Kevin Beal

Thanks for the response Emilia! I don't think romantic relationships are friendship + sex. I don't snuggle with my guy friends for example. And also, yes, sex is important. Maybe that's not mature or wise of me to say or whatever, but I think it's a pretty big deal. As far as having unprocessed history goes: I was in the middle of an unrequited love relationship for more than a decade. At least, that's what I always thought. My mother divorced my father, apparently without warning and the only reason ever given was in private to him and not the children ("I just want to see other people"). He obviously hated and loved her for a long time. He never dated again, save for a brief stint shortly after the divorce, with a woman I didn't hear about until much later. Unfortunately, I got a lot of weird, creepy alienation of affection stuff from both sides of the ugly bitter divorce. My father never let go of it (I believe) and recently lived in a disgusting trailer with his body falling apart in terrible poverty until he was moved into an old folks home of some kind. Before that, he was a successful entrepreneur and real estate investor supporting 10 children. My thinking as a child was probably something like "mom is good, so good women can destroy men's lives without warning and everyone praises her for it". As you can imagine, I have been very cautious when it comes to dating, and even my own feelings about particular girls growing up, I would try to suppress. This has irritated people most of my life who wanted me to date a friend they had or ask someone out because I had done so much as look in her direction. But the stakes have always felt high. So, I absolutely do have some baggage. I'm more than willing to go there. I still stand behind the unrequited love thing. And apparently it's not just me or a portion of the male population, it's also Karen Straghan (GirlWritesWhat). She also comments on this phenomena where a guy is into a girl and then gets frustrated when she doesn't reciprocate, and how that all escalates into mutual resentment. I don't know if that's anything you are saying, but what you said reminded me of how guys who resent the friend zone are sometimes portrayed as being immature and jerks for "settling" for friendship. I don't think that's accurate at all and she explains it very well in this video:

And therefore experiencing myself going to jupiter in a dream is just as empirical and real as my waking life?

I value a romantic relationship over a platonic one, yes. Don't you? I think I mistyped the bit about what ladies feel about it. And I concede that point anyway. I don't know what the hell I think about it all right now. I know there is that part of me that hates seeing unrequited love, but maybe that's not really something I can spare myself or others from. Probably the thing I want more than anything else in the world, is to fall in love. I tend to put barriers in the way of that, and it would be a shame if that's what I were doing here. That friendship may grow into a love relationship for all I know. Or maybe I will be satisfied with friendship when my love is unrequited (even if it wasn't the case in the past). I don't know, what do you think? I'm open to any criticism or advice you may have.

Okay. I've had an OBE before. I've taken several psychedelic drugs. I've had all sorts of profound experiences. I know exactly what you are talking about. By your logic, I now have authority on this subject and can tell you that you are wrong. I am not dismissing an experience. I'm dismissing an explanation for the experience. I experienced going to Jupiter in a dream I had, but I don't say to people that I actually went to jupiter. People saying that they experienced astral travel and therefore they actually went to a space between worlds. No, they just experienced things as if they had gone to a place between worlds. What I have a problem with is people jumping to irrational conclusions, often because it makes them feel special. I would love to be able to say sincerely that I actually went to Jupiter. What an amazing thing that would be. But I subject my thinking to rational standards and I cannot justify making such a claim, especially given the clear contradiction in saying that minds exist independently of bodies. The fact that your prescription is hallucinogenic drugs in order to get closer to knowing reality is very telling. Reality is the opposite of reality. Humility is the opposite of humility. Not that I don't value some of the experiences and thoughts I had while on psychedelics, but to portray it as if it's a tool to find greater truth is such an obviously silly thing, that not to mention that it actually distorts your perception of the world is just to prefer not to subject your beliefs to rational standards, willful ignorance.

Torrents will be added back. It may be different torrents, tho

This is another relevant Daniel Mackler video that just came out:

Thanks! And this issue seems to be fixed now. And it's hosted along with freedomainradio.com, so your donations already go toward hosting. And thank you for that!

