Eva Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 Hello everyone! I have covered quite a lot of material already, mainly about self knowledge. Currently having a look at UPB... I get the impression that this might be Stefan's most important book, perhaps? At least it seems more methodical and solemn I would appreciate if those who are most familiar with his work could share their opinion; or maybe Stefan has mentioned this already somewhere? Cheers!
_LiveFree_ Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 UPB is it. Everything that he's done here is really based on what comes out of UPB.
Kevin Beal Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 Nate dawg is totally right. To see how this fits into everything you listen to and probably appreciate on the show, please watch these videos (you will not regret it). This goes out to all the counterfeiters! Also, there is a running joke that podcast #70 is the best one and everything afterward isn't as good. How to control a human soul http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/how_to_control_a_human_soul.mp3
Freedomain Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 Great question... As far as having an impact on me, the Aiming at the Headstone podcast about living from the deathbed back had the biggest effect on my day to day life. Overall, maybe On Truth, Real Time Relationships and The Bomb In The Brain stuff. Really tough to say...
MMX2010 Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 @Kevin Beal - I definitely loved the "Counterfeiter Payback" podcast. I both wish I knew of it much earlier in my life, and am glad that I didn't because I wouldn't stirred up so much shit (and outrage!) with it. The "post altering" tactic and the "So we agree?" tactic are hilarious.
Daniel Unplugged Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 Future historians will decide this. I suspect they will have a hard time picking one. So many of them are great, and worthy of historical recognition.
LanceD Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 I would say it's The Bomb in the Brain. The facts exposed in the BIB shows make it clear to me that everything else is largely irrelevant without first addressing the way children are raised.
crops Posted February 22, 2014 Posted February 22, 2014 This one had a profound impact on me , one im still not finished processing
crops Posted February 22, 2014 Posted February 22, 2014 i think RTR has been the most intrumental and most compacted practical use for me. but id say its just key sentences dotted all over the thousands of podcasts ive listend to where i have to stop an press pause an digest
JasonL Posted February 23, 2014 Posted February 23, 2014 Violence against me is a wonderfully simple argument. If we all used this instead of getting sucked into the cause and effect arguments for which there is always an "exception" things could change more quickly.
Eva Posted February 25, 2014 Author Posted February 25, 2014 Wow, thank you so much for your responses! Quite a few of you speak about your own personal experience, while I was asking for an objective opinion, or from Stefan's perspective. I suppose it is hard not to view this from the personal anyway. I still get the feeling UPB is the most important, although my favourite keeps being 'On Truth'.
weeb Posted February 25, 2014 Posted February 25, 2014 "The Fascists That Surround You" series helped me put my understanding of why seemingly good people will participate in evil without any thought to it. "The Cure" at the end of the series helped give me a way to deal with this reality practically in my own life. Most recommended of the books would be "On Truth" for its power to move you.
Kevin Beal Posted February 25, 2014 Posted February 25, 2014 I still get the feeling UPB is the most important, although my favourite keeps being 'On Truth'. What did you think about RTR? Have you read it yet? Stef has said that he regards these three books as being grouped together, in that On Truth is about the past, UPB is about the present, and RTR is about the future. In that way, maybe RTR is the most important one. UPB is great for seeing corruption, but hopefully getting away from corrupt and evil people is doable and you can have good healthy relationships instead. That's where RTR comes in. And being that we are all hopefully working to get to this point, RTR would be the most applicable in the long term, for healthy people like hopefully we are (or are becoming). I think, in a way, that On Truth and UPB build up to RTR. Being that On truth is about being honest about your past, and UPB is a methodology for honest virtuous action. RTR is how you are honest in relationship to others (and yourself) which is the gold medal of honesty, I believe. So, I'm flip flopping. I say RTR is the most important work. The Ricky Sandwich Part 1: Stef, Ricky and RTR http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_923_RTR_Ricky_and_Stef.mp3 RTR Squared http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_977_RTR_Squared.mp3 RTR Reader Conference Call (follow up to 977) http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_981_RTR_Reader_Conference.mp3 Self RTR While Dating (A Convo) http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_1407_Self_RTR_When_Dating_Convo.mp3 RTR@Work http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_1454_RTR_At_Work.mp3
MMX2010 Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 Thanks very much, Kevin Beal, for posting that collection. I hadn't seen those before and am currently finding them extremely useful.
