6 ms·

This is true even at a personal level. If you think you know why you act the way you do but you have never done an experiment to validate it you have a pretty g

by hyperion2010 9y ago

This is true even at a personal level. If you think you know why you act the way you do but you have never done an experiment to validate it you have a pretty good chance of being wrong. Even for simple things, like how fast you drive, is it the speedometer and you are looking at it, or is it how your engine sounds, and if turn up your music do you drive faster and is that because you are more aroused/excited, or is it because you can't actually hear how loud your engine is? Or maybe it is something else entirely.

theseatoms 9y ago
Not to mention major life decisions.
dwaltrip 9y ago
Everyone is living in fairytale narratives that we spend decades crafting for ourselves. And doing so has some great benefits! But it is also can be very problematic at times. I've been trying to figure out how to live while minimizing the extent of my personal fabricated narrative. It's a bit tricky... As with many things, I think basic awareness of the phenomenon is the first productive step.
- ux-app 9y ago
  >I've been trying to figure out how to live while minimizing the extent of my personal fabricated narrative. sounds interesting. Do you know of any suggested reading on the topic?
  - kleer001 9y ago
    5 dried grams of magic mushrooms. Or listen to 40+ hours of lectures from Alan Watts.
    - lxmorj 9y ago
      5??????
      - ryanlol 9y ago
        You're right, 7 will work much better. On a more serious note, look into 4-AcO-DMT. Essentially mushrooms without the unpleasantness of actually having to eat mushrooms.
        nojvek 9y ago
        How does one even get access to this?
        baq 9y ago
        I'd try to Google a darknet Amazon.
        ryanlol 9y ago
        Perhaps easier than the mushrooms, various "chemical supply companies" will sell it to you for "research" and not ask many question. There's a list of such companies on the "RCSources" subreddit wiki. It's definitely a good idea to get any chemicals tested before consuming them. I doubt they'd intentionally send you the wrong chemical, but I guess shipping mixups could happen. Energy control runs an excellent testing service https://energycontrol-international.org/drug-testing-service/submitting-a-sample/ https://energycontrol-international.org/drug-testing-service...
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
    - ux-app 9y ago
      hehe thanks for the tip, but I don't trust my own psyche enough for those kinds of experiments, even though I'm deeply curious of what I'd experience.
      - kleer001 9y ago
        Listening to lectures is pretty benign and you can stop any time. And they're legal everywhere. Here's one to get your started. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXvoYGrnuv8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXvoYGrnuv8
    - myrandomcomment 9y ago
      Molly with friends.
      - kleer001 9y ago
        No, MDMA will give you exactly the opposite effect. It will encourage and cement connections to culture/s and social bonds. It just effects your serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine levels. What magic mushrooms (and other psychedelics like LSD) do is increase the communication between distant parts of the brain that don't normally communicate. That will lead you away from consensus reality, not deeper into it.
        vldx 9y ago
        Not necessarily. MDMA could potentially enable you loose any feeling of self-concern -- no fear, insecurity and self-consciousness; that feeling of being 5 year old on the Christmas morning. This might be especially beneficial for someone who is communicating predominantly w/ machines since a kid, and who might have trouble empathizing or relating w/ people. In this short video Sam Harris describes it very eloquently. http://bigthink.com/think-tank/sam-harris-discusses-mdma-and-psychedelics http://bigthink.com/think-tank/sam-harris-discusses-mdma-and...
  - ingenuous2 9y ago
