Ice Age Preparation ?

[Hindsight Man]

Sounds like you should get a gun.

We'll compare notes on the other side.

I live in a nanny state (australia) so getting a gun is difficult at best. I should also point out that Cassies mentioned ''Thou shalt not kill'' is largely a human invention.Make of that what you will.

 

[Ursus Minor]

And if you are sane, and you use a gun, then by default you're using it to kill or seriously injure somebody. That's a tremendous Karma hit, which means the experience is going to come back around looking to balance the budget. If you've finally managed to get off the violence-go-round, then you shouldn't have to worry too much about roving gangs of TV villains.

Tune your senses; in times of high danger/crisis, there's always a non-linear alternative. Like when you just "know" suddenly to duck, or to get off the bus or to cross the street, or to Whoop! outloud at an unexpected moment -any one of which changes everything... That's "sorcery" to most people, but to those who Work at this stuff, it's just a natural consequence of soul refinement.

Guns for 'self defense' are dark and dirty implements, they're low vibration, they're cheating. That's not just my opinion. The C's recommend against them.

Having been in contact with Buddhist thinking over the years I would add this to the discussion:

You could physically prevent the attacker from killing you, which would be an act of compassion because if they did kill you it would torment them. (Would it really if they are psychopaths?)
If the attackers were to accidentally die, it would be unpleasant (for everyone) but not unwholesome.
Only attempting to cause harm, their karma would be light and you only accidentally killed them.
Since our body is a colony of living, sentient beings (human cells, microbiota..), Buddhism demands that all life be respected. That's why Buddhism prohibits suicide.

Buddhists can or should defend themselves and people around them, but here's the twist:

If you do it out of anger, you will suffer from the results of this anger. The key is to use violence without any negative feelings but out of active compassion.
Imagine how much he would have to suffer if he indeed commits those crimes.
If you can stop him by defending yourself, you should definitely do.

So much for those who have taken the Bodhisattva Vow.

In general you should not try to think about your own good, but try to perceive every situation in a wider perspective.
Which action will benefit the more people for the longest possible time?

Buddhist disciples should avoid dangerous areas, unstable kingdoms, countries ruled by evil kings, precipitous terrains, remote wilderness and regions inhabited by bandits, thieves, wild animals or areas subject to hurricanes, floods and fires...

For what it's worth...

 

[Woodsman]

Having been in contact with Buddhist thinking over the years I would add this to the discussion:

Buddhist disciples should avoid dangerous areas, unstable kingdoms, countries ruled by evil kings, precipitous terrains, remote wilderness and regions inhabited by bandits, thieves, wild animals or areas subject to hurricanes, floods and fires...

For what it's worth...

It's worth plenty!

Of course I'd be silly to claim that I know definitively how Karma works. There are no fixed rules for how to behave. The exact right thing to do in one situation may indeed be to collapse an opponent's wind pipe in a life-ending act of violence. Death is a release, after all, and everybody must exit somehow. Maybe to the onlooker a murder is a murder when really it was a loving agreement made prior among soul friends. Specific situations and all.

But in general...

My own training exposed me to some practical Buddhist philosophies. The concept which struck me very deeply was the whole, "Live by the Sword, die by the Sword -over many lifetimes" idea. One fellow student described a friend of his who I had met and who was beaten badly shortly thereafter during the execution of some criminal activity; he was a guy who had visited violence upon others more than once in the same world he moved in. It was an up-close example of the principle and it left an impact upon me. The cycle of violence is a learning mill of an extreme sort, and sometimes it plays out month to month. I have no doubt it extends over lifetimes.

I live in a nanny state (australia) so getting a gun is difficult at best. I should also point out that Cassies mentioned ''Thou shalt not kill'' is largely a human invention. Make of that what you will.

I suspect that's probably got more to do with killing for food than killing in anger/fear. -Also recall that the C's once dissuaded against the idea of killing even a grey alien, -and those things don't even have their own souls.

I've had my share of hard challenges, but I've gone through them in relative luxury. -Being born in a safe country, having a good, healthy body, avoiding all manner of natural disaster, being surrounded by supportive, powerful, successful people... If I accept that there is such a thing as Karma, and I absolutely do, then I must also conclude that I've been doing something for a while which leads to these sorts of non-violent experiences. I shudder to think how many stupid, violent things I've done and had done to me in order to learn to stop Punching It Forward. I'm not going back to that, thanks. (I just wish I'd come to this realization at a younger age, because I was a bit of a jerk back then.)

