Yeravos

Hello Freedomainers! I have started up a channel where I talk about philosophy and self-knowledge, my thoughts about it, how it has impacted my life and how it might help you! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2NkssMKUOmBYQ89TB6wNzw

And here it is finally, the audiobook version of ''Dear Self'', read by Steven Summerstone.

I think that it is possible to practice virtue, while still having parts of your life that are dysfunctional, to a certain degree. For example, maybe you are an alcoholic, and you drinking is causing problems in your life, making you sad and down. Your friends approach you and want you to get out of that habit. Now you stand before a crossroads. Either you open up about your self-destructive drinking honestly and show curiosity about it, or you stonewall. If you stonewall, and keep drinking, your friends, if they respect themselves and you, will discontinue their relationship with you, since they would not want to see you destroy yourself (and subsidise your destrucive habit by continuing having a relationship with you) since they care about you. Choosing to stonewall, or attacking your friends for trying to understand what is going on for you would lower your overall virtue, while struggling through being honest and curious about your drinking and taking action to fix it, would increase your overall virtue. In short, it is all about your willingness to change, your capacity for honesty and integrity, that determines your virtue. Virtue is like a flower. It starts out as a humble seed, but if you put time and effort into nurishing it, it will grow to be a flower. And it is a lifetime occupation, keeping that flower of virtue alive. Hoep that makes sense!

Great initiative!

Hi Dibble, thank you for the kind words! To answer your question, I would say that there are two ''types'' of self involved. The self you alude to are the parts of us that aren't defensive, snappy etc, but are our true emotional experiences and thoughts, our mecosystem. Then, there is the Self which I write about in my book, which is a seperate part in our self (mecosystem), that acts as the natural leader, organizer and listener. In short, our ''self'' is our genuine, honest mental landscape, while the ''Self'', is part of that landscape. I hope that makes sense, if not feel free to ask for clarification

Tjena apes2gogo! Länken fungerar inte för att gruppen inte finns längre. Efter att ha haft den uppe ett par månader insåg jag att inget positivt kom ur gruppen, utan tvärtom fungerade den som en plats för An-caps att hacka på Stef, tyvär.

I am looking into making an audiobook out of it, I'll let you guys know when it happens!

Hello people, hope things are going well for you all! I have finally published my self-help book ''Dear Self'', and wanted to share it with you awesome people here in the community! The book is pretty short, it is an introduction to journaling and being curious and open with yourself. For now, I have it up for free over at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/484220 , so if you'd like to check it out! If you read it and enjoyed it/got something out of it, I would very much appriciate it if you would leave a review of it. Also, if you thought it was really worthwhile, you can hop over to http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Self-self-therapy-introspection-journaling-ebook/dp/B00OKM850G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1413561283&sr=8-2&keywords=dear+self (or just search it on amazon), and buy a copy. I'd really appriciate it

Hello Jordan! I host a weekly skype-call every saturday 20.00 CEST. It is called the Philosophy Europe Call. You are most welcome to join even if you are not in Europe! https://www.facebook.com/PhilosophyEuropeCall?fref=ts

Damn, that's a shame :/ Get to a european timezone! Aproximatly 3 hours until the Euro-call is up! Philosophers, suit up! Or... brain up? You decide which! (or both?)

How do you know all that didn't just happen in your head? I ask since it is impossible to prove to another person, so how would you know it was the the Holy Spirit?

I am curious, what do you think about the children of the people that attend this free market of churches? Is it voluntary for them? Also, what reason and evidence led you to believe that God does exist?

