piggy backing on the shoulders of giants DMs warmly welcomed :D
Joined May 2020
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Abstract Fairy retweeted
I hereby reintroduce the concept of megabucks and gigabucks
Abstract Fairy retweeted
sometimes people ask me why I’ve chosen to be this sort of artist-busker-author figure rather than a STEMlord (which I was originally on track to become)
I just rediscovered an old quote from Rajaratnam (one of LKY’s closest colleagues) that really resonates for me still
Abstract Fairy retweeted
Good writing doesn't just transfer information, it crystallizes the author's way of perceiving the world into the text. Readers then inhabit that crystal and learn to replicate it within themselves. Good writing can be truly transformative in this way, showing you whole new modes of being.
It's tradition across most modern religions to memorize large sections of their holy text for this reason.
This can also be very very bad if said author is miserable and hates you. You're not inhabiting just the good, you're inhabiting all that they are.
There's a common manipulation tactic where Smart Guy tells you that you are a Bad Person and by listening to Him you can be a Good Person but it doesn't actually make you any better, it just makes you more neurotic.
This works particularly well on autists and people who have a strong drive to perceive themselves
The last psychiatrist does this, zizite stuff does this, a lot of more mainstream leftist stuff does this.
They are not even necessarily *wrong* about the specific insight, like the last psychiatrist’s narcissism. It’s just that the insight doesn’t make you better. It makes you miserable and hate yourself which is supposedly another example that the insight is true. The doom looping continues, you get more miserable, and you do not actually change.
If you are vulnerable to doom loops and want to consume their work anyway imo the best thing to do is Metta for equanimity and a somatic practice for grounding before and/or after engaging with them.
Abstract Fairy retweeted
After sleeping on this, I realize it's not just me and it's not just marketing.
If you use AI to do your work, all the emotionally easy parts will happen nigh instantly, plunging you straight toward your Ugh Fields. AI work requires you to confront feelings faster and faster.
Abstract Fairy retweeted
> Autopilot-shaped habits usually don't feel like habits, but like truths about the world.
>> Rushing doesn't feel like rushing, but like there isn't enough time.
>> Gripping doesn't feel like gripping, but like the thing you're working on is extremely important.
>> Judgement doesn't feel like judgement, but like someone or something is wrong and bad.
Habits that run on autopilot feel right and unremarkable.
So how can you notice and change them?
I was asked about that recently, and here's my answer:
expandingawareness.org/blog/…
Abstract Fairy retweeted
Loving-kindness got branded as being nice. It's closer to strength training for staying open when it would be easier to close.
Abstract Fairy retweeted
People always say you “visualize” when manifesting because being into manifestation is correlated with being good at visualization, but it doesn’t actually matter. Afaict visualizing is just a good way of generating a felt sense, which is the main driver*. I’m nearly aphantasic, manifestation still works super well for me.
You can use words to make a felt sense(prayer), or sounds, or smells, or external irl symbols you’re looking at, or you can work with a felt sense raw.
You can even read someone else’s writing and then attend to the felt sense generated by that! I’m pretty sure this is part of what’s going on when people chant a sutra continuously, you’re attuning your mind to the felt sense embedded in the writing.
It’s inverse gendlins focusing. Instead of generating words/images from bodily sensations you’re generating bodily sensations from words/images.