I will be adding a button specifically for this soon, but in the meantime you can get the url to the mp3 file in the description box and go to that page. The actual browser implementation will be different, but in chrome you just right click and "save as". In internet explorer, I think it just downloads it. At least, it used to in older versions. Unless you mean downloading an entire feed. In which case, you can get the RSS and iTunes feeds toward the bottom of the page, under the heading "Subscribe to the Freedomain Radio Podcast Feeds". Good question!

That's an excellent point. Thank you for bringing it up! There is actually an option to make it so it doesn't play right away. It's the blue squared refresh button next to the shuffle which I'm calling "autoplay". But maybe it should be turned off by default... I don't know. What do you think? I guess, alternately I could make that happen on double click and show the description on single click... You've got me thinking

I don't know exactly how it's broken down, but I'm not on the staff. I am a volunteer. I did this free of charge because the show has had such a profound impact on my life. There's Stef, obviously, and then Mike is the only employee (I believe) and then JamesP is the wizard who did the migration from the previous forums technology to the new forums and has done other cool stuff like the streamer that's in the chat. Other volunteers have been paid (animators for the documentary, for example), but they aren't "staff" per se. I think the board moderators are Mike and James and that's it. I'm not entirely sure how that's all broken down. I think you'd have to ask Mike about that. I'm glad you guys like it! And sorry to hear about your friend, David . I hope those podcasts are of help. I know they were helpful to me.

You may have noticed already, but if you select "Podcasts" from the FDR homepage, you are now directed to FDRPodcasts.com v1.0. It's a way of easily finding podcasts on all of the topics brought up here. It's got search, tags, sorting and lots of other features to help you find podcasts. There are a lot of gems in the archive that people new to the show are not likely aware of. Browse the lists! There are TON of podcasts to listen to. I brought this up as an idea to Stef a couple years ago, but it didn't work out for different reasons, and then Mike (MMD) and I talked about trying to make it work last year and so I started designing and putting some things together. Then JamesP and I talked and it turned out that exactly the things that was most worried about were things he was proficient in and it ended up being a really good match. So he ended up handling the server side details (and he did an awesome job of it) and I did the front end work. We got a TON of tags from work Adam Crowe did for a separate project which added a ton of value. Mike and I worked out how the design of the page should be, and so this is what we've got so far! There are plans to add more features, (e.g. timestamps), but probably the most important thing is content. There are probably some badly formatted podcast titles and/or incorrect podcast numbers and things like this, and also, we want to be able to have youtube links for every podcast that has one, timestamps, more tags, etc, and I'm currently working on making volunteering easier. I'll keep you posted! If you come across any bugs, feature requests, have any feedback at all, hate it, love it, let me know in this thread. A lot of the features and design decisions that I made originated as feedback from other people. Feedback makes things better! One known bug is that the yellow email button isn't popping up the modal with the form to send people podcasts by email (should be fixed shortly).

You could just talk to her about it. Express your concern and ask if there's any way you could help. You could bring her flowers or do other nice gestures if you wanted to. I don't know your mother, but if you feel a desire to manage her emotions, then, personally, I would run screaming, haha. And it's not your job. Why doesn't your dad or your other siblings do it? Why you, the child who has recently left the nest? It would be a shame if you got stuck in that child at home role, right?

I'd say the people who portray evil as a virtue are the ones responsible, since that's the only way it can be sustained: through propaganda. It doesn't take more than 2 seconds thought to realize that taxation is theft.

Actually Stef has talked about this topic. It's from the video The Looming Intergenerational War. It starts around 1:26:00. Also, there's Laziness, Greed, Entitlement - Baby Boomers Defined.

Actually, yes. We should dismiss these self contradictory explanations for our experiences. We don't change our map of the moon simply because a person visited the moon in their minds and said Mons Huygens is actually a valley rather than a mountain. We wouldn't change our model of consciousness on such flimsy and self contradicting evidence either. People claim to have experienced OBE's, NDE's, "collective consciousness" and all of this stuff, and there certainly are a lot of unexplained phenomena surrounding consciousness. But in any new area of exploration, you always start with what you know for sure. What we know for sure is that consciousness has only ever been observed in certain animals. Animals with a certain kind of nervous system and brain systems. We know that consciousness can be altered by altering the brain, creating pains and even desires through manipulation of the brain. We know that particular kinds of thoughts and feelings trigger particular regions of the brain to actively pass chemical and electrical signals. There are no known exceptions to me. We don't know how this other stuff works, but to dismiss what we do know in favor of what we don't, is obviously just willful ignorance. No one goes adventuring with a map only to ignore all of it's instructions. Obviously they aren't trying to reach the destination. And it's pretty damn convenient that all of this somehow justifies the existence of a god in your mind, Walker. Well, maybe that's the point and actually none of this is sincere interest in the topic of consciousness. I mean, you could find all the evidence you need to conclude consciousness is a brain-based phenomena in a matter of seconds. But you've demonstrated that you aren't interested in that. What you're interested in is trolling people to keep your own doubts at bay. You could have an actual conversation about your ambivalence with your "god" if you want to. But don't pretend that it's about consciousness when it's not.

