Nathan_Jr

Yeah. Pleasure is probably at the root of much suffering. Joining a destructive group to fill a dopamine void, what irony! i know I stayed with my NPD ex wife too long partly because of the dangling carrot of pleasure. She was my entree to TWI. I had to wake up to this fact myself, that my entire life was systematically destroyed partly because of my desire for what feels good. So, why do we feel so unfulfilled that we need fulfillment from another? I'm only trying to be vigilantly aware of myself, my desires, shortcomings, so that I don't fall into these traps again. My life was destroyed by people claiming to have the answers that never sought. (Why can't evangelists just be happy? Why must they insist on converting another?!) I've discovered that the power and insight and depth of awareness is in contemplating the questions, not clinging to a answer. Bolshevik, you've made some powerfully insightful, if sometimes confusing and cryptic, posts on narcissism in the past that I've found very helpful. Thank you.

Yes. Our species naturally seeks to help one another, to protect one another, to raise each other's children. Naturally, from the very beginning 100,000+ years ago. It takes a village... But, today, this desire to be part of a separate group, in order to validate ourselves, to arrogantly separate ourselves with MOG-made distinctions, to M&A the very village that raised us, is this biological/natural?

Indeed, it is. Honest self examination is difficult. Why are we so insecure that we need validation? Who will perform the validation? The MOG? If we go outside of ourselves to validate ourselves, when does it end? When the guru says so? And who will validate the guru? I don't know the answers, but I find the contemplation of these questions can teach us more than any self-proclaimed teacher.

I guess I missed this before I posted. Why do we feel a need to belong to anything, any group, at all? Maybe the answer is in the question. Can we look honestly at ourselves to find out?

Can anyone expand on what an ethical cult actually is? Or what Wheal means by this phasing? Ethical cult seems oxymoronic to me. I've watched the video several times, but it seems a mere superficial introduction to the concept, possibly a baited hook enticing one to BITE. His Flow Genome Project site seems to me to be part of the zeitgeist of search for meaning and culture collapse. Haven't read either of his books and I don't think "ethical cult" was ever mentioned on the Darkhorse podcast. Wheal may be onto something. But I don't know yet. His two books have been successful and he seems to be selling plenty of training classes.

Peirce is not pleasurable to read because he writes like the academic scientist he was 120 years ago. "Fixation of Belief" is his treatment of how and why we come to believe. I stumbled across it in my quest to find out why we believe anything at all. This quest became exceedingly urgent in the wake of "taking the class," domestic political fever, and the global pandemic. He presents four methods we use in fixing our beliefs or resolving doubt. In ascending order, weakest to strongest: 1. Tenacity. If a doubt arises about X, take a particular position on X, constantly reiterate that position to yourself in a way that you begin to believe X, then shut out anything that might cause you to doubt X. [David Agler] 2. Authority. Victor said it, that settles it, I believe it. 3. Agreeable to Reason (a priori). We simply think through whatever doubt we have until we happen upon a belief that seems right to us. [David Agler] 4. Science. The scientific method. For more on critical thinking, doubt, belief and curiosity, check out Anthony Magnabosco's fascinating channel about street epistemology. https://youtube.com/c/AnthonyMagnabosco210

Rocky, the videos and books you recommend here are always appropriate and excellent and helpful. Thank you. And thank you ALL for making GSC available to anyone seeking understanding. I don't know if critical thinking makes one smarter, but it sure helps in making one freer. Free from the bondage of belief. I especially liked Michael Shermer's section. He says, "The problem is this: None of us has the truth." I'll amend that slightly. The problem is BELIEVING you have the truth. The Truth (that which is eternal) is nothing to possess. Anyone claiming to possess the Truth surely doesn't. What is the legend of Socrates? The oracle deemed him the wisest of all because he first admitted to knowing nothing. I was admonishing my son last week to BELIEVE no one. Either you know or don't know. Belief can be very dangerous. Find out for yourself. Ask lots of questions. Doubt is a virtue. Don't be afraid of doubting; be afraid of believing. Lately, I've been reading Charles S. Peirce's "The Fixation of Belief." This video dovetails perfectly.

My sixth-grader recently wrapped up a unit on early Christianity in his World History class. He asked what I thought about some historical data points like Jesus' birth date and the tradition of the Christmas holiday. I sighed deeply while avoiding dogmatism and complicated journeys into historical-critical rabbit holes. Finally, he answered his own question: What does it really matter?!? Yes, I said. Yes. (It only matters to those obfuscating with sleight of hand and intellectual dishonesty. But it might also matter honest, authentic scholars.) All children inherently have a heightened spiritual awareness and perception. That is until they are taught, indoctrinated, programmed. My child has always been forced to attend a wierwille-worshipping fellowship by his mother. I'm grateful his spiritual sense isn't yet completely blunted.

First - Thank you all for every word you've ever written here. GSC has been an invaluable source of insight into the pathology of twi. Now, onto topic relevance: Thanks for the LCM Archive.org link. I've been looking for LCM material there for some time, but without success. (Archive.org is great, but vast and cumbersome to navigate.) Archive.org also has lots of vpw material, including full transcripts and audio of AC '71/'79; full transcripts and audio of Romans Corps teaching from vpw; full video of vpw teaching CF&S, excluding the beastiality. Vpw and lcm's voices cause me to recoil in severe, vomitous discomfort, but I find the transcripts are helpful to see through the utter BS, inaccuracies, fallacies and childish exegesis.