The other thing I learned through martial arts was that the best way to win a fight was to avoid being in one in the first place. -And that wasn't said in the commonly heard consolation prize, virtue-signaling T-Shirt sort of way it is often said. It was meant in absolute earnest and I live by it. And it works. There are plenty of ways to win in life (and against dangerous opponents) which don't come down to crushing a person's face with a blunt object or blasting a hole in their chest with a hand gun.

To re-quote Ursus-Minor:

Buddhist disciples should avoid dangerous areas, unstable kingdoms, countries ruled by evil kings, precipitous terrains, remote wilderness and regions inhabited by bandits, thieves, wild animals or areas subject to hurricanes, floods and fires...

Life is Religion.

But life is also Kung Fu.

 

[Laura]

In your past life, you jumped down and died for your love. Where does survival matter over how you FEEL? It doesn't. We do what drives us.

What I learned from that experience was to not give up because there, on the "other side", I saw that I had been driven to my death by lies, that if I had just held on longer and had some faith, I could have done more, could have been there for others who needed me to live.

In fact, that "holding on" is more or less what drives me now. It would be so easy to give it all up. And god knows, it has not been easy this past 20 years, enduring endless attack, and watching the world disintegrate before my eyes.

My point is that if survival comes up to this twisted idea of "My family and I survive" "you lose", without a solution, that would severely piss me off.

So, it is really about you? About the world fitting YOUR expectations?

Have any of you been in situations where you don't see that either side is right? What is the point to having to choose? And that rolls off to this bullcrap about Trump today.... the only thing that gives people hope is that somehow this outsider/insider is going to change things. Never mind that he cut corporate taxes which in HISTORY has been shown to just justify monopoly domination. I'm not blaming him for the situation that the US is in now, but he has NOT fixed the problem, however he has fooled many (including some of sott.net) into thinking that this system is losing power.

Don't kid yourself. We don't think he is going to change anything for the better, he's just going to catalyze the destruction. He may do it with all the best intentions in the world - at least voting for him was an act of voting against the status quo even if the result was "worse" from some perspective. If you think we are "fooled", you haven't been paying attention.

NO. I'm sick of it, and despite knowing I have no recompsense- I know I will be criticized for this, I have to say that none of this false hope in Trump is changing anything. In fact, I see him as a diversion justified by the SJW nonsense in order to continue this neocon/neolib bullcrap.

The best thing about Trump is that he has exposed the US to the rest of the world for the bully and insane actor that it is. It's actually given me a new lease on life when I was ready to cash it all in. I wouldn't miss seeing how this whole thing works out for anything.

 

[DianaRose]

Just wanted to throw in here that, historically, most ice ages have been brought on by preceding major events like cometary impacts or massive volcanoes (or both, plus floods and earthquakes). So I'm wondering if having "plans for an ice age" is kind of putting the cart before the horse.

Yes, also it seems to me that before we're hit by a full-blown ice age, we will have to deal with economic crisis (collapse?), clash between "left" and "right" and perhaps racial violence as well. This could evolve into actual civil war.

 

[DianaRose]

Have you never done something on the basis of it simply being the right thing to do, without necessarily thinking of recompense? If you haven't, can you conceive that it is possible to that?

Intellectually, I can understand what you're saying, but I can't digest it so to say. When people make sacrifice, there is always some sort of reward, if not for oneself, for their family or somebody else. There's always some sort of gain, however small or superficial.

 

[Joe]

Intellectually, I can understand what you're saying, but I can't digest it so to say. When people make sacrifice, there is always some sort of reward, if not for oneself, for their family or somebody else. There's always some sort of gain, however small or superficial.

So when you see, for example, a child fall into a river and you instinctively and automatically jump in and pull them out, where is the thought of personal reward?

 

[Cosmos]

So, it is really about you? About the world fitting YOUR expectations?

Have you had the time to read the two recently recommended books from Stanton Samanow yet, called "Inside the Criminal Mind" and "The Myth of the Out of Character Crime" Divide by Zero? If you haven't done so, maybe you should, and then follow it up by "Liberal Fascism" by Jonah Goldberg and "The Psychopathic God: Adolph Hitler" by Robert Waite.

It is far to easy to get sucked into the abyss of nihilism and a bitter, cynical and self-righteous outlook on life. You could also read the following thread in that regard: Pessimism is good but also a slippery slope? Complaining, Cynicisms, Sarcasm, crankiness, moaning and whining.

If we read Samanow, liberal fascism and Psychopathic god closely, we might find out that it is far to easy to put all the blame "for the strange state of the world" to outside factors and far more difficult and shocking to realize how oneself is contributing with similar thinking errors and the resulting behaviors to it in every small thing we do or not do every day.

