Best Of
Re: Financial independence, maturity and the new generation
Generally, I agree.
I'd just offer two possible qualifications:
- The Netherlands, like the Scandinavian countries, and the US, are the places where people move out earliest. In poorer countries, yet not the very poorest where you put up a shack and that's that, people move out slower. I am reminded of a fellow student from Uzbekistan who studied with me in England and after experiencing culture shock asked me nearly bewildered with shame: "Is it OK that after I finish this study program my new wife and I share our parent's 2 bedroom flat with them? Buying or renting is just not financially feasible for us at this time, it's not for any of our friends either, it's just not normal to move out early or easily in my country since jobs are badly paid and hard to get and real-estate is comparatively super expensive."
- Have you had a heart to heart talk with your cousin? Before you go all right-wing "it's their fault" on her (I know you are not right-wing), I'd guess there's a good chance that she is struggling in life in general, maybe with mental health, interpersonal relations with those very same parents, or something personal. Sure, some tough love might help, but understanding the underlying problem first would probably help more.
They say that for every ill, there is a good. What they usually skip is that then it's also true that for every good, there is an ill.
"Man has achieved his present position by being the most aggressive and enterprising creature on earth. And now he has created a comfortable civilization, he faces an unexpected problem...The comfortable life lowers man's resistance, so that he sinks into an unheroic sloth...The comfortable life causes spiritual decay..."
~ Colin Wilson
marcitko
Re: Wim Hof - Feel the Cold and do it Anyway
OK polar bear it. But don't go into hypothermia.
frederica, you had about the best house on the block (for a kid). 
Lionduck
Re: Wim Hof - Feel the Cold and do it Anyway
This is the article, which they made available in English as well…
Jeroen
Re: Discipline and spirituality
Discipline and spirituality
Can one truly be spiritual without discipline? Even if one's spirituality is rooted in simply going with the flow, this, too, demands a certain level of discipline.
Shoshin1
Re: Discipline and spirituality
@person said:
This was rummaging about in my head today and I wanted to comment. Accurate evaluation is difficult, but this is the way. The practice of meditation develops a greater level of self awareness and introspection. We mess up, we learn and we move on.
If you have lived experience of psychosis, your context is likely to be much more inclusive than without that experience. It includes a certain first-hand knowledge of how the mind can ‘come off the rails’, and that can clue you in to whatever signs are unique to you. Perhaps the closest people without this experience can come is taking psychedelics.
My own experience only included hallucinations, of auditory and touch experiences, and not delusions or intrusive thoughts. So although I have some knowledge, I also know it can get considerably worse. But you see what I mean that some things can be ‘outside your context’ unless you have the right knowledge and experience.
Jeroen
Re: Did the present already start?
@Vastmind said:
How long is the present moment? When does it start and when does it end?If I am to be in the present and not live in the past or in the future…how do I measure that?.. If it is continuous moments…how would I be in just one?
We don’t have to be able to measure it. We can think about the effect of changing the width of “Now” and look at the impact of the changes. So, as we define Now in shorter and shorter widths, we more precisely approach the demarcation point. In calculus we say “as delta T goes to zero (that is, as the change in time, — or width of Now — gets smaller) . . . “ we can see a line becomes a point, or a curve has a constant slope (y=mx+b at the point of tangent). This is mathematically satisfying, and we’ve had several posts looking in different ways at a narrow delta T, or a skinny Now.
But we might consider the human aspect of making Now wider, not narrower. Again, we don’t have to quantify; we can look at the effect of making Now wider. The wider it is, the more of the past and future it contains, and the better we can perceive the curve instead of the point. With a narrow Now we can look at how the scene changes at this point in the play. Choreographers care about this. With a wider Now we can look at how the story evolves from the first to the second act, or how this play is a sequel to the first one, or how Theatre changes over the years or millennia. Cultural historians care about this. When we make Now wide, interesting things come into view, interesting perspectives lead to interesting actions. When we make Now narrow, we prevent these perspectives.
There is a think tank that studies this, and the concomitant implications , the Long Now Foundation. There are various facets of their work. Interesting reading.
Steve_B
Did the present already start?
How long is the present moment? When does it start and when does it end?
If I am to be in the present and not live in the past or in the future…how do I measure that?.. If it is continuous moments…how would I be in just one?
Vastmind
Re: Did the present already start?
I generally view it as a workable chunk of time…like a day. I can work with that. Enough hours have gone by for reflection, right, right now can call for a pivot …..or pure joy in a tearful laugh or feeling my heart sink…., and maybe after lunch, I’m hoping my memory will serve me enough to activate some mindfulness one way or another. Can’t go back on yesterday, and no one is promised tomorrow.
It’s all just a New York minute, ain’t it?
AFA it being defined by not being measurable…I would argue that refutes impermanence. I’ve already predetermined and accepted the theory that nothing lasts forever and is subject to change, therefore expecting an ending/change and maybe preparing for it. Practice, practice paying attention leads to it happening more naturally.
Perhaps..”being” in the moment is when I go from brain to mind ……..(HERE)..…. back to brain…. and that time frame can vary.
Vastmind
Re: Wim Hof - Feel the Cold and do it Anyway
He will be in a freezer soon enough. So to speak. 
The important thing is to knock oneself (if unfortunate enough to have any worth mentioning) off any constructed pedestals...
I dunz this! 
lobster