Thought 13

 

Life in stages

• Be curious 
• Seek perfection
• Be humble
• Aspire originality 
• Understand science (its rational method)
• Understand how pseudo-science works(eg. Conspiracy theories, Astrology, Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Ascribing nonsensical logic to a religious practice, etc)
• It is okay to make conspiracy theories. It stimulates the mind. Helps it think in bizarre ways. In fact it is a great passtime or case study for many rationalists. But please keep it to yourselves. never spread your own biases to others. Okay even if you feel like telling it to others, please give a disclaimer that you accept it's a conspiracy theory.
• Learn Critical thinking 
• Learn compassion 
• Indulge yourself into philosophy.
• Talk to yourself. Spend some time alone.
• There is no absolute right or wrong. Life isn’t just black and white, just two perspectives. But shades of grey. 
• Be open to new ideas 
• You are your best teacher. (Beware of spiritual gurus, preachers, mystics, etc.)
• Understand every religion. (Especially the one you were born into)
• Never hesitate to criticize anything. Not even yourself.
• try inculcating self-discipline in yourself instead of "Boot Polishing" discipline. I know you hate discipline enforced on you by someone else. But you're going to love self-discipline cuz you are the one accountable to yourself. Even when that "someone else" isn't there you'll not do something stupid cuz there still is that "someone in" there. 
• If ure good at studies it don’t mean u are intelligent. It just means ure good at that just like the way a violinist is good at playing music. Intelligence precedes subjects. It is about the game of life. How well you manage people around u. How well u play this game tells how intelligent u are.
• Empathize with the poor. Help them when given a chance. Understand their state. But beware of them. Poor doesn’t equate to good. Understand the working of poverty. Understand that poor people are corrupted by poverty just like rich are by detachment. Both are put into a trance by their own conditions. Both Poverty and extreme wealth like drugs will change the chemistry of your mind. They will limit you from your potential. Earn enough so that u are intellectually free. 
• I hate the poor. I don’t want them near me. Their sight gives me depression. Thus I strive to vote for politicians who will bring these people to my level with PROPER education, health care and social security. I don’t want the politicians to be working for me. I can take care of me better. You take care of poverty. I'll just be the judge of that.
• The poor are this way(as violent and corrupt as the rich) because of poverty. If i were poor id act the same way. U need to understand that the poor are helpless. 
• Poverty is relative. what might be considered poor in a country might be a luxury in another. You need to decide what poverty is for you. look at the conditions around. and if you are in a rich country never think the rest of the poor in the world enjoy the same luxury as the poor in your country do.
• Understand democracy, embrace it, if you want to, it's your choice, as i have. Believe in its truest form. Explore it. It is a changing system. Don’t love it for the sake of it. 
• Beware of politicians. Especially the populists. They are in a sense same as cult leaders.
• think twice before voting for a person who has a rags-to-riches story.
• No one is superior to you in general sense. You are superior to no one in general sense. Every person is better than the other in different things. In short- avoid both Narcisism and low self esteem. 
• Be open to change
• Beware of gaslighting, manipulation, etc.
• Beware of cults. You alone can change uself for better or worse. Don’t lose your individuality by joining a cult. If u want a community then start with the conventional one u already have. Never lose hope on them however down u r in your life.
• Accept change within and outside.
• Change is the order of the universe.
• Never lead people. Just inspire them to be better. The thought of becoming a leader will seduce u. My advice is to stay away from it. 
• Chose your religious affiliations. (christian, hindu, muslim, agnostic, atheist, agnostic atheist, gnostic atheist, agnostic theist, gnostic theist, monotheist, polytheist, buddhist, jain, sikh, etc)
• Seek to change people close to you.
• Judge people by their ideology.
• Never idealize anyone or anything. Understand it, him/her. And move on.
• Stop people from praising you. It may corrupt you cuz u yourself praise yourself a lot somewhere in your mind.
• Understand people (especially those with whom your ideas don’t incline.)
• Non- violence always .(except when it is about your survival or against humanity eg fighting the nazis and the imperial Japanese army in ww2, fighting the Russian army in Ukraine: here if the Russian soldiers in Ukrainian territory aren't finished off then the civilians will be done away by the soldiers like you saw in Bucha. It is a special case. here pacifism means you are unintentionally against humanity. Weapons delivered or not. Any way people are going to die. It's up to you who dies (mostly), the innocent civilians or the soldiers who I understand are humans too but they have already been too deeply propagandized and redemption is very unlikely. They made their choice when they entered another country without invitation. Instead pacifism should be taught to the aggressor. The question should be which types of weapons to deliver to the Ukrainians. Defensive weapons is what they require or maybe offensive too. but not weapons capable of attacking the Russian land, which will escalate the situation even more. cuz we need to understand even the Ukrainians are susceptible to violence and revenge after all they've experienced.) It should always be the last resort. be aware that you will be seduced to act violently by your mind. it is very likely that you’ll justify violence even in petty situations(like protests, Not saying protests are petty rather the usage of violence in protests is foolish moreover dangerous). Violence belongs to the jungle. Leave it there.
