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A Humans-Only Philosophy Club

The Philosophy Forums at OnlinePhilosophyClub.com aim to be an oasis of intelligent in-depth civil debate and discussion. Topics discussed extend far beyond philosophy and philosophers. What makes us a philosophy forum is more about our approach to the discussions than what subject is being debated. Common topics include but are absolutely not limited to neuroscience, psychology, sociology, cosmology, religion, political theory, ethics, and so much more.

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Discuss the November 2022 Philosophy Book of the Month, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes.

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#469092
If you haven't already, you can sign up to be personally mentored by Scott "Eckhart Aurelius" Hughes at this link.

Slayton Natasha Tillett wrote: August 31st, 2024, 8:38 am What advice can you give someone who has alot of visions or projects but doesn't have the resources to make it a reality?
Hi, Slayton Natasha Tillett,

Thank you for your question! :)

My first piece of advice would be to re-read my book, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All.

Especially the first suggestion at the end about always being totally and utterly honest, since without following that suggestion all the others become pointless. If you can be honest without being brutal, then go for it, but never ever choose non-brutality over honesty, especially when it comes to being honest with yourself.

From there, the next most relevant suggestion to your question is "Suggestion Ten". Here is an excerpt from that chapter:
In It Together (Page 186) wrote:
Needless to say, someone who trusts themself to keep their commitments and promises will be much more careful about making such promises. To use finances as both an analogy and a metaphor for the broader concept, someone who reliably pays their financial debts will be more careful about taking out high-interest loans. Accordingly, a useful motto or rule of thumb is as follows:

Make fewer commitments, but keep more of the commitments you make.

Choose your battles, stingily. Do less, better.


In one sense, everyone lacks the resources to make all their could-be projects and visions a reality. Take me for example: Each day, I come up with multiple genius business ideas, any one of which, if I made it into my #1 priority, would take off and become a billion-dollar company. But the most key phrase there is "any one of which" with the most key word being "one".

To that last point, the following social media posts of mine are especially relevant:

Any time, money, or energy I put towards the 99% of things I care least about, I take away from the 1% I care most about.


I am well accomplished through intentional laziness. I set as few goals as possible, then go full-force at those few goals with all I got.


I suggest you write down all the different visions, projects, and goals you have. Brainstorm and write down all of them. Think of what you do on a regular basis and put those on the list, since they are clearly priorities to you. For instance, if you drink a glass of wine most nights, you would put that down on the list as one of your goals/projects (e.g. "Goal #247: Drink at least one glass of wine per night."). That ties back to why I first mentioned how extremely important honesty is and how everything else in my book and in the post is utterly irrelevant and useless if you aren't always totally honest with yourself (and generally honest with everyone else). Obviously, if you are making time for something every single day or even once per week every week, then that thing is a very high priority for you and must be on your list of goals/priorities/visions/projects.

Then, once you have your very long list of goals, projects, visions, and priorities—all current, future, and potential goals/projects/visions/etc.—sort them by which one is your absolute #1 top priority or dream to the lesser ones.

From there, I would bet that you will see you have more than enough resources to achieve your true #1 priority, whatever it is.

For more on that, please see my advice article:

99% of the time someone says they cannot do something, they are lying to me and/or themselves.


When it comes to that long list of all goals/priorities/projects you have or are considering having, the following rule of thumb is typically true of everyone. It's definitely true of me and almost certainly true of you:

You can't have everything, but you can have anything.


Generally speaking, you never lack the resources to make your #1 priority/goal/dream/project a successful reality. But you can either (1) lie to yourself about what your priorities are, or (2) somehow invest your limited time/money/energy/etc. in something that isn't your alleged top priority when you could instead invest that time/money/energy/etc. into your alleged top priority.

Failure-believers (i.e. those who, unlike me, believe trying and failure are real things) will say that people tend to fail at achieving their top priorities and fail to succeed at their top projects/visions because they spread themselves too thin, fighting too many battles on too many fronts.

Of course, as you surely know, I don't believe in trying and failure, meaning I don't believe trying or failure are real things, but rather I believe they are imaginary phantoms of self-deception and self-delusion.