First off, congratulations! You're one of a tiny number. We don't know yet how you will benefit from the wisdom you're gaining, but one thing is certain: you have many more opportunities open to you That being said, I see the problem you're putting forward, and it's a tough one for sure, but I think I do have a perspective that may help. For a long time I would feel an existential anxiety or depression and think "I'll be happy once I achieve X", but I think there is actually some strong science that should give anyone thinking that pause. There is a good TED Talk about this. Basically, if you think about it, best case scenario, I achieve X and then I've got nothing to sustain it except coming up with my new goal Y and then it starts all over again. And there's no guarantee that it will make me happy. Maybe we're thinking about it backward. That it's actually happiness that can best motivate us to achieve our goals. And that's what the science seems to suggest. All these vaguely new age types out there who have plastic smiles and hair triggers really irritate me, but I think there's one thing they've got right, when they focus on finding things to be grateful for and appreciating what they've already got. Never at the expense of your actual experience, but in my own experience, I've been very surprised by the number of things that I can be grateful for that I never think about. It hadn't occurred to me, for example, that never being satisfied with shallow intimate relationships actually means I am not going to fall into those relationships I saw growing up with mutually depressive bullshit. I know that there is a point where I felt much less anxious. I still get anxious, for sure, but I can tolerate that anxiety better and there is less of it. But I've been at it ~5 years with regular therapy for almost 4 of them. I've spent a ton of time and money and emotional energy working at it. For me, the biggest growth has been in the last year or so. In my experience, it gets progressively easier. I think the reason for that is a combination of things. I've been able to become more self sustaining in a lot of ways, more financially secure and that sort of thing (in big part because of self work, I believe). I've been cultivating healthier relationships and feel a greater amount of security around that, being able to say to the people around me that I'm anxious or desperate. And just more experience being connected to myself, and because I'm a good guy with good judgment, I feel more like I can rely on myself. I think also that when I feel depressed, my whole life past, present and future feels depressed. The entirety of reality and knowledge feels depressing. And I forget that only a few days ago I felt joy and that it was genuine and that I can look forward to feeling joy another day. It's like an emotional amnesia, or even worse nihilism. That nihilism is a big warning sign for me that I need to change something quick. Usually I go outside and get some sun and vitamin D and it helps. I think there definitely can be a light. But it's gotta come from your own hard work. Talking about self work like if you do it like a religious ritual, the gods (or my unconscious) will be pleased and grant you a happy week or month. I think that's a little passive, actually. I think doing anything at all is certainly better than nothing, but ideally you'd be doing your work toward specific goals (other than happiness). For example, I want to get better at communicating ideas to people, sort of like paying forward the things I've learned from listening to this show and engaging the people in the community, and so I've been having these deeper conversations over skype. Aside from being enjoyable, I learn a lot about how talking actual philosophy works. And I'm connecting with more people who I can actually talk to, for real, without feeling guarded, and in so doing feel more secure in myself and my relationships. I feel more free to be who I want to be than ever before. In a strange way, you could say that I didn't even know it was an option in the past. And I think that's what this knowledge offers you: more opportunities. There is some advice Jack Dorsey had that I thought was great. He said that one of the best skills you can develop is to recognize opportunities when they come up and run with them.

