Posts by Taylor Campbell4

(That’s easily the best point you’ve made across all three discussions 😁 )

Honestly, it seems like almost every single one of your posts just ends up proving my point...

I honestly believe you’ll find yourself moving past this—that whole idea of needing to "make up for a lack of love"—once you truly discover who you are. Once you manage to detach from those old baggage issues and learn how to function as a self-sufficient individual, things change.

We really do shape our own lives. Sure, childhood struggles can influence us to an extent, but in my experience, it isn't set in stone—nothing is permanent.

Actually, I don't think the goal should be filling a void or compensating for a lack of affection; that feels like the wrong approach to me. Rather, those early imbalances—whether it was too little of something or far too much of something else—created specific patterns. We need to address those actual patterns instead of trying to chase down some phantom loss of love from years ago...

Best of luck

It’s actually quite interesting—if you think about it—how modern science, with its biased "obvious" conclusions and lack of perspective, ends up fueling these kinds of negative trends.

If I may share my own perspective—I often get the feeling that deep down, most
individuals actually look down on others; when they don't, it feels like...
they're just better at hiding it.

If that were truly the case, the world would be a pretty dark place—not even calling it miserable, just dark. 😁 Personally, I know there are plenty of people who have moved past things like condescension or ego. Sure, you see it everywhere, but I can't agree with the idea that there aren't those who have actually outgrown it.

Liebe Betty, you know you're right—and so do I—but how exactly does all this help us out in the real world, especially living here in America?

And if you're all so incredibly brilliant with those high IQ scores that supposedly signal "intelligence," why don't you go ahead and fix things for America? 😕

Or—I mean, who knows—maybe you'll suggest that the US starts handing out massive pensions, similar to what they give an Olympian, and perhaps someone will actually vote for that... 🤔

Andrew Jackson83 said::asshole: What kind of education are they handing out in preschool these days? 😎

Well, there you have it—if you don't catch onto that, it just means you weren't paying attention during those "left vs. right" games back in kindergarten. 😁

Andrew Jackson83 said:I’m going to drop this under this thread... it isn't about being lost, per se, but more of a "glitch" regarding left and right. Someone tells me to turn right, and I instinctively veer left, or vice versa. It happens constantly. It takes me a few seconds to actually process which side is which 😬 .

Looks like you need to go back to preschool 😬

Aside from the anxiety of sitting down (and that nagging fear of hopping on the wrong bus), I still have to figure out the logistics—I'm landing in a major city at 2 AM, and there isn't another bus headed toward her town until around 9 AM. Where am I supposed to go in the meantime? Honestly, just being stuck alone at a bus station in the middle of the night sounds terrifying.

Man, it sounds like your biggest hurdle isn't the navigation, it's the anxiety itself...

In my view, that fear is just hitting you a bit harder than usual.

At its core, everything stems from fear. It’s the same with me—I tend to overthink things way too much, constantly questioning if I'm on the right track or if I'm going to mess something up subconsciously. That mental loop just pulls you away from your intuition and creates this frantic noise in your head until you lose touch with what you actually knew. 🤣 So, really, fear is the root cause here.

The only real way to deal with any kind of fear is to push through it and ignore it. I hope you can manage that.

PS: I remember exiting the airport in Mumbai at 1 AM once—which is generally considered risky since you can't head back inside and people say traveling at night is dangerous—and I spent a few hours navigating across that massive city to reach my destination on the other side. I took the public transit instead of a taxi just to save some cash 😁 . I didn't get lost, though; I mean, I was a little turned around once or twice, but that was nothing 😁 , especially since I had clear directions on where I needed to go.

The trick is to stop overthinking everything and just lean into that gut feeling—your intuition.
Of course, you still need to have a general sense of direction.

I struggle with this myself (honestly, it can be pretty ridiculous; years ago, I actually managed to get lost on Martha's Vineyard while looking for 🤣), and I know exactly why it happens. It's because of what I mentioned above.
Besides, everyone's brain processes things differently. When I'm listening to someone give me directions—well, I’m not exactly a natural at it. 😁 They’ll tell me to go left, then right, then straight, and by the time they hit the third instruction, I’ve already blanked on the first two. 🤣 So, if I’m somewhere unfamiliar and have to ask for help, I try to limit them to just two or three steps at a time. That way, I can make it part of the way before I inevitably have to ask again. 🤣 But since I recognize my own patterns, I try to relax and trust that inner compass. It's usually spot on, but I have a habit of "smothering" it with too much logic. On the other hand, I know people who are incredibly tuned in to that instinct—they navigate life effortlessly.

Maybe your eyesight is failing you, or perhaps you're just squinting too hard from a distance. Why don't you get a little closer to the owner or the crew and then let us know 😉
(And maybe give them a little tug on the hair—just to be safe, since who knows if it’s actually hair or... something else)

Regardless, I'll take white hair over being bald any day—you know, like Rojs.