• Never celebrate after winning a war. The „bad“ people you killed were humans too. If u celebrate, the joke is on u. Rather a great difficulty lies in front of you. Now is the time to rectify previous mistakes that led to this war. to understand what made these "bad" people so bad. to question yourself, whether you in any way directly or indirectly were involved in this, whether we failed them.
• Understand how mind works
• Don’t find meaning in life. It isn’t there somewhere waiting for you to find it. There’s no destiny. It’s an illusion. Life is meaningless so you yourself have to CREATE meaning for your life.
• If you believe in astrology, go get some emotional help and find who you really are instead of others telling you what you should be and placing you in a box. If that doesn't help, go check out the history of astrology: its origin, development, etc.
• Understand evolution (which will help you understand whence cometh anger, fear, violence, tribalism)
• Accept the reality of the situation at hand
• Restrict yourself from the urge of perfection
• Not important to be original all the time. It limits u from great work others are doing. Collaborate
• Love what/who(as an entity, group, or institution) you hate. Be indifferent to who(individuals, one person in general)you hate. But always try to understand both.
• Stop changing other people. It won’t help in any way. Only they themselves can do that. You just have to genuinely inspire them and not convert them into your way of thinking. 
• Accept individualism
• Be most critical of people you idealize.
• What a person is, isn’t that important. Why and how a person is who he is, is what is more important. The story is more important than the conclusion.
• Acknowledge your racist tendencies and work upon them gradually.
• Now judge people not by their ideology but by their actions. (There will be people who will be identical to you in ideology but very different in behaviour)
• Socialize. (Now that you have your principles, and understand your behaviour. It is time to test them out via socializing.) Improve upon yourself with it.
• Never dehumanize any person, people, or any entity. Not even the devil. Because he too is the creation of mankind.
• Live in the present.
• It is up to you if you want to respect people’s beliefs or not. But Always respect People. 
• Respect a person u really respect. But when a person u don’t respect SHOWS u respect u also show respect(eg-u were to meet putin) showing respect doesn’t mean u respect the person. It only means that u are showing respect.
• Meditate if you want to. Not compulsory. But helpful. (Eg. 15 mins a day just observing your breath and nothing more. No mantras, no focussing on third eye or anything like that.)
• Stay or move to a country where you feel good. Don’t stay in a country where you are not treated with respect. If It’s your home country. Leave the country if the pragmatic part of your mind takes control. You won’t change them. Remember it is only them who can change themselves. Stay in the country if the idealist takes control of your mind. My suggestion is to stop wasting your energy in something futile. Leave settle somewhere you are worth something. Stop seeing the world with borders. 
• Understand the difference between racism and ignorance.
• Acknowledge that you are indeed racist by nature. There is no shame in acknowledging it. But the important part is how you deal with it. Do you let this animalistic trait take control over you.
• Embrace failure. The process is the aim not the state.
• Your partner is your equal.
• Don’t marry someone specially because they think the same way as you do. I.e. have same ideology. But someone who you love for their behavior. How they act and what they speak are two different matters.
• Enjoy sex. There is no shame in it. There’s a reason why we call it love making. but don't believe in sex before marriage love.
• Children don't hear and learn. rather They see and learn. Be the change you want to see in your kids.
• Learn to forgive and forget(if the person will no longer cross paths with u ever again). If the person is still around u then forgive but never forget.
• Accept that we are all hypocrites. But the degree is what we should be mindful of. A wise person won’t always act wise and an evil person not always evil. 
• Improve upon what already exists. Don’t just always do your own thing. You ll have to start by scratch. Which is most of the time futile. But this is what ull learn from experience. Im in no authority to tell u that.
• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. And always accept your mistakes. Be accountable.
• Criticize people but don’t go along with just that. Also try to understand them. Why do they think the way they think. Become their friends for the MOMENT. They ll open up. Even if u are bored show enthusiasm on your face. Show them u are genuinely listening. 
• Ask questions, seek for an answer without desperation, don’t be disturbed by the fact that u still don’t know the answer. No answer at all is better than a misleading one.
• How u make people feel is the only thing they r going to remember. be kind.
• What’s outside(in the real world) is totally different from what’s inside(your mind). You’ll be taken aback by it. Which will excite u even more to play the game of life.
• Take this list with a grain of salt. Don’t idealize it. don’t hate it. Understand it.
• After all this is over, enjoy life. Just enjoy it without logic. You have now already established logic in your mind. It has become intuitive, a muscle memory. Now u just have to enjoy life as it is. No one can harm u now. Your mind has become your biggest ally. It will protect u. Don’t go critical now. Meet people don't isolate yourself. Again, enjoy life!