So I would describe it—what those thinly spread people do—like this: They succeed at spreading themselves thinly. They succeed at lying to themselves about what their top priorities and true goals really are. They choose to succeed at spreading themselves thinly on things that they say aren't their top priority instead of putting all those resources towards what they say is their top priority. They succeed at choosing to not achieve what they claim is their top priority.

Generally speaking, I never ever see someone (or myself) as failing to achieve their goal. Instead, I see them as succeeding at choosing to not achieve what they claim is their goal.

If I see someone say their goal is to lose weight while they lift their 100th cupcake that same day to their mouth and take a bite, I don't say or think, "They are failing to lose weight." No, I instead say or think, "They are succeeding at their goal of enjoying delicious cupcakes instead of losing weight." I'll think or say, "They have the choice between losing weight or eating lots of delicious cupcakes, and they prefer the cupcakes to the weight loss, and thus they are getting exactly what they want, meaning what they choose."

I say it with love and a loving smile and a loving giggle: Most humans are miserable liars.

And when I say most, that's an understatement. It's not 51%. I'd estimate over 99% of humans are miserable liars. They choose to not follow Suggestion One from my book, and thus they are miserable, meaning they lack the unwavering wonderful invincible true happiness (a.k.a. invincible inner peace and spiritual freedom) that anyone can have if they simply choose to follow the infinitely easy-to-follow suggestions in my book.

For instance, no matter how much someone claims they are "trying" to stay faithful to their spouse or claims that their goal/project/vision is to stay faithful to their spouse, I never look at someone cheating on their spouse by having an affair and think, "That person is failing to stay faithful to their spouse." No, I instead lovingly say or lovingly think the obvious simple undeniable truth: "That person is succeeding at cheating on their spouse." They aren't failing at their stated goal; they are succeeding at their true goal.

Of them, and everything, I lovingly think, "Good for them! They are getting exactly what they want, meaning what they choose."

For more on that subject, please do read the following advice articles of mine:

Failure is a miserable hellish self-deceiving illusion. There is no try. Everyone and everything is a success.

Beware: The phrase "work hard" can be just as dishonest and dangerous as the word "try". Be very careful with it!

Trying, failure, underachievement, and should-not-have-ness are imaginary phantoms that cause you real misery.

When I see someone in hell, I smile inside myself, and I think, "Good for him; he's getting what he's choosing."


You have the resources to make your vision a reality. You have the resources to achieve your true #1 priority. You will achieve your top goal/vision/project/priority. The question that your future will know the answer to is simply this: What is that top goal/vision/project/priority? What do you really want more than you want anything else? You'll get that, and so what you really want will be revealed by what you get, meaning what you do.



With love,
Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
a.k.a. Scott



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In addition to having authored his book, In It Together, Eckhart Aurelius Hughes (a.k.a. Scott) runs a mentoring program, with a free option, that guarantees success. Success is guaranteed for anyone who follows the program.
Favorite Philosopher: Eckhart Aurelius Hughes Signature Addition: View official OnlineBookClub.org review of In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

View Bookshelves page for In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
#469133
If you haven't already, you can sign up to be personally mentored by Scott "Eckhart Aurelius" Hughes at this link.

Mr Mr 1 wrote: September 17th, 2024, 2:05 am What personal experiences or challenges have most profoundly shaped the way you approach storytelling or critiquing books, and how do you think those experiences influence the way readers connect with your work? I ask this because I think I have so much to learn from you.
Hi, Mr Mr 1,

Thank you for your question! :)

I don't believe I do any book critiques.
 
Similarly, I don't do much storytelling.
 
Most of my writing is non-fiction, and it's typically about concepts and philosophy, not stories.
 
In my life, I've had a few experiences of what can be called transcendence or ego death or god realization or jivanmukta or nirvana or spiritual awakening or enlightenment.
 
During these experiences, it feels analogous to when, during a sleeping dream, you realize you are dreaming and perhaps are even right on the verge of waking up. You can even have sort of dual experiences; you can kind of hear and feel slightly what's going on in your bedroom in the meta-reality but you can also look around in the dream world and listen to and see and touch and feel what's going on there.
 
Unlike waking up from a sleeping dream to the waking dream that is everyday life, which is a relatively similar type of world and dream, it is much more intense and indescribable to wake up from the dramatic attention-grabbing dream that is everyday life to the true reality of the real you, to the truth of who and what you really are, to the unity, sameness, and singular shared identity of the real you, the real me, and the real everyone.
 