There is something I'd like to make the people of FDR aware of... A few months ago, I made contact with a person from FDR through a skype group conversation I am currently hosting, the Philosophy Europe Call. He lives in Sweden, like me. His name is Henrik Eriksson. We started talking to eachother on a daily basis through skype. He was in a very emotionally rough position, so I thought that I'd try to help him out a bit by listening to him and talking to him. From the first time I came into contact with him though, and all our conversations ever since, there was something ''off'' for me in the interaction. I felt uncomfortable. But instead of bringing this up, I pretended like it wasn't there, that it was some fault on my end. However, one night when we talked, I told him that I felt uncomfortable talking to him. I told him that I had been in the wrong fro not bringing it up sooner, that I hadn't been honest with him. It went really bad from here on. Henrik was very upset with this, asking me why I felt uncomfortable. I told him I didn't know why, but he wouldn't settle with that, asking me ''What do you mean you don't know?'' in a very aggressive tone. The next day, I hosted the weekly Philosophy Europe Call. Henrik called in. There were 3 of us in the call at that time. At first he pretended like everything was alright, he came into the call laughing. However, he was very passive-aggressive with the third caller, asking him when he was going to start ignoring Henrik (apperantly Henrik has been ignored by other FDR users before). Also, Henrik started to question caller number 3 about his exercise program, telling him that it was stupid. It was a very, very tense conversation. A few days later, he started to write to me on Facebook, telling me I had no principles, and that I should leave FDR, that he was much ''higher up'' than me, whatever that means. I asked him a few times if we could try to sort things out, but he said he didn't want to have anything to do with me, even though he kept writing to me on Facebook telling me how horrible I was. Then came the call that was the final straw that broke the camel's back for me. It was 10 minutes before I was going to host the Philosophy Europe Call. Henrik called me on skype. I asked what he wanted to talk about (I was quite mad at him at this point because of all the things he had written to me on Facebook). Henrik told me he didn't want to talk about anything with me, yet he still wanted for us to be on that call! I told him I was hanging up on him to host the Philosophy Europe Call, and so I did. He joined that call, and that third caller I mentioned before was in this call aswell, so it was me, Henrik and number 3. Henrik came into the call, pretending once again that everything was all good and joyous, even though he 10 minutes before had said he was very upset and mad. I told him that I didn't want to brush past this tension that was between him and I. But he simply said ''I don't want to talk with you''. I then asked him why he was in the call then. ''I want to talk!'' he than said.Number 3, after telling Henrik that he was annoyed with him saying he wanted to talk, and at the same time he didn't want to talk, dropped from the call after approximatly 10 minutes. I then decided that I couldn't let this shitty interaction with Henrik ruin the call experience for the rest of the coming callers, since there was no reasoning with him. So, I blocked him on skype and on Facebook. However, a week ago, he started calling my cellphone on a private number (meaning I can't block it). The first time he rang, his first words were ''You blocked me from the euro call''. I hung up on him, not wanting anything to do with him. He has called me several days now, 4-6 times a day. Most of the time, I just shut my phone off because he would keep calling even though I kept rejecting them. I wanted to tell you guys this, to give you a heads up about Henrik. I thought I could help him out, but I couldn't. Instead, it turned out really ugly. It fucking sucks to write something like this, but I believe that I am doing a service for other people who might come into contact with Henrik in the future. I don't want anyone else to get into this situation that I am in now. I have experienced it, and I will serve as a warning.

The Story of Your Enslavement, now with swedish subtitles!

Hello everyone! I wanted to let you guys know, that every saturday 20.00 CEST a skype call is hosted, for the purpose of getting european FDR listeners together and hanging out. It is called the Philosophy Europe Call! We are usually 3-5 people in the call, and we talk about everything we can think of. From economics to the insanity of statism, from philosphy to more personal/self-knowledge matters. I'd like to invite you to this call, if you want to connect with some people from FDR. And no, you don't have to call from europe, the rest of the world is welcome to call in as well (several weeks in a row, we have actually had 2 americans call in). To join the call, add the skype handle ''philosophy.euro.call'', and when it is 20.00 CEST, you just call that contact. We also have a Facebook page you can like, and a Facebook group you can joln. https://www.facebook.com/PhilosophyEuropeCall?fref=ts the page https://www.facebook.com/groups/philosophyeurope/?fref=ts the group Hope you'll join us!

Hello Jecht! Just want to say, that this revelation of yours, and your commitment to getting better, are really important first steps into getting better. The road is going to be difficult, but know that you got what it takes to emerge stronger than ever before. I have found the Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy model to be quite useful for me. I'd recommend the book ''Self-Therapy: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness and Healing Your Inner Child Using IFS, A New, Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy'' by Jay Earley (quite a mouthful title). As far as principles goes, I think honesty, curiosity and compassion are the most important when you are working with yourself. Hope that helps you out a bit

You are a true hero Joel. Not like those made-up comic book ones that fight evil with their fists and guns, but with instead with your REAL, VIRTUES! You go man!

