I should make it clear that my God certainly wouldn’t want me to forgive pure evil. That would be like forgiving Hitler or Satan. In cases of pure evil, one should fear not and stand against it in righteous indignation.

me too

I have Ashkenazi ancestors.

a Soros stooge — NOS4A2

That tells me all I need to know about you, and I suspect @Nobeernolife is the same as you.

What I really want is techniques for how to live, and techniques for how to approach life as it is. That's hard - some inner instinct bucks and shies from that - but what else to do? It feels like the only thing to do is shave off everything that isn't touching on that, and find what works. But the addiction is still there, trying to make things as abstract as possible.

I guess the thrust of the OP is - does anyone else feel this, or have some suggestions? I feel like I'm at least in the airlock, but definitely not ready for outer space. — csalisbury

When I hear you say you want to approach life as it is, what I am really hearing you say is that you want to be able to adapt to life’s changes. Right?

My advice (which I haven’t been the best at following myself) is to keep the principles by which you live by simple. But it’s important to have some principles, and it’s even okay to bend or break them sometimes when things get harry, or if you just mess up and need to forgive yourself.

My first principle is: don’t be too hard on yourself.
Principle #2: don’t be too hard on the people you love.
Principle #3: Try to forgive those who have done you harm in life. (This one’s the hardest, but if you can’t do it yet, then first principle.)

Find a few principles to live by.

you are in a good mood right NOW — schopenhauer1

True. Ask me how I’m doing in ten minutes. It’s likely to change, especially if I turn on cable news. That said, I think most people value life, and even when life sucks, hope keeps them going. Thinking positively such as listing things and people that you are grateful for can bring you out of a depressed mood.

Actually, that’s my homework assignment for you. I want a list of things and people you are grateful for. I guarantee that when the negative thoughts creep up, if you make that an exercise to list what you are grateful for, then you will immediately stop feeling as low.

I just read the OP without reading the discussion that followed because I didn’t want to become corrupted by the stimuli before giving my thoughts. Thank you for the post, Samuele. You are a very bright young man. I think you might enjoy reading Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.

Because somehow I think that emotions, feelings, and thoughts are probably just a way for our brain to condition itself to take the more advantageous route, but can this be proven beyond doubt to be the case? — Samuele

If this were all that emotions, feelings, and thoughts were for, then how do you explain philosophy? What survival advantage does philosophy have?

DNA has memory.

Everybody complains. Also, a lot of people are happy to be alive.

How exactly are you rebelling?

I think your problem is not one of meaning, but of value. You don’t value life it seems. That’s sad. I’m sad for you.

Read the UN report on cow farts. — Nobeernolife

Melting glaciers also release methane.

So you agree that we do NOT have accurate models. — Nobeernolife

No. How am I to know if a model projecting out into the future is accurate until I get to the future? That’s silly.

You’re almost religious in your denial of common sense and fervor for Trump.

That CO2 is the ONLY factor in climate change? That we have accurate models to predict climate change? — Nobeernolife

Also, methane. We don’t need proven models to predict climate change. It’s already a problem.

I understand the scientific method. I know what steps they took to determine that the planet is heating up, and also how they reached the only conclusion that could be reached, viz. that burning fossil fuels is the cause. If you’re interested in my synopsis, then you can go read through my comments history. This isn’t the thread to do that in. We are getting off track of Trump.

I am not a climate scientist, but like I said, I understand how they reached that conclusion.

I suggest you actually research it and try to understand it yourself. If you come to a different conclusion than 97% of climate scientists, then I would like to hear your reasoning.

I personally don’t listen to Greenpeace. Nor does anyone I know. I happen to understand how they figured out that climate change is human caused, and I’m convinced by the science. I prefer not to explain it all here again as I did in another thread months ago.

But now we are descending into the heated exchange — Nobeernolife

Also, I’m not heated right now.

CNN talking points — Nobeernolife

Facts aren’t talking points.

Greenpeace — Nobeernolife

Greenpeace has no sway with anyone I know.

