The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Discussion of the nature of Ultimate Reality and the path to Enlightenment.
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Ojlink10
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The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by Ojlink10 »

I ask these questions to, inevitably, compare myself to those who have experience.
To see the example of what I might be.
The point is to find out if any forms of daily living are having a negative affect on growth. So I will simply ask...

1. How do you live day to day? (As in "literally" what do you do as a daily course of action)

My example: I'm a practicing Drummer, read comics, play video games, watch news, YouTube, I take care of my handicapped brother.
Are these actions conducive to a failing ego? does it bolster the ego? or is it irrelevant...?

2. How do you speak to/interact with others?


Do you laugh when some one makes a bad joke? Do you ask some one how their day was?
How do you respond if they ask you? Are you more serious around others? Less serious? More Ego-friendly?
Less Ego-friendly? Try to be honest here XD or maybe your not around people much for it to be an issue.
Are these examples of mundane actions damaging to the goal of ego eradication?

3. How do you attempt to change others (if at all)?

Do you simply talk? Perhaps stopping mid-stride to realize their not really listening? Maybe they are but, perhaps, there's no way to
cultivate THAT kind of change in a person in such a limited format such as talking? Do you simply never speak and only show through action/example?


It would especially be interesting if Dan Rowden, David Quinn and/or Kevin Solway share their real life examples to these questions
BUT I definitely understand if any one finds it too personal or too far from the point to respond.

P.S. - If you notice any faults in me, a sense of my ego seeping through where ever you might see. Please, don't be shy. Be very candid.
Hopefully, if we can note all the flaws, we can attempt to dissuade ourselves from perpetuating it.
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Diebert van Rhijn
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by Diebert van Rhijn »

OJ, for me it's way more interesting to talk about your first sentence only.
  • ..inevitably, compare myself to those who have experience.
Why would you compare yourself in that way? You need affirmation of that kind? On the other thread you talk about what you know about "becoming enlightened". But still you want to compare yourself with anything or anyone? It's understandable you want to learn and grow like a person, like an adult but that's life. Perhaps first live it a while longer?

Another question is about "those who have experience". How did you determine that? A forum full of dimwits here largely, if you would be candid. Anyway, the founders are not around much if at all. But if you'd spend a bit more time reading around at their sites, there's already so much to "compare" yourself with there if that's what you want to do. No need to go over it here unless you desire the social interactions. Simply because I didn't learn those things here either: it's what you know to be true already.
SeekerOfWisdom
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by SeekerOfWisdom »

dimwit specimen #1 ^
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Pincho Paxton
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by Pincho Paxton »

I sift through infinite information.
Tenver-
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by Tenver- »

“The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.”
― Umberto Eco, Travels in Hyperreality

Also the sayings, if you love something set it free... and the truth will set you free.

Some more quotes cause I'm in quote mood:

While duty measures the regard it owes
With scrupulous precision and nice justice,
Love never reasons, but profusely gives,
Gives, like a thoughtless prodigal, its all,
And trembles then, lest it has done too little.
~Hannah More

Duty: where a man loves what he commands himself to do. - Goethe

Basically, you gotta be a little bit crazy... but not too crazy... and then you must give and give and give... for no other reason than love because love is the reason and love asks no other reasons.
SeekerOfWisdom
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by SeekerOfWisdom »

Tenver- 'Love is the reason'...
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by Tenver- »

Yes... if a man had not love, he would quickly suit to make himself have most and leave the littlest to the remaining world. It is rational to adapt yourself to the world - but that does not change the world (for the better or worse). The most rational and littlest sacrificial person would take for himself the riches of the world and the comfortability of daily life whereever it was possible - it is rational... but the world does not change from rational people...

If you have to account for why you must sacrifice, then no reason will make that a good option for a rational person. It is not reasonable to sacrifice - but love may make that the only reasonable choice... the same reason why rich people and famous people add very little to the world compared to the great unknown sea of people who give their lives to some fragment of human understanding. If you only acquire and consume, you will add little, but that is the rational choice. Acquire as much as you can and consume to give yourself every advantage.

In life, we always have 3 options... morality, death or immorality... thereby not said that anyone consciously chooses anything, but still only love and this reason "Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own" (Quote by Robert Heinlein) can make way for anyone to sacrifice themselves and add something. The perfectly rational being weighs everything in benefit or hindrance for himself... that is the rational way to make your way through life... to weigh everything in a fashion according to reason. If you must grow beyond this and sacrifice and add more totally when taking others into account than just by doing what is only in some form relevant to your own position and to do that which is the most of that, then you must grow beyond reason and imagination and into love and self-sacrifice.

