly understand what's happening.

Once you step outside the human perspective—you know, in the context of the cosmos or "eternity"—talking about power becomes kind of ridiculous. When a comet slams into a planet, that planet doesn't sit there feeling helpless, mostly because it doesn't have the hardware to feel anything at all. It's the same with the sun; the sun doesn't "feel" its own power. It just exists. We're the ones slapping labels and values onto it. At the end of the day, we're people—this forum exists for us, not for some random cloud of dust in quadrant 5x. We're discussing power here in a very specific, human sense. Day and night have nothing to do with it. I was just using those examples to show that helplessness isn't some opposite force to power; it's simply the absence of it.

casualmaker13 said:What you’ve laid out here is basically just a specific philosophy you've picked because it fits your worldview.😲
Actually, you're saying the exact same thing I am.
By that logic, we could just as easily say light is the absence of darkness, or heat is the absence of cold—it ends up being the same argument.
That’s just how we see nature, right? This constant cycle of night and day, light and dark, birth and death. These are just opposites sitting on the same spectrum. Having versus not having, plus versus minus, positive versus negative.
It would be pretty silly to claim one can't exist without the other, just like it would be silly to argue that light is somehow "stronger" than darkness.😁

The other thing is, you seem to be rejecting this other side entirely, but maybe that's just because you're afraid of death, and that fear pulls everything else down with it.😉

So, let me get this straight—first I write whatever fits my mood, and then somehow, by some stroke of cosmic luck, it turns out I actually said what you were saying all along?! Pick a lane here. 😉

I actually dig that logic, though—it highlights the actual direction of change.

First off, you’ve got darkness and coldness (specifically out in deep space), and then you’ve got a sun that, due to the fundamental forces of nature, lights up and warms a tiny little corner of the cosmos. It’s pretty easy to see how light and life emerged from that state of void and stagnation. It’s a fascinating shift toward something better. Is it technically correct to say that life is the absence of nothingness—or rather, stillness—or that the opposite of life is stillness? We could debate that forever, but it's a bit of a circular argument... long, long ago, before there was any life on Earth, how could life even have an "opposite"?

Basically, your starting point is looking at things and their opposites in the present moment, whereas I’m taking a wider view. When I look back into the distant past, I see the total absence of life, light, goodness, and power.

Powerlessness isn't the opposite of power. Powerlessness is just the state caused by the absence of power. That condition we call "powerlessness" is what existed long before power ever showed up. And once power finally arrived, it triggered a shift with a very clear direction, and again—that’s the part of the Einsteinian perspective I really like.

p.s. It’s kind of funny how day and night don't actually exist from the perspective of the sun! That whole concept is just a byproduct of our limited human perception, where we interpret everything through opposites—day being the absence of night, night being the absence of day. Whatever. There aren't really "opposites" there; it’s just a result of the Earth's rotation making it impossible for sunlight to hit the entire surface at once.

Brian Foster3 said:It’s simple: we gravitate toward people who mirror our own traits. The more someone acts like me, the more I want them around, and the more different they are, the faster I'm running the other way! It's just that spiritual law where like attracts like.

Is everything just a massive coincidence or is it all predestined? Honestly, it depends on how you look at it, but when you start following a specific path or vibe, you inevitably run into more similarities and things that fit your mold—so it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking everything was scripted from the start.

That's not about "personal viewpoints." Those views are totally arbitrary and subjective; they don't show you what's actually happening, they just show you a version of reality filtered through your own selfish desires and quirks. Spiritual paradoxes exist perfectly fine without needing your opinion, and you only get the real truth once you stop looking through that lens.

I really feel like very little is set in stone. In every single one of those 86,400 seconds we get each day, we're making choices—trying to do good, aiming for improvement, or squeezing the best out of a bad situation.

That's just the ego playing its game. You think "very little is set in stone" because reality is incredibly complex, but honestly, the whole system is rigged to create this illusion of free will and random chance. In the spiritual realm, space and time aren't even real things.

By shunning anything that feels "different," a person really just ends up robbing themselves of new perspectives—perspectives that might actually be useful. Honestly, rejecting diversity is just a fast track to intolerance...

It isn't about having a personal opinion. These things are arbitrary and subjective; they don't reflect the actual state of reality, but rather a version of reality filtered through a person's specific desires and personality. Spiritual paradoxes exist without any issues—in fact, they work perfectly. It's only when you experience them directly that you get "true knowledge" of how things are.

There are as many spiritual models on this planet as there are people. Spirituality is an individual thing, right? Paradoxes only exist within someone's spirituality if that person perceives and accepts them as such. My take is that spirituality isn't some homogeneous, universal construct that's identical for everyone. If you think I'm wrong, feel free to try and convince me otherwise.

That's all just the ego's programming at work. You might feel like "too little is mapped out" because reality is incredibly complex, but it's actually designed that way—to create this illusion of free will and randomness. In the spiritual realm, for instance, space and time don't even exist.

