Lians Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 A few months ago I listened to a podcast where Michael DeMarco shared the history of his journey to philosophy. Mike, your story had a very profound impact on me and I later told you that I had tears rolling down my cheeks as I was listening to it--in the middle of a supermarket no less! What I didn't mention was a commitment that I made to myself in that very moment of embarrassment: "I'm not going to miss the next opportunity to meet Stef even if I have to swim across the English Channel!" Little did I know that such an opportunity would presents itself shortly thereafter! The pain of having parted ways with all my friends was still fresh so I was very ambivalent about opening my heart to new people. Your courage and the gentleness of a flower-loving FDR member inspired me to fully embrace the anxiety and honour my commitment. I don't have words to express my gratitude so I'll simply share the story of what happened after the ambivalence was transformed into excitement. When I walked out of Schiphol airport I got my first feel for Amsterdam. Bicycles! Bicycles everywhere! What's more, on these bicycles I saw tastefully dressed men and women that had an uncanny pride and ferocity in their eyes. The warmth radiating out of them gave me a profound sense of peace. A fitting place for a philosophy meetup! Contrasted against this background were the FDR attendees I met during the next four days. Despite being beaten down by the world they had retained a capacity for courage and vulnerability that truly amazed me. I was so deeply honoured that they allowed me to listen to their stories! Whether it was self-knowledge explorations accompanied by afternoon tea, philosophical discussions over dinner or RTR conversations while standing on a bridge in the middle of the night, I was continuously presented with new experiences that reaffirmed my deep admiration for these people. The crown jewel was, of course, the day of the official meetup when all my previous experiences were condensed into a surreal flurry of thoughts and emotions. Hours upon hours of philosophy while being surrounded by like minded people! I'd consider that day a dream if its reality wasn't so vivid. I even decided to miss my return flight just so I could stay a little longer! Meeting Stef and giving him a hug filled me up with joy. The voice that lived inside my head for four yeas finally had a corporeal form! I've always been curious about people's body language which is why Stef's presence truly fascinated me. What an incredibly relaxed yet energetic physicality! Anyone who has doubts about the outcome of a philosophical life should meet the man in person! After spending nearly 13 hours in coaches--only option due to my missed flight--and enduring an unpleasant ferry trip I finally got back home. The exhaustion of not sleeping and the intensity of the previous day caught up with me, and I was genuinely surprised when my landlord said the following after meeting me: "Exhausted? You look pretty fresh to me! In fact, you're glowing with happiness!" It was in that moment that I understood what had happened during my mini vacation in Amsterdam. Throughout my life I was always cognizant of the fact that I was surrounded by dull people. However, I never came to realise that this exposure to dullness had managed to tint my vision in shades of grey. Meeting these lovely people in Amsterdam is what I needed to wipe the dullness off my lenses and see the world in all its vibrancy! Thank you so much and I hope you all found the energy to continue fighting your personal battles against falsehood! Feel free to share your experiences of the meetup in this thread!
BrianBrian Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 Brilliant. What a wonderful experience you've shared. What a courageous decision and investment to take the trip. Wow. I am in awe. Thank you for sharing this.What was the podcast that Michael shared his journey to philsophy? I think I've missed it somehow. Thanks again and big congratulations on making such a powerful journey of your own.
Lians Posted April 28, 2014 Author Posted April 28, 2014 Thank you, Brian! It was the last call of a call-in show: Well worth a listen!
Freedomain Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 I'm so glad you had such a great time Lians and it makes me very very happy that my experience contributed to you making it a priority to attend a meet-up of your own.
Mishelle Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 So wonderful to read about your experience, thank you very much for sharing it, it sounds really brilliant!
dtuur Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 Thanks Stoyan for your very heartfelt account of such a memorable day. Especially the last paragraph resonated with me: Throughout my life I was always cognizant of the fact that I was surrounded by dull people. However, I never came to realise that this exposure to dullness had managed to tint my vision in shades of grey. Meeting these lovely people in Amsterdam is what I needed to wipe the dullness off my lenses and see the world in all its vibrancy! Thank you so much and I hope you all found the energy to continue fighting your personal battles against falsehood! Feel free to share your experiences of the meetup in this thread! I look forward to making those moments a lot less surreal—the time is ripe for a more tight knit philosopher community in Europe.
Jelle de Jong Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 The meet-up was absolutely brilliant and I hope we can at least make a yearly event out of it, thank you for coming.