Rich people or people who have never really experienced must intensity of some form, by suffering f.ex., will skip the corner and not feel personally obliged to the every day immorality there is. It is very immoral to lay at the beach while having much in life while there many hundreds of millions of people in the world suffering from basic neccesities such as food, water, diseases long ridden in one's own country, war crimes, poverty of different kinds, injustice and extermination. Why should the rational man do anything but acquire for himself and make things as easy for himself? Why do something for the person who can do little or nothing for you? Morality and immorality, and the product of love is the highest morality. Love has aligned interests with truth. Love cares only for the extinction of suffering and does not weigh personal interests but only the prevention of problems and creation is needed for that which can come by the act of genius. We all or nearly all (except for perhaps before-mentioned people who does not have experience with the moral fabric of life) are geniuses in some form. We all create to prevent problems. We all understand at some point and does not only and ever make use of eachother. We all choose some individuality to do what is morally aligned with our position.

Thus, only love or the basis of morality can push us over reason and rationality and into self-sacrifice... and there is no other reason in love than love itself. It is a higher law.
Elizabeth Isabelle
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by Elizabeth Isabelle »

Ojlink10 wrote:1. How do you live day to day? (As in "literally" what do you do as a daily course of action)
I spend some time on the internet, but mostly I just sit or lie down. Just. Not watching television, or reading - just sit there. I listen to my husband talk about things - he wants me to interject more into the conversation, but I find it difficult. I spent some years as a hermit and got away from talking. We play Mythlore (like Dungeons and Dragons, but only 6 sided dice are used), and lately we started watching some youtube videos together - mostly about current political events and edutainment videos.
Ojlink10 wrote:2. How do you speak to/interact with others?


I am as polite as I can be, not very excitable, and am a bit quiet. I rarely laugh, but I nod and smile a lot. I ask how others are doing.

Ojlink10 wrote:3. How do you attempt to change others (if at all)?


I provide as steady of a calmness as I can which, I believe, helps others to regulate their emotions and thereby think more logically. As for speaking out to broaden others' horizons, I am more successful at that on the internet than in person.

Ojlink10 wrote:P.S. - If you notice any faults in me, a sense of my ego seeping through where ever you might see. Please, don't be shy. Be very candid.


Looking to see if you have an ego is a sign that you still have an ego. Please don't take that as discouragement - the ego will fade away naturally as you become more enlightened. Fighting to rid yourself of your ego only makes it cling harder to you.
SeekerOfWisdom
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by SeekerOfWisdom »

"mostly I just sit or lie down" :),

"everyone is miserable because they constantly exert effort, but no one understands this"
Elizabeth Isabelle
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by Elizabeth Isabelle »

Elizabeth Isabelle wrote:
Ojlink10 wrote:1. How do you live day to day? (As in "literally" what do you do as a daily course of action)
I spend some time on the internet, but mostly I just sit or lie down. Just. Not watching television, or reading - just sit there. I listen to my husband talk about things - he wants me to interject more into the conversation, but I find it difficult. I spent some years as a hermit and got away from talking. We play Mythlore (like Dungeons and Dragons, but only 6 sided dice are used), and lately we started watching some youtube videos together - mostly about current political events and edutainment videos.
I forgot to mention that I usually take a half hour walk every day - guess it slipped my mind because I've been sick with a cold and an asthma flare-up for about a week and have had to skip it.
Ojlink10
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by Ojlink10 »

Thanks for the responses
Thank you diebert for pointing out what you did. I think i was having an ego-crisis when i made this thread but i can safely say that the dust has cleared. ;)

Thank you Elizabeth for giving an actual response, lol.

And to Tenver...
...Some profound stuff you posted there.
sarahjoe
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by sarahjoe »

I don't mind sharing. For me it just seems like death is a valid option to end suffering and doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Rather than sobering me up it lulls me into a pseudo-sense of security in the thought "if things get too bad then I can just end it" and thus makes my efforts towards other things crippled. I used to be one of those people that worked best under pressure, but now I don't feel the pressure because I feel I have nothing to lose basically. Having that mentality makes me not care about the outcome and makes me a lazy thinker.
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ardy
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by ardy »

There is no link between genius and being ego less or free. In fact, all three states - genius, ego less, free are separate until all separation dissolves.

There are ways of living that are easier than others, but you still need to survive, it depends on your country and your aptitude. Most westerners think they need a job to fulfill them in some emotional way. The reality for 80% of the worlds people is to work to eat. Action is essential and it really doesn't matter what the action is, as long as you feel it is not immoral or criminal.

If you wish to sit down and contemplate the universe for a few years you are giving yourself an excellent chance of becoming depressed. If you rush around doing a thousand things in a week and there is no time to spend on yourself, you could also get sick.

All things in balance, whilst retaining a strong sense of humour about life and the people around you.

We all go down the road together.

