The ultimate unpopular opinions

[Mark Foote]

On 10/28/2025 at 6:18 AM, liminal_luke said:

Maybe the beauty of having all these "brains" is that we can change what we think without staying strictly in our head.  There´s a gut-brain axis?  Good!  Let me change my thoughts by eating differently.  Movement works too as well as various cultivation practices.  Getting the right kind of sunshine can have a profound effect on the kind of thoughts associated with a bad mood.  It´s often easier to change thoughts indirectly -- by working with the systems that effect the various brains -- than trying to strongarm thoughts on a cognitive level.

Along those lines. The couple in this video got serious scientific support, but a double-blind study will take funds they haven't secured yet.

P.S.--as they say in the video, don't try this at home!
 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 10:42 PM by Mark Foote

[Mark Foote]

On 10/27/2025 at 5:42 PM, Nungali said:

 

 

17. ... The material act is but the outward expression of thy thought, and therefore hath it been said that “the thought of foolishness is sin.” Thought is the commencement of action, and if a chance thought can produce much effect, what cannot fixed thought do?
 

…I say that determinate thought is action. When one determines, one acts by deed, word, or thought. 

 

(AN 6.63, tr. Pali Text Society vol III p 294)

 

 

And what… is the ceasing of action? That ceasing of action by body, speech, and mind, by which one contacts freedom,–that is called ‘the ceasing of action’.  

 

(SN 35.146, tr. Pali Text Society vol IV p 85)

 

 

Fixing thought, nix, nix:

 

That which we will…, and that which we intend to do and that wherewithal we are occupied:–this becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being there, there comes to be a station of consciousness. Consciousness being stationed and growing, rebirth of renewed existance takes place in the future, and here from birth, decay, and death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow, and despair come to pass. Such is the uprising of this mass of ill.

 

Even if we do not will, or intend to do, and yet are occupied with something, this too becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness… whence birth… takes place.

 

But if we neither will, nor intend to do, nor are occupied about something, there is no becoming of an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being absent, there comes to be no station of consciousness. Consciousness not being stationed and growing, no rebirth of renewed existence takes place in the future, and herefrom birth, decay-and-death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow and despair cease. Such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill.

 

(SN 12.38; © Pali Text Society SN vol. II p 45)

 

 

Let the mind be present without an abode.

 

(Diamond Sutra; translation Venerable Master Hsing Yun, from “The Rabbit’s Horn: A Commentary on the Platform Sutra”, Buddha’s Light Publishing pg. 60)

 

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, Nungali said:

 

I support that right  and will fight against the suppression of cast iron cookware  .... once it 'gets out '  *  they will , no doubt,   try to suppress it and replace it with new super dooper high tech inferior crappy products with in built problems . 

 

* its long lasting,  sturdy ,  can  go on a heating element , in an oven or on a fire , one can use it to have an 'oven' on a fire, when  'cured' and treated  properly it is entirely 'non- stick ' - which will also make it rust proof , its thick and holds the heat well for better cooking  ... and of course , packs a much more solid whallop  than a light  aluminium one  .  

 

 

I am very fond of my frying pans.  They are decades old (the oldest one is 70) and take heavy use in stride.  In addition to cast iron I have copper and copper-over-steel ones.  It's true that my 12-inch copper beauty* lost all the tin, but to re-tin it costs hundreds of dollars in our parts, so I just don't use it for anything acidic it might react with.  I could give a reason and rationale for the fact that I have 7 frying pans and none are decorative or the outcome of hoarding.  I use all of them interchangeably -- each of them knows what its purpose in life is and does not infringe upon another frying pan's territory.  But If I was limited to just one (as I used to be), that one would be cast iron.             

 

*beauty: I mean its performance, not appearance, since it shines from thorough polishing maybe once a year and then it's all downhill for it.  Scrubbing and polishing to a beautiful uniform shine is for decorative copper, not for the workhorse of the kitchen.)

[old3bob]

23 hours ago, bradley said:

 

A well regulated Kitchen, being necessary to the appetite of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Cast Iron Cookware shall not be infringed

 

there are tips on how to properly use your iron skillet with skill, along with related iron palm training that one can practice in the comfort of their own kitchen... (which is good if using skillet as a weapon of for cooking) 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by old3bob