Honest Posted February 27, 2014 Posted February 27, 2014 Wow, The God Of Atheists isn't getting any love. As far as my own experience goes it blows all of his other books right out of the water, and this coming from a guy who hates reading fiction with specific ideas behind it. If you read between the lines, you get the goodies from all of his books, but instead of explaining the ideas, it has them showed to you in a way that makes them more solid in your head, and more of a set of principles applied to different things as opposed to "this is RTR this is UPB blabla," it doesn't give you the chance to just believe the arguments the way a non fiction book does, it makes you either truly understand them or have it fly over your head, which is in my opinion a better approach to spreading ideas. All this while providing a really emotional experience. It's also entertaining, funny at times, and has those moments that make you put the book down for a bit and go "oh shit!" It may be a little scant on anarchism and economics, but it gives you the tools that if applied to government and human action you can figure it out on your own. Ayn Rand's essays and non fiction are to Atlas Shrugged the same way Stef's non-fiction books and videos are to TGOA. A close second for me is On Truth, I've read that little book easily 5 times. I think of it as 100% pure Colombian red pill lol.
Eva Posted February 28, 2014 Author Posted February 28, 2014 Hi Kevin, thanks for the info! What did you think about RTR? Have you read it yet? Stef has said that he regards these three books as being grouped together, in that On Truth is about the past, UPB is about the present, and RTR is about the future. In that way, maybe RTR is the most important one. UPB is great for seeing corruption, but hopefully getting away from corrupt and evil people is doable and you can have good healthy relationships instead. That's where RTR comes in. And being that we are all hopefully working to get to this point, RTR would be the most applicable in the long term, for healthy people like hopefully we are (or are becoming). I have read a bit of RTR, yes... Well, I am not sure RTR can add much more to UPB, really, as surely any propositions being made in the context of a relationship have to be UPB compliant to be "healthy". I guess I saw that when having a look at RTR, and decided it wasn't so important..
Kevin Beal Posted February 28, 2014 Posted February 28, 2014 I have read a bit of RTR, yes... Well, I am not sure RTR can add much more to UPB, really, as surely any propositions being made in the context of a relationship have to be UPB compliant to be "healthy". I guess I saw that when having a look at RTR, and decided it wasn't so important.. Well, UPB at a bare minimum. There's a lot to be gained passed that threshold, I think, in the reporting of the facts of your experience, and in the vulnerability of being more invested in the relationship than with the thoughts and feelings themselves. And the more a relationship can survive (and better yet flourish) in intense vulnerability, I think that's just about the best thing a person could hope for. It's a fantastic way of establishing trust, and gaining certainty about potential or real toxic relationships, enough to take the appropriate action. The self-RTR approach is vital for me in being able to curb overwhelm, quickly understanding what I know to be true, and working from there. And the book is full of awesome gems like this one: The Facts of Your FeelingsAll I am talking about – like any competent empiricist – is working with the facts. The facts of your feelings. Working with the facts of your feelings does not mean treating them as epistemological absolutes. Emotions do not equal knowledge any more than our senses equal the scientific method. Propaganda will always seek to inflict negative moral judgments on your authentic emotional responses. Remember, earlier in this book, we talked about how false answers are the exact opposite of true curiosity – and so knowledge. When faced with the reality of our feelings: “I do not want to talk to my parents” – it is an utterly false answer to “explain” those feelings away by saying: “Because I am a bad person.” It makes about as much sense as saying, “I want to masturbate because I am tempted by the devil.” It is a mad fiction designed to set you at war against yourself and so have you remain enslaved to those who define such false “morality.” In any science – in any rational philosophy – the real, honest, productive and true response to any new information is curiosity. If you stand at the port in Lisbon in the 15th century, watching the Santa Maria sailing off across the Atlantic Ocean, and see the hull slowly disappear “into” the ocean – and then the lower masts, and then the “crow's nest” – you can either make up an “explanation” – “OMG Poseidon, like, totally ate that ship!” - or you can admit a lack of knowledge, and remain curious. “I wonder what happened to the ship?” Making up an answer will keep you mired in a stupid, exploitive and destructive state of piggish ignorance. Retaining your curiosity may lead you to the truth: that the world is round. Your eyes provide you an objective experience of what is happening – that the ship appears to be slowly “descending” into the water. Based on this empirical information – what do you do? Do you make up an answer, or do you explore the question? When the phone rings and you look at the call display, your emotions provide you clear and empirical information about your relationships. Based on this empirical information – what do you do? Do you make up an answer (“I am a selfish child!”) or do you explore the question (“I wonder why I dislike it when my parents call…”)? Maybe consider taking another look?
Brad Sherard Posted March 1, 2014 Posted March 1, 2014 I'm always tempted to try to find the one thing that underlies all else. I could say UPB but then that depends on epistemology and logic and such which in turn is used or discarded by one's state of mind which is understood by psychological investigation like RTR and on it goes. So perhaps a better approach is to say what struck me as most powerful and evocative. That would be Stefan's youtube video, the fascists that surround you: The climax of that argument is moving. I was overwhelmed when he declared, "That is what a sociopath would say!"
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