Cycles of growth, decay, and regeneration

The main idea is to be careful about what you want. Sometimes, what we think is good or what we hope for is just something we imagine. Problems exist all around the world, and many of them happen because of things we do to ourselves.

If it is not external threats who will simply contribute to the downfall of 'the good idea'.

    1. It starts with a good idea

As an Utopian vision, we could build a better community, a better World, if only we did this and that. 

    2. Issue starts to show up

    Internal dynamics and increasingly tyrannical tendencies or significant external threats. Mere nuisance; or symbolizing the external pressures that historically have challenged, invaded, or otherwise contributed to the decline of any order.

    3. Answers, and more effort up to a certain point

    Adding another layer of complexity to the founder's efforts, illustrating how isolation from perceived corruption doesn't necessarily shield one from conflict—it often follows or finds a new form in any human endeavor, particularly one that seeks to establish its own rule and order in a previously established system. 

The presence of these antagonistic forces helps to hasten the collapse of any good idea. 

Showing how external aggression interacts with internal decay to accelerate the fall of any Utopian project.

    4. Regeneration

    Some dude will then come up with a better idea and the cycle will continue. 

Psychiatry and Capitalism: Unveiling the Impact on Mental Health

In today's world, the field of psychiatry stands at an intriguing crossroads with capitalism. It is essential to delve into the influence of capitalist ideals on mental health recognition and treatment.

How many people do you know are going into therapy to survive in an increasing inhumane world?

It is worth acknowledging that capitalism's influence runs deep within the realm of mental health. Many symptoms and problems that individuals face today stem from their internal struggle to reconcile the contradictions presented by capitalism. Depression, for instance, has become alarmingly common, akin to a collective experience of zoochosis (a form of psychosis that develops in animals held captive in zoos). Furthermore, numerous mental health concerns originate from the dissonance between societal structures and our innate human nature.

Rediscovering Our True Nature:

As a species, our essence lies in existing harmoniously with nature itself. Our natural inclination involves engaging in activities such as hunting, farming, creating, and embracing occasional idleness before eventually passing away. However, the ceaseless work demanded by capitalist societies starkly opposes this natural state. Deep down, we all intuitively recognize this disparity, and it is this struggle between our true nature and societal expectations that ultimately leads to the deterioration of our mental well-being.

To address this escalating crisis, it is imperative to challenge and overthrow the system that has poisoned our bodies and minds. While peaceful transformation is desirable, the consequences of inaction should not be underestimated. The path to healing lies in dismantling the deeply entrenched capitalist structures that perpetuate these issues. It is crucial to recognize that it is not the individuals who are sick, but rather the very system that governs our lives.

Conclusion:

The complex relationship between psychiatry and capitalism warrants careful examination. By acknowledging the undercurrent of capitalist influence within mental health recognition and treatment, we can better understand the challenges individuals face today. It is our collective responsibility to foster a society that aligns with our true natural state, embracing our inherent connection to nature and dismantling oppressive systems. Only then can we pave the way for a more compassionate and holistic approach to mental well-being.

The least of my problem now

I'm a 57-year-old man, and I used to be a porn addict. I started watching erotic magazines when I was a teenager, and by the time I was in my 30s, and because of the internet, I was addicted. I was watching porn every day, and it was starting to ruin my life, my mental health was impacted. I could not stop.

I was having problems at work and in my relationships. I was also struggling with anxiety and depression. I knew I needed to stop watching porn, but I couldn't seem to be able on my own. It was the peak time for Jenna Jameson, Nikki Tyler, and all the female pioneers of this industry, and their appeal was too much. And I thought, this would never end... what a fool!

But it happened, slowly as the age reached 50, my libido dropped every year a little more. And now I feel nothing, watching porn now, seems strange, I am at peace, most of these porn stars I used to watch have disappeared, the urge is gone.

Sure, it took some time, and I was eventually able to break free from my porn addiction. I'm now clean for over 2 years, and sure I realize how stupid it feels to be under the spell of this addiction, to be unable to control oneself, the sleepless nights, the social awkwardness, the obsession over some porn stars, the idiocy of it all is clear now, that the urge is gone, it is like a 'post nut clarity' that never ends. Aging was the solution, but it also has its bad side.

No, I'm not grateful that my libido dropped. Sure it helped to change my life. But it also means the decline to old age has started, and it is now crystal clear, that lots of time and energy were wasted over this illusion that is porn. That was something I wanted so bad, and now it feels empty. It feels like I am an eunuch in a harem, like I am unable to enjoy a meal in front of a buffet. 

Here is a piece of advice for anyone who is struggling with porn addiction: don't be afraid to ask for help. There are people who care about you and want to help you get better. Talk to a therapist, counselor, or support group. You are not alone.