Abstract Fairy retweeted
Everything that is irrational either makes you laugh or frightens you. Laughter or fear: they are only reactions to get out of the ordinary." ~Alejandro Jodorowsky, Psychomagic
Abstract Fairy retweeted
a lot of people ask what evangelion is about and it’s about a lot of things but this is really one of the main things evangelion is about even if it didn’t have the data at the time just the vibe
Abstract Fairy retweeted
I learned this by getting extremely curious about the flinch that happens when I hit the “wrong note” playing music
Abstract Fairy retweeted
there was a guy in a documentary about getting addicted to world of warcraft that said, "at first, you just play when you have free time. but then you discover, you have a lot more free time than you thought." i routinely return to this as a source of motivation. i have the time
Abstract Fairy retweeted
You learn the cost of poor etiquette by being a host
I hosted a party “for hosts only” in SF a few weeks ago:
> 100 people showed up on time
> people didn’t flake
> people texted me if they couldn’t make it anymore
> people stayed through the whole event instead of party hopping
@cosmos_raj was here to document it. It was fab
Abstract Fairy retweeted
My 20yo daughter had a fight with her bf during the weekend - nothing big - but she said they’ll be probably be *fully* fine and made up by the end of next week when they have an event, and both husband and I reacted: wait why not fix NOW completely?
And I realized our marriage is enduring and even getting better over the years bc we have in place mechanisms to metabolize fights real quick and it’s the simplest things like food, sex, humor or doing a little gesture for the other which they will know is a peace offering and accept wholeheartedly😃
Abstract Fairy retweeted
It used to be standard Western writing curriculum to learn to mimic the work of other authors before striking out to write on your own. The great authors of old could do good impressions of a half dozen styles, including the King James Bible and Dickens.
Imo this works for emotion-stuff too. You absorb your scripts and lens for dealing with emotions from other people, and the societal defaults are... not great. Trying to learn better scripts without any mimicry is like trying to become a great writer without reading any great writing; yeah you could do it but it would be a pain in the ass that takes 30 years.
I think Joe Hudson is probably the single best source for this because he's incredibly emotionally and spiritually developed and has a bajillion video hours of his mind in action. Sasha Chapin is outstanding too but he's got less total work and less stuff demonstrating emotional skills.
Tbh tho it only really matters that the person you imitate is someone more developed who you resonate with. Forcing yourself to listen to someone because you think you should just will not work as immersion, you have to want it.
Abstract Fairy retweeted
Pathogens that can spread without a healthy host evolve to be nastier. More ancient egregores had limited human populations; they needed to ensure the survival of their hosts in order to possess the next generation. But modern egregores can afford to make their human hosts crazy/broke/childless because there are always more humans to burn through via the internet and globalized markets.
Abstract Fairy retweeted
here’s what I think might be the essential challenge of parenting:
your children are born not as your peers, but as your dependents. if you treat them like your peers when they’re too young, it’s unfair to them. but if you treat them like dependents for too long, that’s unfair to them too. you can try to be scrupulous about being fair, but you can’t make the cost of that scrupulosity their problem.
your task is to raise them to *become* your peers. meaning you have to repeatedly update how you relate to them. this is hard!! 99% of human interactions aren’t like this! Most interactions happen in comparatively stable configurations. It’s rare that your boss today is your employee tomorrow. But in parenting this dynamism is inevitable. The child ages into the adult, the adult ages into the child.
every parent probably has a phase that they’re uniquely In The Zone for. Alice might be great with toddlers. Bob might be great with 7yos. Claire might be great with preteens. Whatever your strength is, you likely have a corresponding weakness. And your kids, if you’re lucky, will grow through all of the ages. So you’ll inevitably find yourself in a context you’re uniquely unsuited for. And it’s your duty to show up and try your best anyway.
it’s a very elaborate, nested series of balancing acts, which requires a level of attunement you likely didn’t have before. every day you encounter the need to balance humility and confidence, or some other bullshit like that, and the next challenge hits you before you have time to process the last one.
It’s great. Knowing what I know now, I wish we had our kids sooner. I have a lot more to say on the topic (particularly why it’s great, both *despite* the challenge, and *because* but I gotta end this here because we’re in the middle of shopping for Deepavali clothes so ttyl)
Abstract Fairy retweeted
I keep thinking about this line from a richard rohr lecture: "the opposite of faith is not doubt; the opposite of faith is certitude." people's claims to "certainty" are always a form of denial, a kind of ego-defense. true faith involves an embrace of both doubt and conviction