Thank you for your suggestion.
Actually, I am doing this for a specific reason that does apply IRL for me. I’m not just idly passing the time.
You could (and should) compile all of our posts to you into a set of books. Then whenever you want to accuse us from not answering your questions
No, @3point14rat. Actually, you are wrong on this, and @snowcity is right.
We HAVE responded. But we have NOT “answered his question.”
Xain actually didn’t come here asking, “I keep ruminating about Buddhism, and it’s ruining my life. Has anyone ever heard of something like that? Is there a way to help me stop?”
No, he has been asking whether certain claims in Buddhism are true or not.
And he is right. We have not answered his questions.
? 
???
OMG!!!
?
WTF??
?
I have slime and feathers and vinegar all over me! It squirted right out of the screen! What IS this shit?!
?
What IS this shit??
?
Wait, @3point14rat …That was YOUR invention…? An Irony Detector app?
?
?
How soon do you plan to roll it out? Are you looking for a marketing director?
??
We HAVE responded. But we have NOT “answered his question.”In many cases, yes we have.
And in the cases where we haven’t given a perfectly detailed answer, it’s because the question is something like, “are nouns illusory” or “are thoughts real”. Those are fluffy philosophical questions that no one can answer. But even if they did have a concrete answer, our advice to stop fixating questions irrelevant to life is the answer Xian needs.
Trying to fill a bottomless hole is pointless, so covering or avoiding the hole are the only solution. Similarly, answering Xian’s endless questions is pointless, so making him understand that asking irrelevant questions is causing his suffering is the only solution.
The fact we’re faceless strangers makes our job harder, but I believe we’re doing the only thing we can.
How soon do you plan to roll it out? Are you looking for a marketing director?It'll be a while before I can make a new one. Some components are hard to find.
‘Mucous from an imbecile’ is especially difficult to source. I’ll see if I can get Player to blow his nose on some an old pair of socks I sterilized- his is so potent you only need an eighth of a munjandie (I did some research in India) of it to power the device for years.
When it’s perfected I’ll contact you.
Whoops, you’re right. I guess other folks did actually discuss the philosophical aspects and provide answers … albeit not the right ones, apparently.
Not me. I went right to the psychiatry!
When it’s perfected I’ll contact you.Fantastic
Here’s my card
I’ll market the shit out of that
On and on and on
I guess it’s sort of a hobby for me. By working through the questions with someone else, I find perspectives that are useful for me. I bumped in to another one over at Skeptics forum. Right down to claiming that our world view “is a lie”. A little different though because he claims to have the answer but it’s not worth explaining it to the rest of us. There are some philosophers that simply dismiss the problem, saying everything is chemistry and if we had the computational power we could simulate consciousness. They consider that an answer. I don’t, but what do I know? Well, I know others don’t agree with them and they don’t have much evidence. But, if you can’t accept that for some questions, you’re going to get more than one answer and then you’ll have to sort it yourself, well, that’s going to be frustrating.
Well, as for me, I’m a writer who focuses on politics, religion, and mental health. I plan to pitch a piece to national outlets is on “Pure O” OCD, because it is still not well-known.
And, I’m actually meeting tomorrow with a new client, a therapist starting a new counseling practice in the area. I’ll be doing her online marketing.
All my discussions online, about all these topics, help me to know what people know, and don’t know, and think about these various topics. They give me “angles” and familiarity.
ALTHOUGH I WILL NEVER, EVER QUOTE ANYONE HERE. EVER.
In addition, I actually care. I struggled for years with a condition most people, including professionals, are unfamiliar with. I KNOW @snowcity has this condition. So I was actually hoping to help.
I understand that @player is simply projecting, because he’s unfamiliar with having purpose and meaning in life.
Interesting, over there at Skeptic!
I want to emphasize:
Somebody could study, discuss or debate philosophy (or religion, politics, physics, etc.) every day, all day…
He could be fascinated by a topic and dedicate his life to it. He could go on to be the world’s top expert in it, because he enjoys it more than anything.
But if he IS fascinated by it, or enjoys it, or is intrigued by it, or or it feeds his soul, and his knowledge about it grows and develops …
Then it isn’t OCD.
Was that already clear…?
Xain said many, many things that verified it. But if I had to pick one: He said more than once that he wished he could stop, that he feels trapped, that it has ruined his life.
That’s OCD talking.
(People use OCD and other words all the time, in non-clinical ways…I just want to be sure.)