I think I’ve actually had two semi-lucid dreams. In one of them, I was being chased—basically, some detectives were trying to arrest me. At one point, I became somewhat conscious and said something I knew—I can't quite recall 😬—but it had to do with Sai Baba, that spiritual teacher from India. I just remembered his name while in the dream.
The other time, I was hiking through all of Europe with this girl 😬 (this happened right after I read that article on Yoga Journal). In real life, I had been daydreaming about taking her on a trip or something. So, in the dream, we went trekking, and then somewhere in Central Europe (😬), we mutually decided to part ways; I told her I wanted to keep moving forward, and she headed back. It was also somewhat lucid—well, maybe not fully lucid, but more like one of those wish-fulfillment dreams (the kind they talk about on Yoga Journal) where you experience a desire, and once it's fulfilled, you aren't tied to that craving anymore... 😉

You can find more information regarding lucid dreaming over at dreamershub.com. There are even several firsthand accounts from people who have experienced fully lucid dreams there.
Even after reading through those stories—which I can personally vouch for based on my own experiences—you might find yourself slipping into a lucid or semi-lucid dream state...

Is it being painted?

(Fine, but I didn't say it wasn't a crime)

By the way, I think the Los Angeles Times ran a story yesterday about yet another death sentence handed down in Japan—sentences have apparently been on the rise lately, supposedly due to an uptick in crime (though there's always more to the story behind any trend). It’s worth noting that Japan actually maintains one of the lowest street crime rates in the world, and that hasn't changed recently.
(So, in my view, there isn't a connection there—certainly nothing chronologically linked to the increase in capital punishment)

There was also this striking detail in the report: when responding to the defendant's appeal, the judge basically told him something along these lines:

"I am sorry (!), but your deed was so brutal that you must accept responsibility for it."
Essentially, the plea for clemency was denied with those exact sentiments.

Cases like this—not just involving the death penalty, but similar instances too—really suggest to me that something is fundamentally broken at the core of our global society. (And honestly, this topic doesn't get nearly enough attention in this PDF compared to other threads; I used to have this illusion that philosophy should be tackling this head-on as a matter of course. But it seems hard to conclude whether these foundational irregularities, or this fundamentally flawed state of affairs, constitute a specific "ailment"—it's almost as if philosophy has bypassed the issue entirely. To me, this was clearly reflected in that thread originally titled "Why or why on earth?", which was eventually renamed to the rather dry "problem glad")

swiftcobra15 said:

I assume we should only be executing actual people? 😕

Either you missed my point, or I'm just a terrible storyteller—it seems we're both a bit lost here. 😁
If that’s really how I phrased it, then it's actually pretty funny: I had a caller on the show once who said she was "definitely for the death penalty, provided we're careful not to kill the wrong person"—meaning, obviously, only punish the guilty.
Knowing the facts as they stand, I find that sentiment almost tragically absurd.

Look, if there's still some confusion about what I meant by "wrong," I was referring to the wrongfully accused—those sentenced to death by mistake... which, from everything I've seen and researched, happens far more often than people care to admit in this country today.

To all sounds like pure apologetics to me—it’s the same pattern every time someone feels the need to point it out: first they focus on themselves (though, honestly, how far does that go? No one ever defines the limit...), and then they pivot to "society."
It strikes me as an excuse used by those who claim to be "persistently" working on self-improvement—or perhaps they’ve truly had that "epiphany" where they believe changing oneself is enough, and that you don't actually need to, say, 😬"stop screwing people over and start helping them because I'm busy working on my inner self"—but in any practical, physical sense, when it comes to actually sharing the fruits of that growth, they tend to lag behind. Whether it's due to inertia, laziness, complacency, or that specific illusion I mentioned earlier, they just stall out.

People often mistake this for an illusion—specifically, a widespread misconception regarding the core claim of this topic and its various interpretations

The crux of the matter is that "self-improvement"—if you'll excuse my use of the jargon—inherently demands outward action in that same spirit of betterment. Calling it "fixing oneself" sounds a bit clunky, doesn't it? It would be more accurate to call it service, or simply helping others.

There is this pervasive illusion that one must first achieve total self-mastery—resolving every single internal conflict and personal hurdle, if you catch my drift—before they can finally step out and make a practical contribution to improving the world or their immediate community.

However, if we all waited until we were completely flawless or problem-free before acting, no one would ever step up, and the state of our world would be even bleaker than it is today. Besides, the journey toward "perfection," or that process of self-refinement, is actually inseparable from serving others. They go hand in hand, naturally...

I might have overcomplicated things there, but I hope the nature of this illusion—which, much like any illusion, is ultimately quite damaging—has become clear...

swiftcobra15 said:

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Let's just hope Bush doesn't run for office again—if he did, they'd probably just find some new "bin Laden" to hang on command. Then again, you never know... maybe Jeb Bush will throw his hat in the ring.

stormylynx23 said:was primarily a matter of social withdrawal.

I get what you're saying—I really do—but I just wanted to point out that being an introvert is perfectly normal. Roughly half the population leans toward introversion, while the other half is more extroverted, more or less. As people mature, they often reach a point where they can lean into either side depending on the situation or their own preference. Neither trait is inherently "bad"; in fact, for someone seeking true balance, having the capacity to navigate both worlds is actually quite beneficial. That said, it’s also completely fine if someone naturally stays more on one end of the spectrum. We shouldn't fall into the trap of thinking everyone needs to be a constant social butterfly or the loudest person in the room. People should just be themselves—authentic, honest about who they are, and free from those kinds of expectations.