I De-FOOed earlier this year (like 4-5 months ago). I had realised that my parents we abusive and emotionally distant, and that there was nothing that could change that now. They won't change. So I sent my mother a message, telling her I don't want to hear from them anymore, and that I never want to see them again (my parents that is). Last time I saw my brother was last summer, but I havn't spoken to him in almost 2 years. Yesterday, I took up something I have thought of doing for a long time, but put of: To write a letter to my brother, explaining my De-FOO, that I was cruel to him when we were younger, and that if he wants to talk to me (he doesn't have to). To give him a hand, so that maybe he could leave that terrible family behind and start to heal as I have. I am open to it. It was very painful, thinking that this could very well be my farewell letter to him. When I came home today, I saw that someone had written to me on Facebook. It was my brother. He said he was sorry that he had been ignoring me for so long, and the reason was that he had been depressed for 2 years and had shut people out, but that he felt better now that he is going to university. It was very emotional to read this. I was on the verge of abandoning hope of ever having the chance to connect to my brother and here he was, reaching out to me! I told him that I was happy for him that he is feeling better, and told him that I had been depressed too and had concluded that it came from our home. He then told me that I should reestablish contact with our mother, because she has become depressed aswell. The reason? Because I broke of contact with her, and now she is afraid that my brother will do the same. I haven't said anything about this yet in my replies to him. Now, the question is, do I just say it? Or is it to much to early yet? To tell him that our childhood was horrible, and that I have no moral obligation to ease her depression? That I don't owe her anything?

Have you tried to ask the Trying part to step aside so you can get to know it better? Also, I would recommend the IFS book ''Resolving Inner Conflict'' by Jay Earley. It deals with parts locking you in conflict.

Around... 7-8 I think. When I started to play a lot of video games (he never liked me playing video games). That is a good question... Now that I think of it, I think it is more accurate to say that I feel abandoned if someone has interacted with me, I liked it, and they ''go away'' so to say. Agree 100%, very well put. The fluidity of man. Yes, it is difficult for me to share my feelings in the moment. I am working on it, but it is difficult. Feels like I have a huge wall in my mind that I have to climb in order to share my emotional state with others.

Hello everyone! I have been writing on what will be my first book on self-knowledge (my first book in anything for that matter). I will publish it through amazon as a kindle-book. The book will focus on the concept of Self, or true self as Stef usually calls it, and how to utilize it in self-therapy through journaling. It's a pretty short book (around 6k words), but when I wrote it and before I wrote it, I felt that I wanted it to be short, concise and to the point, so that it will be exposed to more people. Also, I think it will encourage readers to try it out quicker since it wont take up so much time as perhaps other books on self-therapy. What I am asking for now, is for a few awesome FDR people to read my draft and give feedback on it. No requirements of any kind, I'd like to get as much perspectives as possible so it will be a book that will appeal to as many types of people as possible. The feedback I want is: -Is something not explained well enough? -Is something missing? -Have I made some philosophical errors? Stuff like that. Spelling as such will be taken care of later. Want to help out? Throw a PM my way! If you give feedback, I'd be happy to include you in the acknowledgements part of my book, in whatever way you fancy Have a great day everyone!

My father was distant. He'd never engage me in conversation, and I always felt like I was a disappointment to him. The relationship between him and my mother was basically no romance, no closeness, and she was dominating him. He'd have nothing to say against her, and when he did, she'd become extremely passive aggressive, and would shout a lot. Hm, that isn't exactly it. I can feel the abandonment with people I do not know well, but want to get to know better. God, that is a terrible story. I am at a loose for words. I am so sorry that was your childhood. Horrible. I commend you on surviving it, and making your way to FDR!

Haha, you are welcome Jamz, and thank you!

Hello guys! I've started to post on my blog again, so thought I'd plug it here since I will be posting stuff on self-knowledge and book reviews Check it out @ http://yeravos.wordpress.com/ !