    Over the last couple years, I've been exploring this. I can't provide any answers, but I've found all the usual recommendations useful. CBT, Watts, Stoicism, yoga, mindfulness. Of those, the last -- mindfulness -- has been the most crucial. I cannot usually control my reaction to stimulus, but the hardest part for me (and in others, now that I observe them) is the identification of the event trigger. Once you identify what causes things to happen[0], it's much much much easier to adjust the behavior. The event notifier pattern has been most useful for me. [0] after all, it's kind of ridiculous that a bad incident in traffic will affect my interaction with a colleague.
    - sharkweek 9y ago
      Mindfulness, despite the recent buzzword-iness of it, has been an amazing tool for me. When I'm feeling any number of negative emotions (anger, anxiety, stress, etc.), or when my OCD flares up, it helps so much to simply pause, turn and face the emotion, address it, and say to myself "I am feeling this way because..." and calling out the trigger. It almost takes the teeth out of the negative feeling, making it pass a lot sooner. Sounds a little hippy-dippy, sure, but for me it falls into the "it just works" bucket.
      - nvarsj 9y ago
        Sounds like CBT! Other things I've found that help is more sleep, and less caffeine. It's not talked about much, but I'm convinced caffeine exacerbates the kind of negative emotions and anxiety that affect us perfectionists. I don't quite have the willpower to give it up, though.
        nf05papsjfVbc 9y ago
        I can not give up good coffee as long as I have access to good roasters and an espresso machine. However, I will freely concede that caffeine does indeed seem to heighten feelings of anxiety. On days when something unpleasant is on my mind, it makes it worse. On the other hand, it helps me start the day by doing something for myself - making good coffee. I enjoy the process and at the moment, making bad days worse is a price I gladly pay for it.
  - personomas 9y ago
    >> I've been trying to figure out how to live while minimizing the extent of my personal fabricated narrative. > sounds interesting. Do you know of any suggested reading on the topic? The Bible, there's no better. Jesus preaches and teaches truth, truth will erode this false fabricated narrative.
    - 36bydesign 9y ago
      Minimize your personal fabricated narrative by abiding by a 2,000 year old fabricated narrative. Checks out.
      - wvlia5 9y ago
        Lol ;D
      - honestoHeminway 9y ago
        Well, lets say, you dont minimize it, you standardize it. Also christianity like all others martyrer religions (shia, judaism) has its benefits, as the usual mad inventor crowd in for some serious suffering before salvation, is part of the cultural accepted background.
    - ux-app 9y ago
      > truth will erode this false fabricated narrative. ooh boy, that's a deep rabbit hole. I'm an atheist now, but I was raised in a deeply religious household (fundamentalist christian, family and entire social circle took the bible very seriously). My experience is that everyone thinks they have the "truth", even though each sect's truth is mutually exclusive from all others (even though they all read from the same book). In addition I found that Jesus' teachings (mostly harmless, mostly obvious) didn't do much to "erode this false fabricated narrative", but rather layered over an additional set of narratives. I never experienced any deeper insights than this despite a couple of decades worth of heavy indoctrination attempts. I'm sure you mean well though, so I appreciate your comment.
      - KGIII 9y ago
- kingkawn 9y ago
  Why minimize your creative narrative instead of perfecting it? it seems that hewing toward a concept of objectivity only makes you a subject of the cultural whims of those who feel free to define it for themselves.
- Spearchucker 9y ago
  Do one thing at a time. Do it slowly and deliberately. Put space between things. Turn chores into meditating.
andrei_says_ 9y ago
I've been sitting with an Advaita teacher for a while. One of the pointers is to observe one's own choices. I am still looking for this mythical free will thing people keep taking about.
- honestoHeminway 9y ago
  Oh, that was a translation error- if you medidate long enough you dont care about anything- you can do so naked. Thats when the free will... part comes into play.
Spearchucker 9y ago
Not sure how (or when) it started, but I often catch myself asking why. Just that, about anything I might be doing - from being annoyed with my son to holding the door open for a janitor. The answer is never just there, but it materialises a day, a month or year later.