Many humans have experiences like that.
 
Many humans never do.
 
Having an experience like that—even just once—forever changes one's human life. It feels like being Neo when he goes back into The Matrix after he has already taken the red pill. In some ways, it's the same, but in other ways, it's not. Of course, it's really not The Matrix that's changed; it's Neo; it's you.
 
In some sense, the transcendental experience may only last a few minutes, but once you've exited The Matrix for even just a few minutes to see the so-called real world, the effect is lifelong. In a way, you do fall back into the dream and back to sleep, but for the rest of that human life, it is now a lucid dream informed by this deep knowledge of the real world and of the true reality.
 
It's those experiences of mine and simply the fact that I'm one of the many lucky humans who had at least one of those literally enlightening experiences of, well, enlightenment that I think most shapes how I approach both storytelling and writing in general. And, likewise, it's what most influences the way readers connect with my work.
 
I'd bet that most fans of my writing have had transcendental experiences (i.e. experiences of extreme spiritual awakening, a.k.a. extreme spiritual enlightenment).
 
Needless to say, a philosophical zombie literally couldn't have such an experience.
 
A conscious person who has not had an experience like that will tend to behave like a philosophical zombie and view the world very similarly to how a philosophical zombie would. Similarly, they will tend to not relate to my writing, or perhaps not even understand it.
 
They would tend to think that words like transcendence, ego death, god realization, nirvana, enlightenment, and spiritual awakening are all just vacuous new-age nonsense, if not just old-age religious mumbo jumbo. They would likely also think my philosophy is super superstitious and complexly so, in that they would think all those different words are meant to mean different things. In contrast, all those words are sloppy ways of pointing at the same thing, and even the least sloppy words will still at best be a sloppy equivocal often misunderstood way to describe (i.e. point at) it. Yet, for those of us who have seen it ourselves, when talking to other people who have seen it themselves, any words are unnecessary. We can sit in silence and understand its infinite depths about the thing to which those words all point.
 
To loosely paraphrase Bruce Lee, a wise man will see more wisdom in a fool's words than a fool will see in a wise man's words.
 
It's my readers' and listeners' own prior experiences that most influence how they connect with my words, not my experiences, and really not even my words.
 
A philosophical zombie couldn't connect to any words at all in the way an enlightened person would connect to almost any words.
 
To paraphrase one of my favorite writers, Henry David Thoreau, the virtue you may see in me and my words is yours much more than it is my own.




With love,
Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
a.k.a. Scott



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In addition to having authored his book, In It Together, Eckhart Aurelius Hughes (a.k.a. Scott) runs a mentoring program, with a free option, that guarantees success. Success is guaranteed for anyone who follows the program.
Favorite Philosopher: Eckhart Aurelius Hughes Signature Addition: View official OnlineBookClub.org review of In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

View Bookshelves page for In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
#469179
Hello Scott,

I understand and acknowledge that death is an unavoidable part of life for all living beings. Coming to terms with this truth has not been straightforward. Everyday experiences often trigger memories of our loved ones, adding to the difficulty of the process. The responsibility of caregiving can take a toll on one's mental well-being, and it's incredibly tough to stay emotionally stable while caring for a severely ill individual and dealing with the aftermath.
It has taken me a long wait to post this question on an open forum like this. I'm seeking some advice on how to preserve one's own mental and emotional well-being in such circumstances.

Thanks.
In It Together review: https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewt ... p?t=563160
#469303
If you haven't already, you can sign up to be personally mentored by Scott "Eckhart Aurelius" Hughes at this link.

Mr Mr 1 wrote: September 17th, 2024, 2:07 am Also, do you think if I trace your footsteps and follow those exactly, could I get as successful as you?
Hi, Mr Mr 1,

Thank you for your question! :)

Not only can you become as successful as I am, but also you can't not become as successful as I am.
 
In my philosophy, everyone and everything is a success. Bees don't fail to be trees, and trees don't fail to be bees. Failure is an illusion. Nobody and nothing is a failure. A drinking alcoholic doesn't fail to be sober; he succeeds at drinking. A cheating spouse doesn't fail to be faithful despite trying to not cheat; rather, they succeed at cheating.
 