I wrote this piece almost 10 years ago 

Nature

 I recall being on a train for work, feeling utterly depressed about my job and the dreadful progression of my day. 

As I gazed out the window, I noticed that just eight feet away from the railway and slag, there was grass, followed by trees, and then an array of birds and animals. 

It was in that moment I realized two distinct realities were unfolding simultaneously: I was immersed in a social network due to my work, yet also existing within nature. 

Unfortunately, nature had been relegated to the back seat in my life. 

Now, I use nature as my guide and navigate society in a more relaxed manner.

Leveling up

 There are different theories about what this World is all about, I've head that some people think it is a prison, and we are somehow punished for something we did elsewhere, the entire reality is a prison, and that is the rational explanation as to why we are not allowed to visit other planets, and we have the feeling (which is false) that we are alone in this Universe, this would be explained by the fact that we are still very primitive in our development, spiritually we are still in our infancy.

A more optimist view would say that we are somehow here on Earth to learn, which would make this planet a School planet, and once we graduate we will be able to move forward and leave this cycle of reincarnations (which is an idea borrowed by Easter philosophies).

While we are here, we could be stuck in this mentality of accumulating as much money and material things as possible, to live comfortably, to respond to our fear of lack, of dying from hunger, or being outcast ... during our Human evolution we have been through wars, famine, terrible chaos, and great injustice, and we are all victims, and at the same time responsible for this on-going madness, because being involved in our mass hysteria, we forget that one day we will depart this place, we will die, and lose all the riches, the cars, the computers, the bank account, the houses, the devices we have bought, and what will remain is our soul...

This is not new, we all have heard that from Church, in a temple, from a guru, from some wise person, from a book, we all know that ... we have been warned, but we keep acting like we do not know.

There is an urgent need of leveling up, 

the enemy is ignorance, 

the enemy is fear,

we need to move on from that 

and the time is now

Future of humanity

I had access to an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system, and asked 

- how do you predict the future of humanity?

Here was the AI response:

The future of humanity is a very broad and complex topic that has been explored by many different perspectives, such as religion, philosophy, science, and art. There is no definitive answer to how humanity will evolve or what challenges it will face in the coming years.

Some possible predictions for the future of humanity are:

Humanity will undergo physical, mental, and social changes due to genetic engineering, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and other factors1.

Humanity will face existential risks from global catastrophes such as nuclear war, pandemics, climate change, or alien invasion.

Humanity will expand its presence beyond Earth and explore other planets or star systems.

Humanity will develop new forms of cooperation and governance to address global issues and ethical dilemmas.

These are just some examples of what might happen in the future of humanity. However, they are not certain or inevitable. The future depends on many factors that are hard to predict or control. Therefore, it is important for humans to be aware of the possibilities and challenges that lie ahead and to take actions that can shape a better future for themselves and others.

What do you think about these predictions? Do you have any other ideas about the future of humanity?

Why talking with bullies won't work

Bullies will make promises, but they will never deliver everything they agreed to, 

because they have to get a "win" above and beyond whatever they actually negotiated. 

They do not want fair deals, and deals that look fair are probably traps.

Assuming you delivered your side of the deal first? 

Big mistake, now the bully will drag their feet and ask for more consideration and use what they owe you as leverage. 

A famous example of that is Donald Trump 

He always had some sort of "reserve" leverage he'd use to put the screws to people and alter deals later, or suddenly have some complaint and he'd withhold his payment.

Everything with these toxic people is excruciating and exhausting because they have to mess with you at every step.

How I Finally Broke ALL My Bad Habits

The response to a "black pill" argument

The general understanding given by despairing people, or so called 'black pill' is always around the idea that there is no hope, nothing matters, nothing makes sense, this could be funny (and Rick Sanchez is often quoted for this tirade) ... but thinking in this way, can be harmful, especially if you already are in bad shape, recently hit by life changing events, grieving, or recently unemployed, divorced, etc ...

And I will quote here a paragraph from the book by Viktor Frankl:

What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. 

We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.

This is about looking at any situation, with the attitude of a space marine in Starcraft, and shouting:

• Commander?
• Standin' by.
•  Jacked up and good to go.
•  Gimme something to shoot!
•  Go go go!
•  Let's move!
•  Outstanding!
•  Rock and roll!

That will make the 'black pill' laughs, and then he will leave ...

My audience

How do you end up here on my blog? 

probably via a google search, right? 

I'm not fooled, I know quite well, that once you (dear visitor reader) will have found the content you were looking for, you leave and never come back 

Which is why I post daily here, to engage with my audience while of course trying to keep my very attached girlfriend at bay (her name is 'depression' by the way).

The reason things are not going to get better

For every problem we meet, we find a solution that is generating newer problems.

It is like a curse

Everything Humanity touch, seems to go extinct, corrupt, collapse or die.