That misses the point entirely. Also, Mar-a-Lago has bed bugs, and Trump doesn’t pay his contractors. Furthermore, he has declared bankruptcy several times because he is a terrible businessman, and he is constantly in litigation.

suggested there is no consensus about the cause of global warming. — Nobeernolife

But there is a consensus. That’s tantamount to a denial of climate change if you’re going to question its cause.

He owns the resorts. He relies on their cheap labor.

To be fair they had fake documents. — NOS4A2

The managers told them where to go to get better fake documents as reported by some of the undocumented workers at his New Jersey resort.

If you can not, I assume you are simply repeating another media talking point. — Nobeernolife

Lol. Fake news!

Go on his Twitter feed.

Trump literally calls climate change a hoax.

National identity is not so strong anymore (or is it just that I’m not American?). — Possibility

Have you ever seen the Super Bowl? It’s the most widely watched television event in the US. Ever see the fighter jets fly over the stadium and hear the crowd roaring after the national anthem before the game starts?

Yes. It’s because you’re not American.

“Love it or leave it” is a ubiquitous refrain in America. I’ve also heard “It’s one nation under God or get the fuck out.”

Anyway, I found your analysis on shame to be spot on.

Now you’re getting defensive. I’m trying to figure out which policies of Trump’s you like. He has done all of the things I asked about. Also, he employs undocumented workers at some of his resorts. It used to be all of them until he got called out for hypocrisy.

Asking if you deny climate change is a reasonable question.

So you prefer nationalism to globalism. Do you feel like countries like the US don’t need immigrants? It’s funny because so many companies in the US that the population depends on rely on undocumented workers to do the work that Americans won’t do.

Do you like environmental deregulation?

Do you like massive military spending?

Do you like massive tax cuts to billionaires and corporations?

Do you deny climate change as Trump does?

No, I don’t go on those sites. It’s best that no one does.

What do you like about Trump?

What do you prefer? 4chan? 8chan?

Well, Hong Kong makes sense. Trump and Congress made a statement against China.

Yeah, I don’t know. He’s been harder on them than anyone else. — NOS4A2

One could certainly make that argument, but it is strange.

This is funny. Russian pranksters dupe Sanders into believing he is talking with Greta Thunberg. I wonder if this counts as him soliciting help from a foreign national in his campaign. Hopefully it doesn’t come back to bite him. — NOS4A2

Funny that they’re Russian. Why do the Russians like Trump so much?

:smile:

Also, if you’re in the middle class in the US, then you have also benefitted from neoliberalism. Dominating the world brings wealth back to the homeland, and the middle class benefits from this, maybe not nearly as much as the top earners and wealthiest, but they do benefit a lot. The world GDP per capita is around $10,000. Do you get more than this?

"Fuck you. You are just a fucking baboon, kid, don't you forget that. Now repeat after me, and write a hundred times on the blackboard: "I solemnly swear to stop trying to be a goofy alpha-male wannabe, I shall remain docile, peace-loving and listen to John Lennon records for the rest of my days"." — god must be atheist

:lol: You pretty much said this to me in another post.

The term “neoliberal” has more to do with conservatives’ hawkish stance on foreign policy. Even modern Democrats are largely neoliberal in their foreign policy. Clinton and Obama weren’t really that liberal except on social issues. However, Clinton signed the conservative welfare to work law, and Obama didn’t come out for gay marriage until Biden forced his hand. Both of them had Reaganomics tax policies.

I don’t know what group is responsible for the rise of neoliberalism. If you’re interested, you might want to research The Project for a New American Century. You’ll find some interesting information about neoliberalism if you Google that.

Obviously you don’t understand what I’m saying because you’re defensive. I was talking about the politicians, not the voters.

I think you may be correct about me being a Miro. I think I’m “The Beautiful Bird Revealing the Unknown to a Pair of Lovers”. I like his art.

What is the root cause of all of these right wing party takeovers of Western democracies?