There are no right and wrong ways to act, act honestly with yourself and don't fall into others bullshit or the crowds cliche ridden existence.
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Diebert van Rhijn
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by Diebert van Rhijn »

ardy wrote:If you wish to sit down and contemplate the universe for a few years you are giving yourself an excellent chance of becoming depressed.
If after a few months attachments don't come screaming at you and knocking on your door, then it's not truly contemplation but just more escapism. Contemplation of the universal should be more like a very lively dialog and difficult struggle which will eclipse all else, heightens the senses, not dulls them, intensifies life, not shuts it down. And it will give enough troubles. If not, whatever is being contemplated is probably just some illusion, another opium supply to overcome.
There are no right and wrong ways to act....
There are only right and wrong ways to act. It's just that all the rights and wrongs are being distributed in many ways over many people and over quite some time. So it's impossible to definitely assert the complete wrongness or rightness in some universal way. But contextual, all action certainly has this moral dimension to it. And through that, character and conscience are born, direction matures. Once actions would be "neutralized" as being amoral, they are turned into meaninglessness ("don't care") or in other words invalidated by some destructive, nihilistic intent to sacrifice the specific on some universal altar of the next unknown god.
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ardy
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by ardy »

There are no right and wrong ways to act....
There are only right and wrong ways to act. It's just that all the rights and wrongs are being distributed in many ways over many people and over quite some time. So it's impossible to definitely assert the complete wrongness or rightness in some universal way. But contextual, all action certainly has this moral dimension to it. And through that, character and conscience are born, direction matures. Once actions would be "neutralized" as being amoral, they are turned into meaninglessness ("don't care") or in other words invalidated by some destructive, nihilistic intent to sacrifice the specific on some universal altar of the next unknown god.[/quote]

Agree, with the proviso that the actions are your honest actions taken from a good base. Nobody can tell the outcomes of their actions and therefore the great conversation between Arjuna and Krishna in the Upanishads. In the end we must take action and to do that in faith is most probably the best way, after the brain has had a go at the logical part of it.
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GreatandWiseTrixie
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by GreatandWiseTrixie »

It's no secret, I have an ego bigger than the size of yo mama's double D's. Well, sorta. Every now and then it inverts itself like a black hole. Why? For comedic relief.

Do I do drums? Define what you mean by drums. Nothin wrong with banging on a plate or musically filled glasses of water. What were the pitch ratio's again? Not that it matters, all music (even epic music) is hollow, unsatisfying, and meaningless, like life. Sure, "good" music puts visions of sugarplums in your head, epic music pumps your adrenaline and gives you visions of grandeur, some would say quality art. But what's the value of a random story that can play out in a variety of different ways? Pointless fantasy, meaning-making. Let me guess, your story is so grand, it will help you gain fame and fortune when you realize it some day. Thus giving you money. Thus fulfilling the prime directive, avoid death, and reproduce. Some might even be magnanimous about it and share the wealth with others (although statically unlikely.) But if death is a release, and orgasm is only a pointless (and disgusting) illusion, then we have ourselves a very flawed prime directive.
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SeekerOfWisdom
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by SeekerOfWisdom »

I may be in love with you trixie, if you're not a middle aged man.
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GreatandWiseTrixie
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by GreatandWiseTrixie »

SeekerOfWisdom wrote:I may be in love with you trixie, if you're not a middle aged man.
Erm...lol? (Possibly the worst pick-up line ever...it states two things, you value appearances over core being, and you are wish-washy and conditional about love..) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlSbaBDqMiQ
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by Bobo »

GreatandWiseTrixie wrote:
SeekerOfWisdom wrote:I may be in love with you trixie, if you're not a middle aged man.
Erm...lol? (Possibly the worst pick-up line ever...it states two things, you value appearances over core being, and you are wish-washy and conditional about love..)
Not really, it's when a man really feels what is like to be a woman. You being a middle aged man is not an outright rejection but it is quite frightening.
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GreatandWiseTrixie
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by GreatandWiseTrixie »

Bobo wrote:
GreatandWiseTrixie wrote:
SeekerOfWisdom wrote:I may be in love with you trixie, if you're not a middle aged man.
Erm...lol? (Possibly the worst pick-up line ever...it states two things, you value appearances over core being, and you are wish-washy and conditional about love..)
Not really, it's when a man really feels what is like to be a woman. You being a middle aged man is not an outright rejection but it is quite frightening.
Never said I was a middle aged man. You are Meaning-Making.

I am well aware you attempted to construct your sentence as a duality, as a possible trap, but you got the tense wrong. You said it "is" quite frightening, instead of "could-be" which implies a perspective that original statement was your perception, however temporary, at the time you wrote it.
Not really, it's when a man really feels what is like to be a woman.
Not really what? It's..defines what? it's=what? What is "it's" in reference to?
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Re: The Life of a Genius (Are you ego-less and free?)

Post by nobox »

First, never compare your life to anothers, life is about expirences and choices each bieng in this world makes their lives based on these choices and expirences. Second learn who you are and then determine who you want to be. Keep in mind your future is founded by your choices. Take steps towards your future. As far as ego goes.you determine how good you are why not embrace your ego and be .
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