Lians Posted April 28, 2014 Author Posted April 28, 2014 I'm so glad you had such a great time Lians and it makes me very very happy that my experience contributed to you making it a priority to attend a meet-up of your own. Thank you, Mike! I'm working up the endurance to swim across the Atlantic next! Tuur and Jelle, it was great meeting you guys, and I only wish we had more time to connect! It's a good thing we live in the digital age! I look forward to making those moments a lot less surreal—the time is ripe for a more tight knit philosopher community in Europe. Ditto! As Stef mentioned during the meetup, philosophy can spread faster throughout Europe given Europeans' more peaceful parenting approaches, but it takes a strong and active community to accomplish that! I think the Amsterdam event was an excellent starting point. It was the first international FDR meetup and I'm really happy that so many people from all across Europe attended it!
GYre0ePJhZ Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 Great story, Lians! Makes me want to go to a meet-up all the more I was considering going, and I could have made it if I really worked and planned for it. Ah well, no excuses. I will just go do it next time!
marius Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 The meet-up was absolutely brilliant and I hope we can at least make a yearly event out of it, thank you for coming. i second that, btw are you a fruitarian? I saw you eating so many fruits the whole day. I dont think they contain all the needed nutrition. I didnt expect to have so much group therapy, i was expecting for people to network and talk to each other. But it was good. Definetely worth going to.
Jelle de Jong Posted April 29, 2014 Posted April 29, 2014 i second that, btw are you a fruitarian? I saw you eating so many fruits the whole day. I dont think they contain all the needed nutrition. I didnt expect to have so much group therapy, i was expecting for people to network and talk to each other. But it was good. Definetely worth going to. Hi Marius, I can't put your name to a face any more, maybe if you add a profile picture I would recognize you. There is a new FDR Europe Facebook group in case you have an account: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FDR.Europe/ that would be easier for people to network if that was your mean interest.I don't exactly know what you mean with a fruitarian, its a word that seem to have different meanings for people. But I do eat mostly fruits and leafy greens and sometimes a bit of soaked nuts and seeds. I eat steamed starches, pseudo grains or other vegetables when there are no fruits available (which is rare these days). I also believe fruits don't contain all the needed nutritions for Humans nutrition, for example there are nutrients we need and get from UVB radiation and biochemical processes on our skin or from bacteria when having good functioning gut flora. The quality (mineral content) of the soil where the produce is coming from and the ripeness when harvested also plays a important role in the nutritional value. I studied the diet intensively from a scientific point of view and together with other lifestyle changes I made Its definitely been one of the best things I done in my life, its giving me the health and energy to work on the things I love to do and also made me meet awesome people around the world.But if you think I missed something important in my research, please come with an argument instead of thinking something
Rik R Posted April 29, 2014 Posted April 29, 2014 Thanks for sharing your story about how you came to the meetup. I feel so blessed that so many people came from all over europe. For me it was about as comfortable as it gets to attend, so I appreciate your travel efforts. As I have had some lifechanging conversations and resulting decisions in my own life in the past 6 months of listening FDR, it felt like a real coming home to meet all of you and stefan. The fact that I had the chance to go to the meetup really helped in my personal process the past month because I knew I would meet some amazing people soon that were on their own journey of self knowledge and philosophy. I wasn't really planning on talking about my own history but I'm very glad I talked about some of my recent experiences. I felt liberated last few days and also very tired. Getting appreciation and a welcoming response from the group when talking about stuff most people react very avoidantly to was very refreshing for me. The conversations we had felt like a call-in show but with all the people in a few steps reach. What struck me too were that all the 'coping-mechanisms' I have used throughout my life to deal with the culture and mythology around me was really easy to notice and I almost naturally refrained from using any of them in the company of the group. As far as the 'fruitarian question' Marius, I started eating a plantbased diet eating mostly fruits and greens a year ago now, so I thought I would add my experiences. I eat cooked tubers and grains more often than Jelle, but I did the only fruit and greens for a few months after learning about the lifestyle and I must say I have never felt better food- and fitness-wise. As Jelle points out there are lots of factors to take into account when looking at health, but I think eating mostly fruits and leafy greens is still the best dietary option for physical health long-term judging from the short term feedback I get from my body, seeing the results that others get long-term on this lifestyle and regarding the scientific nutritional data. I met Jelle thanks to eating fruits and turned out we were both listening to fdr so that has been an awesome experience too .
