Joe the Hobo

welp, I think we can wrap this one up. The cure is: plenty of psychedelic drugs. Someone who isn't me said that they can knock down internal subconscious walls (the invisible electric fence) and leave you with only your true self WHILE ALSO heightening empathy hugely (this is why hippies always talked about vibes). note: typed this before barn's second reply.

Yes I saw, so are you saying it is different now? That the same underlying attitude was not present in the 60's/70's? if it was, why then did that era not escalate to war?

I was flabbergasted when I turned on an old animated comedy film from the early 1970's and saw a caricature of "the left" that could have been made today. Seriously, watch the first few minutes of this (until after the 3 female characters show up) (NSFW) Despite things seemingly being so similar back then, they never ended up in civil war in the 70's, Did they? If not, they already had the solution to preventing the imminent "war with the left". To prevent war we can do what they did then. My question then is; What was this solution? and how did the people of the 70's stop warmongering leftists, THEN?

I would propose that the concept and phrase "we die alone" is some nihilistic bullshit used by people as an excuse to get miserable or justify their misery and disaffection. Here's a radical concept: I'd RATHER be alone. society is so fucked and people are so blue pilled it's not even funny. If I die alone, good, it means I was happy in my final moment.

I hate the term "self pity" as it was used to disregard a lot of my genuine, strong, negative emotions as a child. If my mother had explored them with me it would have changed everything, so please, change everything for yourself now! never disregard this as self pity! you are reaching out in a time of need! That is not self pity. Examine your feelings, get some insight, I would advise getting some cognitive behavioral therapy to change your underlying negative paradigm (which I think you expressed excellently). Although I've been able to change a lot of negative underlying paradigms through greater perspective (the "zoom out" Stefan sometimes talks about in his shows). I'd sugest that it may help you to find something humbling and enjoy that connecting to reality which really puts things in perspective.

I know Liverpool and like the city, having grown up there. What do you mean by "of all the places!" ? That would seem to suggest it's no good sure there are bad areas but there are bad areas in every city.

Title says it all really. I'm a philosopher trying to find sanctuary in a world of zombies. If any of you live in Liverpool (in England) or know of any accommodation or anyone hiring, please message me; I am looking for a flat and income... although the purpose of the income would be just to pay rent! So if anyone wants to give me a room for free, I won't need to find a "real job". I am currently working as a handyman doing odd jobs, this brings in enough money to sustain me but I need to get away from people in my life who are toxic to my happiness and sanity. Please get in touch with me if you can help, send me a message or post a reply.

I've noticed a few little contradictions like this, just minor stuff which doesn't undermine any of the significant things like UPB or RTR or other three letter abbreviations for core things stefan has propvided us. However, I get these feelings too, these minor contradictions are like a sour berry in the basket of delicious philosophy fruit. Maybe we'e just picking up on it because we're stringent scientists but maybe it's a pattern, I know part of my dysfunction is ignoring significant things/problems and distracting from them with insignificant things. so maybe these minor contradictions play into my "pattern". Gotta take a moment to absorb some of the deep stuff after this post

I read through most of this thread but I think it's simpler than all this complex stuff people are getting into: it's just a case of generalisation and not wanting to be misinterpreted. If someone were to say "nazis are white" I'd feel that uncomfortable rise in my stomach and think "Hey, I'm white and I'm not a nazi, infact I'm striving for virtue and rationality!". I think it's a rational reaction when someone makes a negative generalisation which doesn't apply to you. Perhaps, then, it is just a sign you are desparate for the truth to be out!

Oh wow, I see what you're talking about powder, it does seem to be a contradiction or hypocrisy (I can feel the trolls jumping on it now with desparate glee). However, there's one main question which comes to mind for me: Are the priests giving you anything more than a delusion and a threat of torture? Stef is giving us something actionable, real insight and personal development the likes of which can be found nowhere else. Stef is giving us real scientifically and empirically verifiable valuable information and help. Preists are just tricksters and illusionists, often attempting to manipulate with guilt based in lies they've made up. Now here's a load of rambling thoughts I think if you feel guilt in response to what stefan was saying then you don't understand one very important fact: all the stuff stefan gives away is free and you don't have to pay for it. I don't feel guilty for one second regardles of what stef says because he has made the choice to give things away for free. Personally I'd love to donate but I'm too poor, even if I wasn't too poor, I'd feel the same way... but then I'd donate because I want to. Not because of any guilt or manipulation, but because I understand that stef has provided value to me and I'm grateful for it and want the show to continue- I would be donating because I undestand the rationality behind stef's request for donations, not because I feel guilty because I'm "being immoral". You know what, that still doesn't shake this contradiction, maybe Stefan would like to make a revision and admit fault here? Of course all these emotions come from within but many people will feel guilty in response to such statements like "it's the right thing to do" so if you're aware of the "guilt button" some people have and use language which could push said button, without intention of pushing that button, is that just the same as the preists religious guilt-trips? P.S. I worry that I'm coming accross as one of those critics who has no interest in the truth but only in bashing Stefan. if this is a contradiction it is so minor as to not matter, anyone with any degree of self knowledge and thought won't be susceptible to button pushing and stef gives us all the tools we need to overcome any such personal vulnerabilities. Get some perspective people, this doesn't undermine any of the important stuff.