theseatoms 9y ago

Not to mention major life decisions.

dwaltrip 9y ago

Everyone is living in fairytale narratives that we spend decades crafting for ourselves. And doing so has some great benefits! But it is also can be very problematic at times. I've been trying to figure out how to live while minimizing the extent of my personal fabricated narrative. It's a bit tricky... As with many things, I think basic awareness of the phenomenon is the first productive step.

ux-app 9y ago
>I've been trying to figure out how to live while minimizing the extent of my personal fabricated narrative. sounds interesting. Do you know of any suggested reading on the topic?
- kleer001 9y ago
  5 dried grams of magic mushrooms. Or listen to 40+ hours of lectures from Alan Watts.
  - lxmorj 9y ago
    5??????
    - ryanlol 9y ago
      You're right, 7 will work much better. On a more serious note, look into 4-AcO-DMT. Essentially mushrooms without the unpleasantness of actually having to eat mushrooms.
      - nojvek 9y ago
        How does one even get access to this?
        baq 9y ago
        I'd try to Google a darknet Amazon.
        ryanlol 9y ago
        Perhaps easier than the mushrooms, various "chemical supply companies" will sell it to you for "research" and not ask many question. There's a list of such companies on the "RCSources" subreddit wiki. It's definitely a good idea to get any chemicals tested before consuming them. I doubt they'd intentionally send you the wrong chemical, but I guess shipping mixups could happen. Energy control runs an excellent testing service https://energycontrol-international.org/drug-testing-service/submitting-a-sample/ https://energycontrol-international.org/drug-testing-service...
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
  - ux-app 9y ago
    hehe thanks for the tip, but I don't trust my own psyche enough for those kinds of experiments, even though I'm deeply curious of what I'd experience.
    - kleer001 9y ago
      Listening to lectures is pretty benign and you can stop any time. And they're legal everywhere. Here's one to get your started. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXvoYGrnuv8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXvoYGrnuv8
  - myrandomcomment 9y ago
    Molly with friends.
    - kleer001 9y ago
      No, MDMA will give you exactly the opposite effect. It will encourage and cement connections to culture/s and social bonds. It just effects your serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine levels. What magic mushrooms (and other psychedelics like LSD) do is increase the communication between distant parts of the brain that don't normally communicate. That will lead you away from consensus reality, not deeper into it.
      - vldx 9y ago
        Not necessarily. MDMA could potentially enable you loose any feeling of self-concern -- no fear, insecurity and self-consciousness; that feeling of being 5 year old on the Christmas morning. This might be especially beneficial for someone who is communicating predominantly w/ machines since a kid, and who might have trouble empathizing or relating w/ people. In this short video Sam Harris describes it very eloquently. http://bigthink.com/think-tank/sam-harris-discusses-mdma-and-psychedelics http://bigthink.com/think-tank/sam-harris-discusses-mdma-and...
- ingenuous2 9y ago
  Over the last couple years, I've been exploring this. I can't provide any answers, but I've found all the usual recommendations useful. CBT, Watts, Stoicism, yoga, mindfulness. Of those, the last -- mindfulness -- has been the most crucial. I cannot usually control my reaction to stimulus, but the hardest part for me (and in others, now that I observe them) is the identification of the event trigger. Once you identify what causes things to happen[0], it's much much much easier to adjust the behavior. The event notifier pattern has been most useful for me. [0] after all, it's kind of ridiculous that a bad incident in traffic will affect my interaction with a colleague.
  - sharkweek 9y ago
    Mindfulness, despite the recent buzzword-iness of it, has been an amazing tool for me. When I'm feeling any number of negative emotions (anger, anxiety, stress, etc.), or when my OCD flares up, it helps so much to simply pause, turn and face the emotion, address it, and say to myself "I am feeling this way because..." and calling out the trigger. It almost takes the teeth out of the negative feeling, making it pass a lot sooner. Sounds a little hippy-dippy, sure, but for me it falls into the "it just works" bucket.
    - nvarsj 9y ago
      Sounds like CBT! Other things I've found that help is more sleep, and less caffeine. It's not talked about much, but I'm convinced caffeine exacerbates the kind of negative emotions and anxiety that affect us perfectionists. I don't quite have the willpower to give it up, though.
      - nf05papsjfVbc 9y ago
        I can not give up good coffee as long as I have access to good roasters and an espresso machine. However, I will freely concede that caffeine does indeed seem to heighten feelings of anxiety. On days when something unpleasant is on my mind, it makes it worse. On the other hand, it helps me start the day by doing something for myself - making good coffee. I enjoy the process and at the moment, making bad days worse is a price I gladly pay for it.
- personomas 9y ago
  >> I've been trying to figure out how to live while minimizing the extent of my personal fabricated narrative. > sounds interesting. Do you know of any suggested reading on the topic? The Bible, there's no better. Jesus preaches and teaches truth, truth will erode this false fabricated narrative.
  - 36bydesign 9y ago
    Minimize your personal fabricated narrative by abiding by a 2,000 year old fabricated narrative. Checks out.
    - wvlia5 9y ago
      Lol ;D
    - honestoHeminway 9y ago
      Well, lets say, you dont minimize it, you standardize it. Also christianity like all others martyrer religions (shia, judaism) has its benefits, as the usual mad inventor crowd in for some serious suffering before salvation, is part of the cultural accepted background.
  - ux-app 9y ago
    > truth will erode this false fabricated narrative. ooh boy, that's a deep rabbit hole. I'm an atheist now, but I was raised in a deeply religious household (fundamentalist christian, family and entire social circle took the bible very seriously). My experience is that everyone thinks they have the "truth", even though each sect's truth is mutually exclusive from all others (even though they all read from the same book). In addition I found that Jesus' teachings (mostly harmless, mostly obvious) didn't do much to "erode this false fabricated narrative", but rather layered over an additional set of narratives. I never experienced any deeper insights than this despite a couple of decades worth of heavy indoctrination attempts. I'm sure you mean well though, so I appreciate your comment.
    - KGIII 9y ago
kingkawn 9y ago
Why minimize your creative narrative instead of perfecting it? it seems that hewing toward a concept of objectivity only makes you a subject of the cultural whims of those who feel free to define it for themselves.
Spearchucker 9y ago
Do one thing at a time. Do it slowly and deliberately. Put space between things. Turn chores into meditating.

andrei_says_ 9y ago

I've been sitting with an Advaita teacher for a while. One of the pointers is to observe one's own choices. I am still looking for this mythical free will thing people keep taking about.

honestoHeminway 9y ago
Oh, that was a translation error- if you medidate long enough you dont care about anything- you can do so naked. Thats when the free will... part comes into play.

Spearchucker 9y ago

Not sure how (or when) it started, but I often catch myself asking why. Just that, about anything I might be doing - from being annoyed with my son to holding the door open for a janitor. The answer is never just there, but it materialises a day, a month or year later.