cynicist Posted April 29, 2014 Posted April 29, 2014 Throughout my life I was always cognizant of the fact that I was surrounded by dull people. However, I never came to realise that this exposure to dullness had managed to tint my vision in shades of grey. Meeting these lovely people in Amsterdam is what I needed to wipe the dullness off my lenses and see the world in all its vibrancy! Thank you so much and I hope you all found the energy to continue fighting your personal battles against falsehood! Feel free to share your experiences of the meetup in this thread! I've not met any FDR members in person yet but after having a conversation with several over skype I'm certainly seeing things differently. I think you're right that we need to speak to and meet each other, not just correspond over text, in order to truly connect. As far as the 'fruitarian question' Marius, I started eating a plantbased diet eating mostly fruits and greens a year ago now, so I thought I would add my experiences. It's interesting to read about your diet experiences. I hope at least one of you starts a thread about it, since I'm currently a meat-eater who is curious about eating more leafy greens but is concerned about what exactly is required for proper nutrition and also the best ways to make them taste delicious to entice myself to eat more.
ParaSait Posted April 29, 2014 Posted April 29, 2014 It was great. Indeed it all felt like a very surreal experience, meeting a whole bunch of people who don't talk about the weather, sports, politics, or repetitive spoon-fed tv news, but about things that matter. It truly felt like a hunger that was being satisfied. The amount of diversity in our group was really delightful. Everyone was so interesting and memorable. It also struck me how chill the whole thing was. I'm someone who easily gets shy and stressed, this was of course no exception, meeting a whole bunch of new people in a city I've never visited. But you guys just started chatting with me and I felt comfortable so remarkably quickly and easily. I had a real blast over there, thank you all for being so awesome.
marius Posted April 29, 2014 Posted April 29, 2014 Hi Marius Ill get back to you regarding the nutrition, i have to do some research of my own. Im the guy who is into bodybuilding/ we talked about bitcoin, your job and taxes on the way. It was good to speak to you. And yes im working on making a facebook/personal branding. I see the need now.
marius Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 But if you think I missed something important in my research, please come with an argument instead of thinking something Some hours of research later i have to admit that there is a lot i dont know about nutrition. (and biology and chemistry) My diet is more or less based on the Mediterranean Pyramid. And i take supplements. I was trying to make the argument that there are some essential substances that are only available in animal byproducts, so avoiding them would cause an insufficiency. Moreover eating so much sugar is not helpful. So you say you took care of the essentials and the sugar? But i would be interested in what your research returned on those 2 topics.
Jelle de Jong Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 Some hours of research later i have to admit that there is a lot i dont know about nutrition. (and biology and chemistry) My diet is more or less based on the Mediterranean Pyramid. And i take supplements. I was trying to make the argument that there are some essential substances that are only available in animal byproducts, so avoiding them would cause an insufficiency. Moreover eating so much sugar is not helpful. So you say you took care of the essentials and the sugar? But i would be interested in what your research returned on those 2 topics. Hi Marius, you haven't come up with a argument yet (just some FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) but you say you are worried about the essentials? Take a look at the WHO research about what the essentials are, to help you out a bit these are research papers for protein and fatty acids: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/trs/WHO_TRS_935_eng.pdfhttp://foris.fao.org/preview/25553-0ece4cb94ac52f9a25af77ca5cfba7a8c.pdfThese are four good books:http://www.amazon.de/Whole-Rethinking-Nutrition-Colin-Campbell/dp/1937856240http://www.amazon.de/The-Starch-Solution-Regain-Health/dp/1609613937/http://www.amazon.de/Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-Diabetes/dp/1594868107http://www.amazon.de/Prevent-Reverse-Heart-Disease-Nutrition-Based/dp/1583333002/I looked up animal by-products, since you stated you think they may provide essential nutrients and found this on wikipedia: "Animal by-products are carcasses and parts of carcasses from slaughterhouses, animal shelters, zoos and veterinarians, and products of animal origin not intended for human consumption, including catering waste (all waste food from restaurants, catering facilities, central kitchens, slaughterhouses and household kitchens)"
Ruben Zandstra Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 Thanks for sharing your experience! It was great meeting you Stoyan, thank you for all the wonderful conversation. Hope to meetup again!
PatrickC Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 Didn't realised that you missed your flight Lians. What a bummer, made worse by a long bus and ferry alternative. That said, it was great to meet you as much as it was Stef. Also the many other folk that I've hung out on the boards here or on Skype and a few new faces too boot. Thanks for sharing and look forward to meeting you again with some UK meets in the near future.
Recommended Posts