I'm looking for anyone philosophically or scientifically minded in gwynedd or liverpool, I'll be traveling to liverpool for a short stay in the near future but my current residence is in Gwynedd. I'm also looking for work, so if any of you want a smart, competant and committed philosopher/scientist to work for you, I am here, waiting for your call / message / email. I'm pretty desparate for work at the moment, I'm really poor and I'm in a bad situation which I'm trying to get out of so that I can live a more virtuous life.

I have family in liverpool whom I plan to visit soon, I may be in touch

I'm going to have to read all this a few times and think about it a bit more before I can give a decent reply but I'd just like to say thankyou, thankyou for your input and for being such rational and insightful people! This is the fantastic level of progress I was hoping to make with my ideas about self esteem. Edit: One thing I want to add, regarding your post Jeremie, someone of perfectly sound mind rational capability and intelligence can be deluded, you don't necessarily have to have a lack of mental faculties. Maybe this is just a difference in definiton of terms? I'm still contemplating things a bit more before I make any more of a reply

I wouldn't say you've made any "mistakes" but you've been on the receiving end of the brunt of the system. From this small window into your life I'd say you're unhappy because of abuse by beurocratical illusions used to control us. I feel like I'm in a similar boat, I am dependant on money (and the government system to some degree) but I want to be free aswell, the only way to get free is to play thier game and even then you're never free from it. True freedom for me is a realisation of how illusory laws and countries are. They're only "real" because a policeman can come and enforce them on me, force being the important word there. I don't know how you can deal with your problems but I'd say a healthy dose of self knowledge and a boost of confidence would do you good. You seem like you're on the right path here... let me rephrase that, a path to a more positive lifestyle than the average tax-farm animal carry on the good work!

The main thing I'm learning from FDR is that I've still got a lot to learn but bear with me; I can agree with that definition of self esteem, in my empirical experience self esteem is someone's opinion about themselves as a whole- an assessment of thier self worth, confidence in understanding reality is again, part of a delusion. If you're confident you can understand reality, try reading some quantum physics books! hahaha, I jest, but seriously, people's confidence in thier ability to cope or understand things is often not very realistic. You are correct in that I think self esteem is often incongruent with reality. I just read a bit about Branden's definiton of self esteem and it seems that he says if it's not based in reality then it's not self esteem, however most of the time I see that people's self esteem (thier self worth and opinion of themselves) is unrealistic. I'm saying that if you have a realistic perspective of yourself, then it's not self esteem it's just being realistic. For example, you wouldn't call a fact, like "Earth orbits the sun", an opinion (even though we technically orbit the barrycentre of the solar system which is itself in constant motion but lets not get technical ). By the same token, if your self esteem is accurate, it is a realistic interpretation of yourself and therefore not a delusion. You're correct in your last statement; Branden's approach is not what I'm saying, I have no self esteem and none to cloud my interpretation of myself, not low self esteem or a lack of comprehension of reality. I don't think I'm deserving or worthy of happiness or undeserving or unworthy of happiness. I desire happiness (as most of us do regardless of self esteem) but worthiness doesn't come into the equation for me. I haven't even considered my own worthiness of anything very much- that's not low self esteem, it's just no opinion about my worthiness. If I were to determine my worthiness of happiness, by what criteria would I do this? my culture? outside influences of my social environment? other people's opinions? I have the feeling all would lead to an illusory or biased answer. If I determined it by realistic factors like, do I have a negtive or postivie impact on the world and people? then it would just be a realistic fact, not an opinion and not self esteem. The concept of self esteem itself, is a delusion; it's an opinion often incongruent with reality. When it is congruent with reality then it's just being realistic, but worthiness of happiness seems like it would more often than not, be determined by culture/society and influences of other people, not reality. A perfect example is those who are bullied a lot often think themselves worthless, but that's an outside opinion imposed by the abuse of someone else who was probably the victim of child abuse themselves. Also to determine self esteem from one such area, e.g. the opinions of others towards you or thier actions towards you, is an over generalization (As Dr Edelstein says). Have I rambled enough to clarify my position or are there more questions now?