The ego likely manufactured "spirituality" as a way to balance out the material world and those raw, physical interactions. In the spiritual sphere, you can claim pretty much anything and prove nothing, so space and time effectively vanish. And if real space and time didn't exist, spirituality would be... well, where would it even be? People wouldn't even be able to mention it, because people wouldn't exist either...

People have the power to organize their life and their worldview however they see fit. I've set mine up my way, and you've set yours up yours. We both just used the power we had.

casualmaker13 said:Power is basically just the flip side of helplessness. That’s pretty much the whole definition right there.
It works just like anything else we talk about in terms of dualities—you know, positive versus negative, light against dark, yin and yang, all that stuff that keeps the world spinning.
I guess you could try throwing in other concepts like knowledge versus ignorance, possibility versus impossibility, or fear versus courage, but honestly? Adding more layers just muddies the water and drags the topic out further.
And it probably won't actually help us get any closer to figuring out what power really is...😉

Personally, I find that other definition of darkness—the one Einstein floated—to be way more logical and grounded: darkness is simply the absence of light. It follows the same pattern, really. Cold isn't some opposing force to heat; it's just the absence of heat. Even evil isn't a standalone thing; it's just the absence of good. Take electricity, for instance. We call them "plus" and "minus" poles, which makes it sound like this big dualistic struggle, but it's actually just electrons moving from where they are concentrated to where they aren't—it's all about equalizing potential. So, this whole "duality" thing... honestly, it's a stretch. Duality feels more like a convenient little construct our minds use to make sense of things.

What do you think about those Einsteinian ideas? They clearly don't fit into that lazy, broad-stroke dualism people love to apply to everything, but most of us tend to oversimplify things—stuffing everything into extreme categories—just because we lack the patience to sit back and actually sense the nuances.

If we follow that logic, powerlessness would just be a state where power is missing. People who are powerless usually end up looking for help 😉, essentially searching for what they don't have.

wearyhawk83 said:For someone who doesn't know how to actually use their brain, I'd say that's a pretty spot-on take. Basically, saying we're no different from animals.

So, tell me: what's stopping me today from pausing, thinking things through, and deciding to act exactly how I want to—completely defying the way my past circumstances "built" me?

Sure, maybe a massive crisis could knock me off course, and if I've never bothered to work on self-control or objective reasoning, then yeah, I'd be stuck.

But if I've actually put in the work to develop those qualities, then 80% of the time, I am absolutely going to act out of true freedom.

And I'm not talking about some fake, subjective nonsense either. I mean real, genuine freedom. It's the greatest gift we've got.

We don't need superpowers for this; we just need an open mind, some discipline, regular practice with our self-control, and a decent radar for seeing things exactly as they actually are.

Exactly. If you can think for yourself and make independent choices, you have the agency to act.

Maybe a situation gets heavy enough that all my willpower and logic just fly out the window—mostly because I've never really practiced using them.

Spot on. There are plenty of people wired that way. Honestly, that sense of helplessness is tucked away inside all of us; it's entirely up to us to fix those mental glitches. But the real kicker is: how? How do you repair something that's been neglected for decades—or maybe even intentionally suppressed (in the case of someone who grew up in an abusive household)? A young person with shattered self-esteem doesn't feel powerful, nor do they even know how to reclaim that power. They might not even realize anything is missing, since they've never actually known what it feels like to be at peace with themselves.

Look, we didn't get a vote on our parents, our looks, or our basic temperament—that was all decided before we even had a say in the matter. But friends? We actually have some agency there, both back then and still today. There are things we can steer, and things that are just out of our hands—or were, at least, a long time ago.

Whether it’s all just random cosmic noise or some grand, pre-written destiny—well, that’s really down to your own philosophy. But when you start following a specific thread, an energy, or a particular idea... you're bound to run into similarities more often. You find what fits you best, and in those moments, it feels pretty easy to conclude that everything was meant to be.

Personally, I don't think much is set in stone on a day-to-day basis. Within those 86,400 seconds we get every single day, we make choices. We choose what’s good for us, we try to pivot toward something better, or we attempt to squeeze some kind of meaning out of a messy situation.

Having that sense of agency is huge—it's basically the only way to steer your life in the direction you actually want to go. If we don't even realize we have the power to choose, then everything feels pretty hopeless. But if you grew up learning, say, how to stand up to bullies in middle school or how to dodge a bad crowd, then you've hit the jackpot. Of course, it’s never too late to tap into the potential sitting inside you—that power belongs to us. Whether we’re actually aware of it, or whether we're brave enough to actually use it... well, that's a whole different story.

Anonymous said:Spot on. Kids have almost zero agency early on. But there comes a point—at different ages for everyone—where they finally gain enough leverage to make a choice: they can either keep dragging all that old baggage along, or they can let it go and reclaim their own energy. By doing that, they pull that power back into themselves and take responsibility for how they use it.
People who are stuck living in the past just aren't ready to step up and take that kind of ownership (honestly, most of us struggle with that more or less every day).