If we get used to point with the forefinger at all and everything except ourselves it becomes hard to see that 3 other fingers point at oneself at the same time.

Every time you point your finger at someone or something else there are three fingers pointing right back at you. It is impossible to point the finger of blame at someone or something without simultaneously pointing a finger back at oneself.

If one starts to realize that the ambitions, behaviors and high-sounding convictions one professes to have, might not be as holy and good as one thinks they are, one starts to realize, and painfully so, that oneself isn't as good as one thinks and that there is only one thing anyone can ever really do; "bringing your own house in order". It is none of our business to change anyone or anything. Be the change you want to see in the world.

 

[DianaRose]

So when you see, for example, a child fall into a river and you instinctively and automatically jump in and pull them out, where is the thought of personal reward?

Yes, I guess in this case it would be an example of sacrifice without any personal reward.

 

[Chu]

I'm not trying to justify my negative feelings, but work through them.

I think that the problem is that you have a narrative telling you that you are trying to work through your feelings, when in reality, what you are doing is exactly what you think you aren't doing: justifying them. Perhaps you have the idea that in order to work through something, you must first understand it intellectually. But that isn't always the case when you are in the thick of it. Very often, if you pull yourself back together, LATER you can see and work through issues a bit better.

What do you do when you feel upset, tired, or any other "crappy" emotion that "limits"? Or do you just not feel those feelings anymore?

Personally, when I'm weak, I wallow in it. But usually not for too long. When I notice that it's controlling me, I stop. I gather more information, and DO something. I choose not to let it rule me. Basically doing what is described in the article quoted here: How to change your emotional state?

The point is, I think, to stop making it about YOU, your frustrations, your likes and dislikes. Of course there can always be an "ulterior motive" due to the nature of the reality we live in and our level of awareness, but if you make that motive something right, decent and good, like "to learn and help spread knowledge, regardless of the tangible outcome", because you love learning and are curious and it is in you to help, then by sharing what you learn, it is not just about you anymore.

 

[tczubernat]

Following this exciting discussion I realized that we're actually seeing some sort of a psychological clash between optimists and pessimists.

To the pessimist optimists seem to be somewhat out of touch with reality. They don't seem to realize what a cruel and unpredictable world we live in.
They must be deluding themselves, because everything that can go wrong eventually will...

By thinking about what might go wrong the pessimist tries to protect him/herself against when things do go wrong.
The pessimist creates a protective buffer against disappointment and defeat.

Among optimists the conversation would all be about fantastic plans for the future and how things can only get better. Meanwhile the pessimists are having what might seem to the optimists like a depressing discussion. Far from working out how to make their dreams come true, they’re worrying about all the things that might go wrong.

To the optimists, the pessimists always seem to pour cold water on any exciting plans, which unnerves them.
The optimist reacts to unpredictability by choosing to think optimistically because it helps motivate him/her to try and try again.

For what it's worth...

Maybe the goal is to stand in the middle of the optimist/pessimist tension.

 

[tczubernat]

If we read Samanow, liberal fascism and Psychopathic god closely, we might find out that it is far to easy to put all the blame "for the strange state of the world" to outside factors and far more difficult and shocking to realize how oneself is contributing with similar thinking errors and the resulting behaviors to it in every small thing we do or not do every

I immigrated from Poland to America back in '81. This was right when the tanks started to roll in the streets. Within the last few years, I've tried to wrap my head around what the conditions were that I came from, which led me to learn all I could about Poland's history. Of course WWII comes up and at first blush, the thought was "well of course I would be part if the Partisani resistance!" Moral superiority, right. Then as I kept reading descriptions of what people ACTUALLY experienced in those days, the only honest conclusion that I could come to is that I would have been as likely to be a prison guard, as I would be part if the underground resistance. That's what the stats show. At the time the Soviet Union fell apart, something like 1 in 3 people were government informants. The lesson from history is that people under extreme physical and mental duress act in ways they might otherwise not act. You never know where you stand until you're tested by actually going through that type of situation.

Anyway, to me, it's important to be clear eyed about that reality. It looks and feels like the final exam is coming.

As a side note, truth be told, I'm still on the fence with the gun thing. Yes, there's other ways of handling humans. Now, about those giants heading our way . . . .

 

[Hindsight Man]

It's worth plenty!

Of course I'd be silly to claim that I know definitively how Karma works. There are no fixed rules for how to behave. The exact right thing to do in one situation may indeed be to collapse an opponent's wind pipe in a life-ending act of violence. Death is a release, after all, and everybody must exit somehow. Maybe to the onlooker a murder is a murder when really it was a loving agreement made prior among soul friends. Specific situations and all.