Once the idea of making a profit starts to be introduced, the situation goes awry

Once the government starts to be involved, it is also another level of crazy that is added to an already difficult situation.

The improvement is rarely a simplification, the goal is rarely to simplify.

More regulations, more legislation, more control, more documents to fill, and the government is ready for the next step which usually is more taxes.

Nature will produce a tree, freely, as a joke ask a public servant to do the same thing, and the budget to build tree will be astronomical.

The problem is that on one hand, the governments all over the World are concerned only about one thing,  and it is their survival.

And on the other hand, starting anew, means there is going to be a lot of disasters, and we are more or less at this point in history, where the states are being insufferable, and the population disagree more and more on the new restrictions.

The next step for the government to protect itself, is to become dictatorship, like in Russia, China, North Korea, etc ... and what used to be the democratic advances, Human rights, basic decency starts to slowly disappear.

Retirement, right to bear arms, birth control, Abortion, Savings, decent salary, free circulation of goods, are going to be heavily regulated.

A wise man once said 'people should not be afraid of their government, governments should be afraid of their people'

Calming the mind

There are thinkers, and there are undisciplined thinkers

thoughts will pop up in our mind, like rain drops during a storm,  passing like clouds on an October evening in Ireland, this is a fact of life.

Now sometime thoughts are nice and comforting, sometimes they are filled with regrets, guilt, anger, hatred, sadness, melancholy, and these are not fun.

I could suggest to observe these passing thoughts, not to act on them, not to pursue them even, just to  acknowledge them, and let them go.

By chance, I was introduced to the Work of Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie and  Anthony Metivier they all have found a way to 'filter' the flow of constant mind chatter.

- Are these thoughts true? Am I absolutely sure that they are true?

- Are these thoughts about the possible future? then focus on the present moment

- Are these thoughts about the past? then focus on the present moment

- Are these thoughts useful? and how do they behave?

Add this new tools into your mental health first aid kit

Smoking and global warming

 At the personal level smoking is an addictive habit, but it has benefits

- the smoker feels in charge

- the smoker feels relaxed (temporarily)

- smoking provides a break 

- smoking facilitates social networking (a sense of belonging)

but of course there is a high price for this toxic activity

and this is health 

- smoking cause serious illnesses, and this has been proven

At the collective level, we can also see the same pattern

- the excessive production is facilitating consumption

- owning new product feels great and empowering

- economic growth requires excessive production

- the whole concept of constant economic growth is unnatural

but here also there is a high price for this 

- the high demands for new products is causing artificial obsolescence

- and the general economical activities aggravates pollution and global warming impact

Fear and phobia

 Attempting to list many fears (and phobias)

- Death (Thanatophobia)

- Dark (as in fear of the darkness - Nyctophobia)

- Insects (entomophobia)

- being judged (Social anxiety disorder)

- being excluded (monophobia, isolophobia, or eremophobia)

- Loneliness (autophobia)

- Heights (acrophobia)

...

There are many more, and this seems already to show some patterns

At the very core of these fears is a fear of the unknown

And maybe the real cause of this fear, is to lose control

and to have to face the responsibility of losing control, and be liable for the consequences

What about the fear of taking responsibilities

The fear of having to tell the truth to someone you care about

The fear of hurting someone you love

The next step is to take notes of the 'strategies' that are created to get around these fears and as the lizard brain is only able to flee, attack, or freeze 

A standard strategy is to blame someone else

Another one is to ignore the problem

Another tactic is to fall into addictive patterns

Fear not being correctly addressed will become a source of interference 

There is a very important work that has to be done, to identify and work on our fears.

As we are not equal in our response to fear.

Advices to fight depression

Struggling with depression ... it is a journey. And unless miracles, it’s going to take awhile. 

Everyone is going to take some steps forward and some steps back. It is completely normal so try to not beat yourself up about it. It’s going to happen, it’s going to be okay, and it does get better.

Having a structure like a solid daily/weekly/monthly program is a huge help.  It gives you something to grasp onto and you slide into and out of depression.

Compassion is one of the most important parts of discipline. Everyone slips. 

Another very important step is to protect your sleep. 

Going to bed at the same time every night.

Waking up at the same time every day. 

Getting up when your alarm starts, there is no other option, just do it, get up

Discipline is not determined by how many times you slip, but by how many times you get back up and keep going. That's how you build discipline.

Lastly, you need to build up your self-esteem. It will naturally improve by persevering and succeeding. 

Recognize small victories

2022 that cannot be named

The ancient wisdom of the Tao stated that changes is inevitable 

The reason is that we are living biological humanoid creature, the Earth is a living planet, the universe is an organism. 

It’s changing, it’s evolving, it has an internal dynamic.

But the final causes are not fixed.