I’d argue that babies actually have quite a bit of power from day one—specifically, the power to drive their parents absolutely insane 😁, especially when they’re hungry, thirsty, wet, tired, or sick. It’s basically hardwired; when those situations hit, the kid pulls an alarm that you can feel in your teeth 😉. The crying and screaming force parents to do everything humanly possible—often way beyond their actual capacity—just to get some peace and quiet. That’s a baby’s superpower. Later on, though, a different cycle kicks in... a new phase of power that society, or whatever power structures are running the show, loves to stifle in the most creative ways imaginable. This inherent ability that could allow someone to truly become themselves is usually suppressed, forcing the individual into a pre-set social mold.

It reminds me of feudalism—kind of like how Franjo Tahi preferred a system where peasants weren't empowered, but were instead kept quiet, submissive, and obedient. Spiritually speaking, the church used to push this idea that eternal life was the goal, but you could only reach it if you suffered enough while on Earth. It was all designed to diminish the influence of the working class, while the centers of power—you know, guys like Tahi or the high clergy—lived incredibly well by skimming off the top of everything the common people produced.

Has anything really changed today?

Well, actually, things have shifted, yet we still haven't really gained control over our own power do you think? Isn't that right?

Anonymous said:Look, I’m an individualist. I don't believe there are some external forces pulling the strings of our lives like that. Within the context of this debate, I think it’s fair to say we all make our own calls.
The ability to choose is a massive lesson to learn, and honestly, it's a huge power in itself.
It carries just as much weight when we talk about figures like Gandhi or Hitler as it does when we decide not to spend our entire lives blaming others for injustices we faced as kids. I'm talking about the impact that choice has on the person making it, not how it affects the world at large.

Personally, I’m leaning toward the bolded part here.

A child's willpower—much like their self-awareness, their sense of self within the world, their social environment, and their understanding of personal agency—is essentially handed over to whoever is raising them.

If someone had actually made us aware of this a long time ago, we probably wouldn't be sitting here right now, trying to figure out what "power" actually is, where it comes from, or what we can even do with it...

Brian Foster3 said:Duh, obviously! We love feeling good because, frankly, it feels great. And since everything we do is basically a quest for some kind of hit of dopamine, we feed ourselves these pretty little thoughts about how awesome we are just to soak up that sweet, sweet satisfaction. If we actually faced the truth and thought poorly of ourselves, it would be pure misery, and let's be real—nobody wants to deal with suffering. So yeah, we're being totally selfish by thinking well of ourselves just so we can feel comfortable.🙂

The ways we pull this off are endless. I mean, look at us: we twist reality to fit our narrative, we flat-out ignore things that happen, we deny what's right in front of our faces, and then we go ahead and craft our own little "subjective truths" through pure delusion, making stuff up, fantasizing, or just gaslighting ourselves until we believe the lie.

So, if we aren't using it to dodge reality, how are we actually supposed to use power?

Brian Foster3 said:Exactly.

but still, wouldn't giving to someone else be better for them, I find it hard to accept it as an abuse of power when selfishness is acting as the "client"...

Nobody ever said this was an "abuse," even if selfishness is pulling the strings—it’s just hidden, and that’s the whole damn trick. We can't even see our own selfishness because we all love to tell ourselves how great we are... and honestly, why wouldn't we? 😉

Why?

Hmmmm, good question... why do we love thinking well of ourselves?
If we had actual power, wouldn't we just use it to feed that exact need?

Brian Foster3 said:Basically, yeah. There’s a technicality there, but honestly, who cares? When you dump your problems on someone, you're just taking from them to get something back, whereas making someone laugh feels like giving—but even then, it's still about getting something "for yourself." Making people laugh is just a much sneakier kind of selfishness. You think you're being a saint by trying to cheer someone up, but really, you're just doing it so *you* don't have to sit there feeling depressed alongside them. If I can make you laugh, then both of us feel better, and suddenly I don't have to carry the weight of your bad mood anymore. It's all just a way to serve ourselves. 🙂

Selfishness is clearly everywhere...

but still, I find it hard to wrap my head around calling the act of giving to someone else an "abuse of power" just because egoism is pulling the strings behind the scenes...

Brian Foster3 said:Duh! It totally is. I mean, think about it—anyone who spends their time cracking jokes just to get a reaction is basically just feeding their own ego and sucking up all that attention for themselves.🙂
If brisktiger56 wasn't such a massive narcissist looking for a cheap thrill, he wouldn't even bother trying to be funny in the first place. 🙂

So, is it also "selfish" to have the power to drag people down? Like, when we dump our personal baggage on everyone else—forcing them to deal with our drama, expecting them to make excuses for us being jerks...

Is cracking a joke to get a laugh just as selfish as making everyone feel miserable?

Brian Foster3 said:Exactly. It’s material. And honestly, it’s selfish. If you want to be truly "rich in spirit," you have to perceive things through a spiritual lens, which is a bit of a paradox. In this world, when we claim someone is spiritually wealthy, what we really mean is that they’re damn good at spotting weird, unexpected connections and analogies, or maybe they just have an incredibly deep understanding of the physical world—and yeah, that includes human thoughts and desires, even though people mistakenly label those things as "spiritual." At the end of the day, it all falls back into the material realm, not some mystical spiritual one.

Wow... so, by that logic, being able to make people laugh is just pure egoism?