But in general...

My own training exposed me to some practical Buddhist philosophies. The concept which struck me very deeply was the whole, "Live by the Sword, die by the Sword -over many lifetimes" idea. One fellow student described a friend of his who I had met and who was beaten badly shortly thereafter during the execution of some criminal activity; he was a guy who had visited violence upon others more than once in the same world he moved in. It was an up-close example of the principle and it left an impact upon me. The cycle of violence is a learning mill of an extreme sort, and sometimes it plays out month to month. I have no doubt it extends over lifetimes.



I suspect that's probably got more to do with killing for food than killing in anger/fear. -Also recall that the C's once dissuaded against the idea of killing even a grey alien, -and those things don't even have their own souls.

I've had my share of hard challenges, but I've gone through them in relative luxury. -Being born in a safe country, having a good, healthy body, avoiding all manner of natural disaster, being surrounded by supportive, powerful, successful people... If I accept that there is such a thing as Karma, and I absolutely do, then I must also conclude that I've been doing something for a while which leads to these sorts of non-violent experiences. I shudder to think how many stupid, violent things I've done and had done to me in order to learn to stop Punching It Forward. I'm not going back to that, thanks. (I just wish I'd come to this realization at a younger age, because I was a bit of a jerk back then.)

The other thing I learned through martial arts was that the best way to win a fight was to avoid being in one in the first place. -And that wasn't said in the commonly heard consolation prize, virtue-signaling T-Shirt sort of way it is often said. It was meant in absolute earnest and I live by it. And it works. There are plenty of ways to win in life (and against dangerous opponents) which don't come down to crushing a person's face with a blunt object or blasting a hole in their chest with a hand gun.

To re-quote Ursus-Minor:


Life is Religion.

But life is also Kung Fu.

While walking my dog I had a think about what you said and I think I've gotten to the root of our disagreement.It's a problem of scale.While you're thinking on a family unit level,I was thinking about a small to medium sized community.Staying out of the way of trouble is perfectly reasonable when you're 1-3 people,but once you scale that up it becomes impractical.Trouble will find you. Should Syrians move because ISIS wants territory?I assume you've been keeping up with SOTT so I don't need to explain how depraved they are.As far as movie villains/savages/barbarians go they fit them to a ''T''.So should the entire country drop everything and run?Give up not only your homeland,but all technology,infrastructure,agriculture,commerce,distribution routes and history?Does that sound reasonable?

While staying out of the way benefits you,it benefits only you and if there's bandits roaming the area a far more practical solution (given you have the means to do so) is to kill the bandits.Else they'll continue to prey on others,even if you stay unharmed.

Ofcourse when you're just trying to survive you always have to weigh the odds.Do you have a doctor that can treat the injured?Do you have enough resources/skill/experience to fight them etc.But my point was that nature is at it's core savage.When human beings return to the ''default'' setting of trying to survive they also become savages.Pure avoidance means you're always leaving the problem to someone else and if you're trying to establish a permanent base of operations (be that a home,farm,hold or whatever) it becomes a matter of prudence to remove the threat rather than try to live around it.

Keep in mind a long-term strategy,a few injured now can prevent a local warlord later.

 

[genero81]

This has turned out to be quite the interesting discussion If for no other reason, to really see where we as individuals are in our thinking and approach to life. I've been expecting the stuff to hit the fan for quite a long time already. What I discovered along the way is that things happen in more or less slow motion in this reality. Even though things have greatly accelerated recently, there still seems to be 'time' to act so as not to be caught with one's pants down, if one is paying attention. Now, we are being made to face ourselves I think. I know for me, I've been seeing myself more starkly than ever as of late. It's not the most pleasant experience but it is most instructive. What kind of person do I want to be moving forward? That I think, is a very good question that maybe we should all be asking ourselves.

To be, or not to be. The Wave is pressuring us to move out from in between the two pathways to one side or the other. That's what I think is happening anyway. We can learn and choose to dedicate our decisions and actions to something higher than our own mortal self interests, or we can remain stuck in self centered fear. OSIT

 

[Cosmos]

Now, we are being made to face ourselves I think. I know for me, I've been seeing myself more starkly than ever as of late. It's not the most pleasant experience but it is most instructive. What kind of person do I want to be moving forward? That I think, is a very good question that maybe we should all be asking ourselves.

To be, or not to be. The Wave is pressuring us to move out from in between the two pathways to one side or the other. That's what I think is happening anyway. We can learn and choose to dedicate our decisions and actions to something higher than our own mortal self interests, or we can remain stuck in self centered fear. OSIT

Nice summary. Thank you!