FDR1551 Why We Are Different http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_1551_why_we_are_different.mp3 FDR1420 Shame Vs. Guilt http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_1420_shame_versus_guilt.mp3 FDR353 False/True Feelings http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_353_False_True_Feelings.mp3 FDR352 The Difference Between Anger and Rage http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_352_Anger_Versus_Rage.mp3 FDR335 True Versus False Selves http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_335_True_Versus_False_Selves.mp3 FDR678 Everything You Do Is... http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_678_Everything_You_Do_Is.mp3 FDR646 Jennyism Part 1 & 2 http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_646_Jennyism_Part_1.mp3 http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_647_Jennyism_Part_2.mp3 FDR70 How to control a human soul http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/how_to_control_a_human_soul.mp3 FDR71 Culture: How to enslave a human soul http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/culture.mp3 That should be about 6 hours worth of some of my favorites.

I don't usually blink that much in real life, haha.

god of the gaps

No, I'm sorry. Tarot doesn't predict the weather. It just doesn't. What if we invented a hypothetical world where tarot never predicted anything better than random chance? One where there was never any evidence whatsoever that it meant anything intrinsically meaningful. Does that make my argument right then? "What if" questions are, ... horse doodies. What if things that are impossible were possible? Well, then those impossible things would be possible, I guess.

First we have to have at least some kind of definition. What do we know for certain? Consciousness is the state that the brain is in that we think of when we wake up from a dreamless sleep, all the way until we fall asleep the next night. It's dependent on brains. No brain, no consciousness. If you experiment with the brain, you can affect consciousness. Without a definition, then consciousness means whatever you want it to mean. A statement like "this rock is conscious" becomes meaningless and any debate about it's nature is just going to go nowhere. Consciousness describes unconscious brain activity that reaches a certain threshold of excitement. You can picture all the regions of the brain like a mountain range and all the tallest peaks are what you are conscious of. More on that here. The contents of consciousness are what we think of as waking life. All the sensations, pains, thoughts, desires, etc. The basis for most of the work in contemporary philosophy of mind has been to address philosophical dualism, which was popularized by René Descartes. The supposed problem is how you account for the subjective nature of consciousness in a world of objects which have an objective mode of existence. Mystics tend to take the route of making consciousness real, but rocks and trees unreal. Like Deepak Chopra who says that we all collectively create reality together in relationship with each other. Materialists tend to take the approach of saying that consciousness is just an illusion of some sort and nothing exists subjectively, or if it does, it's not the realm of science. Or, we can just say that consciousness is just as natural and real and biological as digestion or mitosis, which obviously it is. Consciousness has to be causal in some sense, or else my experience of having ideas motivate me to action is illusory. In order for it to be real, the idea had to cause me to take the action. The temptation of many people is to propose something called "epiphenomenalism" which basically says that consciousness is simply experienced and does not itself do anything. It's like a TV show playing. It's just static. People rationalize this by saying that the brain is an antenna that receives consciousness. I don't blame you for not understanding what consciousness is, because even professional philosophers say the most insane things about it. John Searle, on the other hand, is awesome:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqDgt12m26c‎

FDR554 Argumentation Ethics This may shock you, but yes, we should absolutely reject this validity of this person's approach. That's because Tarot cannot predict the weather. Whatever the explanation, either coincidence or deception of some kind, and both are crap. And that's because the claim is that tarot is enabling these predictions. It's the methodology that matters in matters of science and philosophy, not conclusions.

Just pointing out the very diverse kinds of responses this thread has gotten. Very specific people had very specific criticisms (or attacks) of the mshidden. The "community" didn't attack this fella. But, this fella did attack the community. I like this community, and one of the reasons is because of how diverse it is. I don't take kindly to folk who make accusations of the community.

It depends on what you're looking for. You can use throw away email services you can access through a proxy in your browser's private mode if you are, like planning to blow up the whitehouse or something. Haha. I've got the NSA after me now. If you just want a reliable and private email, then I would (and do) just use gmail. Google gets a really bad rap (which I think is entirely undeserved), but as far as privacy goes, from what I hear, they take it super fucking seriously. They recently took a bunch of precautions to prevent the NSA from reading people's gmail content, which is a risky move on their part for the sake of their customers. A big middle finger to the NSA. And Google's one of the few companies who can actually pull that sort of thing off technologically.

I consider myself fortunate to have earned your disapproval. Please, spread the word!