@person said:
hate to break it to you, but we are the odd ones.
I don’t know if that is true, I think it is more like a very gradual course of being brain washed. Children’s programming used to be very much more gentle, but it slowly leads you into more serious matters.
The thing is, the violence and the things people supposedly reach with it are all fake! The movies tell us lies, glamorising money, crime, guns, fighting and death as a way of solving problems. I don’t like being lied to.
Happiness, peace of mind, contentment lie elsewhere.
Jeroen
Can you help liberate other sentient beings when you have not finished working on one's self?
As you may have read, beginners mind is as close as you will get at the start, in the middle and at the end.
If you have not read that. You have now. 
The End
https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=34092&sid=ec181e2d7c227c21c27b18304534c6c4
lobster
@Jeroen said:
@person said:
hate to break it to you, but we are the odd ones.I don’t know if that is true, I think it is more like a very gradual course of being brain washed. Children’s programming used to be very much more gentle, but it slowly leads you into more serious matters.
The thing is, the violence and the things people supposedly reach with it are all fake! The movies tell us lies, glamorising money, crime, guns, fighting and death as a way of solving problems. I don’t like being lied to.
Happiness, peace of mind, contentment lie elsewhere.
Being outliers isn't the same as being wrong. Being normal, common isn't the same as being right or good.
person
I don't like violence happening to unwilling people in a movie. Like a horror movie or a traumatic scene in a movie. But a friend asked me to watch a movie in the John Wicks franchise and I liked it. All of the violence was between professional assassins and it was a sort of guilty pleasure to watch.
Jeffrey
Can you help liberate other sentient beings when you have not finished working on one's self?
Sometimes, guidance on the path arrives in unexpected forms.
One may even learn profound lessons from the mistakes of others.
Even if a practitioner is not yet enlightened, they can still guide others who are just beginning the path. The teachings may not be flawless, but sincere effort and intention still plant the seeds of understanding. In time, newcomers find their own footing, and sometimes, the imperfect teacher learns just as much through the act of teaching.
As an old Indian sage once said, “If you don’t feel that you are enlightened, you can always try to be.”
Shoshin1
First snowfall of the season here. Only about 1 inch, but more will inevitably follow. Winter comes and the snow falls by itself - no need to stress over it.
Saw a squirrel on the bird feeder today, doing shikan taza for about 20 minutes - equal to my own average session. How is this different from human shikan taza? For one thing, the squirrel is not likely to be thinking about whether human shikan taza is the real thing or not. No monkey mind there?
I had a friend who held that squirrels would give rise to the next dominant life form on earth, after the humans die off from their own mistakes. I'm not sure that they will be any wiser than we are, unfortunately. They seem to be at least our match in delusional egotism.
Fosdick