And it is not for us to know about it, the same way a cell in the stomach does not know what are the common modalities of Wall Street, and the functioning of an Computer Operating System, or the impact of Global Warming, etc ... 

We as human are the accelerator of times, we are moving fast into making sense of things, 

hopefully we are not too toxic yet, not destroying our home Planet, yet.

Nature is experimenting with us, we are the experiments, we are a bet

A bet that Nature made for long term survival

if we are too stupid for the task, because we are obsessed with economical growth, Wars, conflicts, and our actions are detrimental to the whole system (because of pollution, because of our ego, ...)

then Nature will act accordingly... and we will go extinct. 

I'm not worried about Nature, 

Nature will be fine without humans, without us.

Happy Easter

Let's hope we get better 

Learning how to say 'NO'

There is a phase during childhood when the toddler has to say 'No' repeatedly

To say 'No' is to learn to set boundaries correctly - to distantiate ourselves from the others.

The toddler is realizing he is not part of the mother anymore ; it is starting to become independent

This is very useful, and not knowing how to say 'No' will otherwise become a potential pain in the growing teenager, then adult

Why?

Because a functioning adult that is unable to say 'No' will be influenceable, will be constantly taken for granted - sure, he will appear to be kind. But inside this adult will feel like he is drained all the time, and most of his friends will noticed that he does not seem to have a personality.

And one day, he might explode in burst of angers, shouting after everybody - because he had enough.

This burst of anger are the sure signs of a long period of silent acceptance, silent resignation and many 'Yes' that should have been 'No'

The 'False Yes' is the worse ; and we all experienced it 

When asked if a friend can stay over for a night, but then stay for a week

When asked to help moving a couple of friends, while we know we had to take care of sorting out some business first

When going on a vacation with a couple of other friends, but we found ourselves paying for all the notes...

Having clear boundaries is the basis of an adult life

Food for thought

Looking at my body, and understanding that I'm a composite of living cells, a self-replicating organism, needing food intake, air to breathe, in order to regenerate, a quite complex ensemble of body parts - a brain, a heart, a stomach, a complete digestive system ... that needs to be nourished, cleaned, taken care of, and entertained.

What are mood, emotions, feelings, anxiety, fear - for this body?

What are concepts, ideas, philosophical questioning - from the point of view of the stomach?

Why is my fingernails growing, why do I have hair growth?

What becomes of my dead skin cells?

Are these clipped fingernails - still me?

A hair is attached to my head, and then cut a fall down - am I on the floor - from the point of view of the cell in my former hair? 

What is all this?

and what is Death?

Want to watch something weird today

there you go : Alien Gods Return 2012 - YouTube

Unable to be happy

There are days worse than others

To be fair, nothing was really special about today - but I'm feeling upset

My mind is racing, my thoughts are all over the place

There is this voice in my head, that keeps repeating

you can't be happy

you're not able to be happy

you're a loser

you're going to die

I wish I was dead already

But I have to work, I have things to do 

and this is getting annoying

Deleted a reddit account

Today I Deleted my Reddit Account

This is something I’d been considering doing for quite some time, and had just been putting it off. 

This morning, however, I found myself in an argument with a random internet stranger over something very small and trivial - this doesn’t happen often, at all. 

I think in the two years I’ve been on Reddit, I’ve experienced this maybe three times. 

Nonetheless, today it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I realized, afterward, that I was actually getting upset over something this person, somewhere on the other side of the internet, whom I would never know and never have to interact with, was saying. That’s not healthy.

I started examining how I’ve been using Reddit over the past several months and realized that the site was cutting into a significant chunk of my day. Reddit hadn’t interfered with my work productivity, but it had become a thing to do late at night, a way of killing time and distracting myself.

One thing was clear: Reddit had ceased to become a useful, positive thing for me.
For someone with an addictive personality (admittedly my own shortcoming), a site like Reddit can easily suck you in with distractions and lead to a lot of time being wasted over what is largely trivial, petty, and inconsequential content.

There are those who jump to defend the community (I’ve been there myself) and would say that Reddit isn’t a site you can really take at face value ; that in order to get the most out of it, you need to get past r/all and build your own collection of specific subreddits relevant to your interests.

That’s very true. This does greatly improve the quality of content you’re exposed to while on the site, but the signal to noise ratio is still very high.

I realized that the vast majority of useful links, news, insights, and resources I was collecting came from other sources, like Hacker News, Twitter, or more often, friends and co-workers. 

Usually, by the time I saw something interesting on Reddit, I’d already heard about it from some other source.

As I said, Reddit had ceased to be a positive thing for me and had simply become a distraction. 

There are any number of things I could be doing besides Reddit that would make me a happier person.

I could work on personal projects, spend more time with friends and family, start a new hobby, write more, or even give my beagle more belly rubs.

So goodbye, Reddit. It was fun, until it wasn’t.