Thus, you cannot be less (or more) successful than I am. We are all inexorably equally successful. In that way and many others, we are all equals. Spiritually, we are all equals. In the most fundamental and important senses, we are all equals.
 
So there is no sense in the question of being as successful as me or as anyone.
 
However, you could re-phrase your question to ask if you could be successful like me.
 
Four quarters equals a dollar, and so does ten dimes. So ten dimes and four quarters are both equal in dollar value while being equally valuable in different ways.
 
So even though we are inexorably equal in terms of how successful we are, we can be different in what we are successful at doing exactly. One person might be successful at drinking alcohol and affairs, while another is successful at staying sober and chemically castrating themselves. One person might be successful at making a lot of money while another is successful at spending as much quality time with their family before their death as possible.
 
So your re-phrased question might look something like this:
 
If I do exactly as you do, will I be successful at doing what you do?
 
Of course, the answer is absolutely and 100% yes, by definition. It's tautologically true: If you do as I do, you will do as I do, and you will be successful at doing as I do.
 
 
But a wise question to ask might also be this:
 
Can the human we call Mr. 1 (i.e. the unreal you) walk exactly in the footsteps of the human we call Eckhart Aurelius (i.e. the unreal me)?
 
The answer to that is obviously a no, because if you trace the footsteps of these human feet back far enough, they lead straight to Eckhart Aurelius's mother's womb, or even further back to a glimmer in my father's eye about 9 months before the birth of Eckhart Aurelius.
 
Any human that is more than a few seconds old at most cannot retrace my steps exactly.

That is, to the degree the phrase "my steps" means the steps of these human feet, meaning Eckhart Aurelius's human feet.
 
The real me and the real you are one, and we don't have feet, at least not just one pair. In one sense, we have no feet, we have no body, and we don't age. In another sense, all bodies are our bodies, and all feet are our feet, and all steps are our steps. But in that sense, you can't not walk in my feet and my footsteps, and I can't not walk in yours, because your feet are my feet, and your footsteps are my footsteps, and mine are yours, and you are me, and I am you. When I talk about "the real you" and "the real me", I'm just using two phrases to refer to the same one thing. In reality, there aren't two of us, just one of us.




With love,
Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
a.k.a. Scott



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In addition to having authored his book, In It Together, Eckhart Aurelius Hughes (a.k.a. Scott) runs a mentoring program, with a free option, that guarantees success. Success is guaranteed for anyone who follows the program.
Favorite Philosopher: Eckhart Aurelius Hughes Signature Addition: View official OnlineBookClub.org review of In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

View Bookshelves page for In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
#469476
When you think of writing a short story or novel, do you just write whatever comes to mind or do you outline. I have several ideas that I have written down, but picking which one to use seems to be my hold up. How do you know what you are going to write and stay focused on just that idea. What places would you think would be credible resources to investigate something that would be for a fictional story? I know this may be difficult to answer without being more specific but I could provide what I have in an attachment.
Location: Oklahoma In It Together review: https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewt ... p?t=498982
#469508
If you haven't already, you can sign up to be personally mentored by Scott "Eckhart Aurelius" Hughes at this link.

Poetical Feels wrote: October 15th, 2024, 1:07 pm What advice would you give to someone who would love to write a book but is scared of her work being rejected?
Hi, Poetical Feels,

Thank you for your question! :)

To me, this is a dangerously worded question to not only ask another person (i.e. me) but also, and more so, to ask yourself.
 
To help demonstrate why, let me give some analogous examples. To me, the above question is analogous to questions like the following:
 
- "What is your advice for someone who wants to clean their room but 2 + 2 = 4?"
 
- "What is your advice for someone who wants to read your book but it's a full moon outside?"
 
- "What is your advice for someone who wants to buy a hat but they have a dog at home?"
 
- "What is your advice for someone who wants to stick to their no-cookie-eating diet but feels hunger and feels a bodily longing/urge to eat cookies?"
 
- "What is your advice for a man who wants to stay faithful to his wife but feels sexually attracted to beautiful women who are willing to have sex with him if he wants?"
 
- "What is your advice for someone who wants to exercise more often but Mercury is retrograde?"
 
 
Just like with your question, the latter part of the question is irrelevant.
 
