Aetherous

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Posts posted by Aetherous

  3. Posted

    On 6/3/2019 at 10:03 PM, silent thunder said:

    <bump>...

     

    So from any Bums who use FB and feel inclined to respond... I'm curious. 

    Two and a half years since this conversation was started, what are your senses of FB now?

     

    Do you take information from that site as sincere?

     

    I just heard they doxxed a user...I think it was a Buzzfeed reporter who asked for info on someone, and Facebook just gave it to them.

    I think FB has sold user data to China.

    To me it's the most convenient way to keep in touch with many people. Email and phone isn't the same. So I keep it mostly for that reason.

    I've also just started a business, and use it to advertise. So, it's useful in that sense, too...but I've heard stories of businesses suddenly not being able to advertise on there, or being booted for no reason. And the Facebook business pages don't have any real customer support - you can't talk to a human and get something resolved.

    I see the Daily Wire on there, and the Washington Times, and get some news that way. I don't view any news source as legitimate or sincere these days.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  4. Posted

    "I can't believe they just cut me off in traffic, and are now driving so slow. What an asshole!"  :angry:

    Okay, now watch this whole video...

     

     

    With all of those stars (suns), honestly, how many planets are in existence? It's countless, as far as any eye can see, and even endlessly beyond that for all we know. Think about that - reality extending without end. How can we even imagine something that doesn't end?

    What if the idea behind Stargate is real, and you could travel between certain planets, many light years away. What types of beings exist in these other inhabitable places? Are they similar to us, but merely with different cultures and languages? How far out have they explored? Do other beings know of how to travel to meet others?

     

    What if we can figure out how to make connections in the near future with other inhabitable places, and explorers make some expeditions and show us video of these new planets?

    Do I still feel like the person driving in front of me is an asshole?

    • Like 6

  5. Posted

    Do you remember how bad it was for you on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008? What if I told you that I remember how you were going through a really rough time on that day, and you weren't sure if you could handle it.

    Don't remember? Whatever was happening then is apparently nothing to you now.

    At some point in time, all of today's troubles will be the same. Such a distant memory that they are hardly there.

    Now try to imagine being 20 years in the future. What will be different at that time for you?

    Then, from that perspective, look back on today. In 2039, ask yourself if you're bothered by what happened back in 2019. Can you even remember anything about June 3rd, 2019?

    • Like 6

  6. Posted

    4 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

    And Nungali, some mantras are invocations. ;)

     

    Yes, I think any deity related ones (like Vajrasattva/hundred syllable) definitely are invocations.

  9. Posted

    On 5/22/2019 at 2:50 PM, manitou said:

    I am dead serious about this.  Maybe some others will be at the same place I am.  Or if you're not yet, you probably will be.

     

    My 92 year old mom has full blown Alzheimers, she's in a really good facility.  She doesn't remember me or my brother, her grandkids, nothing.  (Although she does remember all old music and lyrics from the '40s, which is how I bond with her now) 

     

    I fear that I am developing the same problem.  I have very little short term memory any more.  I don't look much to the future any more.  I'm in a strange hovering place that really requires that you focus on the Now.  It's very much the same as being in Consciousness, in the place of I Am, but less blissful.  When I remember to be In Consciousness, which I do to different degrees throughout the days, I feel great.  But this seems to be a push-pull between the two:  Consciousness vs. Dementia.

     

    The way I have learned to protect myself from making ridiculous mistakes, or missing appointments (which I do a lot) is to focus on the Now as much as I can.  That way, I can still bring a little organization into my daily routine, but it's difficult.  My mind is sort of blank now, much of the time.  But the short-term memory loss is getting horrible, and this is getting serious.  I woke up the other morning, couldn't find a particular bra, and found it in the refrigerator 20 minutes later.  That's the sort of things I'm talking about.  If you lived with someone like this, you'd worry too.

     

    But I am finding that staying In Consciousness (out of necessity, in this case!) brings an end to the confusion.  Things do truly fall into place.  But I step out of it for a few hours unintentionally?  Everything turns to doo-doo.

     

    So I thought I'd just pass on the 'live in the now' information to anyone getting up there, or living with or caring for old folks.

     

    You're courageous for sharing your experiences.

     

    I tend to think that everyone lives in the now (I mean, really, no one is in the past or future), it's just that some people have lots of thoughts going which deal with the past and future, while others are aware of their external environment more and therefore have less concepts going on.

    This "living in the now" state of mind can coincide with other good or bad things going on with the mind. A good thing is having a calm mind, but it's able to learn new information, retain that info, and recall it easily. It's kind of like the functions of the mind are ready for use, but the person is in a neutral state where they're not being overused for useless things (like worrying). The mind rests.

    Less good is having a mind that is basically conceptless and aware of the external environment, living in the now...but it can't learn, can't retain, and can't recall info. Probably is similar to someone who is lobotomized, and I'm not sure it has anything to do with spiritual progress.

    I liked Vaidya Mishra's idea of spiritual development. For that, he said the mind should be well functioning (able to learn, retain, and recall). He advocated brahmi for that (such as using this on the crown of the head, plus other facial marma points, and on the wrist pulse points; using this soap in general; and taking these drops internally). Also, he said that grief (and other negative emotions) should be released from the heart, so that its light can shine. For instance, he used ashoka for that on marma points associated with the heart in Ayurveda. And when the well functioning mind is aware and connected to the light in the heart, then spiritual development is happening...for instance, insights can come with that state of being.