I understand that @player is simply projecting, because he’s unfamiliar with having purpose and meaning in life.Hey I like that. Maybe we can make a stamp out of it for future use, but just for when we're playing around.
On a different topic. How would you describe OCD to a lay-person, all this tossing it around has me realizing I only have a very superficial understanding of what it actually is. I’ve known many crazies, but mostly of benign fun type, well there’s manic depressives but that’s a different ball of wax, I don’t have any genuine experiences with real OCD.
Hey look. It the Tee show!!!
Negative thoughts are like stray dogs; if you feed them, they will come back; if you continue to feed and entertain them, they will stay, while enticing your behavior with their negativity.Thats not true because there are no such thing as negative thoughts.
As as for the rest this has gotten off topic and not been helpful. The problem with most people as you say is that they haven’t heard of this, most people don’t question their lives. But when exposed to this stuff it tends to unravel a lot (which is why I don’t see many people willing to talk philosophy outside of college). You can’t cite most people as a counter example because most people live in ignorance. I wish I could forget everything Buddhism said but I can’t just unsee and wipe it away.
How would you describe OCD to a lay-personThanks for asking!
Like a lot of psych terms, “OCD” has become part of the general lexicon: “Did you notice those pictures are crooked? Sorry, I’m a little OCD!”
But REAL OCD can be truly disabling, to a level worse than even anxiety and depression. There is a wide spectrum, but even on the “mild” end, OCD is way more than “fastidious” or “picky.”
The most-recognized forms of OCD involve obvious compulsions/rituals … someone needs to tap every door 17 times before he walks through it, for example.
I won’t list some of the more common obsessions and compulsions – you can look those up.
You know that feeling when you realize there’s a wasp crawling on your face? Your brain says, “Get it off right now.” It’s urgent, and if you don’t do it, something bad may happen.
Those 3 seconds right there … that’s how OCD feels, between the obsession and the compulsion.
So every time that person starts walking through a door, the feeling is like that wasp feeling … and the tapping is kinda like getting the wasp off.
Now, imagine if a wasp flew onto your face, and society expected you NOT to feel any way about it, and NOT to have a reaction.
I have never heard anyone describe it that way … I came up with it just now, for you. I don’t know if others would agree, but that’s how it feels to me.
Some people have just one type of OCD, or just for one short period of their life. For others, OCD is a shape-shifter, coming, going and changing and morphing over many years.
In my case, there was a time that I had to schedule an hour for checking my locks and stove before I left for work each morning. But that vanished about 20 years ago. It doesn’t come to mind at all anymore.
My scrupulocity OCD suddenly appeared one day in August 1984, and vanished one day in 2013.
I wish I could tell you what therapy or medication got rid of those. But they just disappeared of their own volition. I have a completely different form now.
I was always super high functioning and could compensate well. Only a few people in my life even know I have OCD. Yet my whole life has secretly revolved around it.
And because my OCD has mostly been “Pure O,” it has been “invisible.” See my layman’s description at:
September 17, 2019 at 2:46 pm#308179REPLY
I’ve only just realized that my own anxiety and depression have been fueled by OCD all along, even though that was never the focus of my treatment. It should have been. It would have made a difference.
One more thing: The way the science is going, it’s more and more clear that OCD is a thing, and a very specific thing. Brain scans reveal differences in regular vs “sticky” brains:
Also, there’s some evidence that OCD may be virus-based. It seems to begin in some kids after strep throat, for example.
HTH!
Except my problem isn’t OCD it’s what happens as a result of the OCD.
Except my problem isn’t OCD it’s what happens as a result of the OCD.◑▂◐
Wow, @snowcity.
I’m … stunned.
Hey, I don’t know much about Buddhism, but is there anything in Karma that would let me get back the time & effort I wasted on your behalf?
Tee, you’re time and effort was not wasted, imo. You tried to help Xain out, as we all have. Also, you laid out your info about OCD. I appreciated that.
I appreciate that, @timb. This also gave me an opportunity to hone my descriptions for things I’ll write later on. But it did take more time and effort than I wanted to give it just now. I did it because I actually was moved by Xain’s posts…it sounded like he was miserable.
I knew there was only a tiny chance I’d be able to reach him. But I was in his place for several years. People kept trying to reassure me, and it didn’t help. But I saw they were trying to help, and I expressed gratitude for their efforts. I felt bad that they cared to try, and yet it wasn’t working…but I was thankful just the same.
So I didn’t really expect Xain to be rude about it. If that’s the road he is going to take, it’s going to be a lonely one.
Counted only 13 “I” s in that one T.
You’re slipping