    Besides poor memory/dementia/Alzheimers, I think PTSD is also related to the negative type of conceptlessness. Hypervigilance isn't so much about thoughts, as it is about being too aware of the external environment. The mind gets stuck overobserving things due to trauma.

    I read a story about Confucius, where his student was looking at something (in this case, overly admiring a positive view), and Confucius quickly held his hands over the eyes of the student, in order to prevent his spirit and essence escaping from over-observing. I imagine hypervigilance is the flip side of the coin.

     

    So, this empty state of mind can either be good or bad. Good is when the mind is resting and then can spring into function when needed. Bad is when the mind is stuck in a conceptless state, and can't function well. Also bad, of course, is a mind that's going every which way out of habit...but it can be partly good if such a person's memory is still working, even if they have monkey mind syndrome.

    I think you, manitou, write about resting the mind and then it functioning better as a result. There is more order and clarity, and perhaps memory works better with that. Just like when water is stilled, you can look into it and see the reflection (the memory)...versus when the water is disturbed, the reflections are harder to access.

    To some extent, it seems, we "use it or lose it". I've heard of people who do brain puzzles that are able to retain their good memory into old age. There are things like https://www.lumosity.com/en/ which can supposedly improve memory.

     

    TCM also differentiates between types of memory loss, and could potentially help prevent it, or reverse it.

    • Thanks 2

  10. Posted

    55 minutes ago, alfheim said:

    There is a good kind of having unpredictable plotlines and a bad one.

     

    Her being a sneaky killer really isn't something out of the blue. I'm not on the whole criticism bandwagon with this show, but respect that you don't like how it went.

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    3 hours ago, alfheim said:

    Why even spend so much time to build up the whole faceless story when she doesn't use it in the end?

     

    Why does a plotline have to be so predictable? She got experience sneaking and killing...it fits. Would it have actually been more enjoyable to see her wear a zombie or white walker face? Would there even be time for her to prepare the face, in this context?

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    59 minutes ago, dawei said:

    But he was so pissed that Arya did the killing deed and not Jon, a few shows ago...

     

    How predictable would that have been, though? I thought Arya doing it was brilliant.

     

    44 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

    I really want to know where Drogon went... 

     

    "He was last spotted flying East..."

     

    I read someone say (I think jokingly) that he took his mother to the Lord of Light to bring her back to life. Possible!

     

    This article also suggests that it might have to do with Dany's vision, where she is to reunite with Khal Drogo in the afterlife: https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a27526754/game-of-thrones-finale-where-drogon-daenerys-body-flying-east/ but I'm not so into that one.

     

    46 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

    Jon could not have been chosen. He needed to be 'punished' for 'the good of the realm '

     

    He was also pretty dumb, with continually insisting on being subservient to his murderous queen...until the end, of course. Who wants a King who behaves against all reason and goodness like that, and whose actions led to a mass murder of innocents?

     

    52 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

    It seems to still be more oligarchy than democracy, as it is the lords and ladies who will determine which among them rule.

     

    For the time being, they have a Philosopher King.

     

    1 hour ago, Apech said:

    Bran as king?  Why?  I don't get that at all.

     

    There's no one who could do a better job at ruling than someone who literally knows everything.

     

    1 hour ago, dawei said:

    Even the dragon seemed to give Jon a pass... that seemed telling on some level.

     

    Jon is the last Targaryen, so I think he's basically considered to be the only family of the dragon. Also, it seems that the dragon knew what ultimately killed his mother: her aspiration toward the iron throne.

     

    This was an interesting thing I read: Aegon Targaryen and his dragon forged the iron throne, and Aegon Targaryen and his dragon destroyed the iron throne.

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

    5 hours ago, joeblast said:

    wait, was disney handed the reins for this last season or something?

     

    I'm reserving my judgment until the end, and am hoping they'll tie things up in a cool way. Although my judgment won't be so harsh no matter what. I don't mind this last season...or even Star Wars.


    Easily entertained!

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    On 5/13/2019 at 9:03 AM, Forwards said:

    Here's sotgs latest vid btw since you were interested 

     

     

     

    That's pretty cool. I have a hard time believing things like this when it's so easy to edit videos and add effects...but if one could use their own camera filming him, and immediately after see this, that would be interesting.

    • Like 4

  24. Posted

    25 minutes ago, thelerner said:

    Heck if he knew as much as Varys he could have caused some sort of intervention, even along the lines of simply telling Jon to have sex with her, thus saving a city and keeping her off Arya's death list. 

     

    I wonder if he sees multiple alternative futures, depending on choices made. So, let's say that he questioned what would happen if he told Jon to just have sex with her, so as to avoid the firestorm...but then he saw something worse come about as a result. So he's forced to let numerous horrible things happen in order for a greater good to happen.

    Kind of like how so many died at Winterfell, but ultimately the threat was taken care of, in perhaps the single way that it could have been.

     

    Or he's just so cosmic that he truly is not all that human anymore, and barely cares, given the grand scheme of things.

    • Like 1