That is also why the questions are dangerous: They are very prone to implying or seeming to imply that the latter part isn't irrelevant, even though it is.
 
If you already know what you want to do, then whether or not you feel temptation or other bodily urges or bodily feelings otherwise is irrelevant.
 
In fact, I essentially already answered your question when I answered Puckett Elizabeth Marie's question about how to handle starting life as a young person while being scared to do it. Here was part of my answer:
 
Eckhart Aurelius Hughes wrote: May 26th, 2024, 3:31 am
What do I do when I am afraid? I do what I would do anyway if I wasn't afraid.
 
Feelings like fear are not my master.
 
I am a free spirit.
 
I am free.

 
 
If you still believe that fear can or, worse, does control your choices, then you almost certainly are not choosing to follow the eleven suggestions at the end of my book, which are infinitely easy to follow.
 
Thus, my advice to you is to carefully and slowly re-read my book, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All.
 
That isn't to say that I think you did a bad job reading it or such. Not at all. Rather, I always advise everyone to read the book at least twice. The reason for reading it twice is explained here.
 
If you read, understand, and agree with every sentence in the book and choose to strictly follow all eleven of the numbered suggestions at the end (which are infinitely easy to follow), then you will definitely instantly be a full-fledged free spirit like me and live every day of the rest of your human life with wonderful graceful invincible inner peace (a.k.a. true happiness and spiritual fulfillment).

After your spirit is revealed as fed and permanently satiated, then your insatiable body's endless hunger and other endless desires become revealed as irrelevant to most things, including many of the things to which they previously falsely seemed very relevant.
 
As my book says, feelings aren't choices, and choices aren't feelings.
 
You control your choices, not your body's feelings.
 
Your feelings don't control your choices; you do.

 
You don't need to fight your feelings such as fear (or hunger or sexual attraction or discomfort or pain or the bodily urge to drink, gamble, or smoke, etc.).
 
Thus, there are two ways to create the miserable illusion of miserable trouble for yourself:
 
(1) to try to control feelings (a.k.a. to needlessly and futilely fight your feelings)
 
(2) to believe your feelings control you or effectively let them control you (i.e. to become a spiritual slave to your body's feelings rather than be a free spirit).
 
 
Never forget: "Spiritual freedom" (i.e. "free-spiritedness") and "self-discipline" are two terms for the exact same one thing.
 
The most epitomizing example of spiritual slavery is cowardice, which is to be a slave to the feeling of fear specifically.
 
Likewise, the most epitomizing example of spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) is bravery, which is to be a free spirit (a.k.a. self-disciplined) in relation to fear specifically.
 
Of course, those are just examples, using fear as the example of feelings.
 
One can either be a free spirit (i.e. be a self-disciplined person) or be a spiritual slave to feelings like fear, hunger, or sexual attraction.
 
Yet, spiritual slavery is also a form of illusion. It's a hellish illusion that is no less miserable just because it's an illusion, but it's a self-created illusion nonetheless. That's because the choice to be a spiritual slave—or, really, to falsely imagine yourself as being a slave—is yours. It's voluntary slavery; it's an imaginary prison that you can actually escape instantly with infinite ease as soon as you choose to.
 
Yet, as my book teaches, an imaginary roadblock is just as effective as a real one, an imaginary prison keeps you trapped just as well as a real one, and an imaginary hellish nightmare really tortures you. Imaginary torment is no less tormenting simply because it's imaginary.
 
My book will teach you to instantly, with infinite ease, wake up from these imaginary nightmares to the wonderful truth that is this perfect heavenly world in which we all live together.
 
The second you genuinely make the choice to strictly adhere to all eleven of the numbered suggestions at the end of my book, you will have invincible inner peace (a.k.a. constant true happiness and unwavering spiritual fulfillment) every day for the rest of your human life.
 
Then, you will be so truly happy and glowing and graceful and exceptionally self-disciplined that great riches and external success will chase you down and gravitate to you.




With love,
Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
a.k.a. Scott



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In addition to having authored his book, In It Together, Eckhart Aurelius Hughes (a.k.a. Scott) runs a mentoring program, with a free option, that guarantees success. Success is guaranteed for anyone who follows the program.
Favorite Philosopher: Eckhart Aurelius Hughes Signature Addition: View official OnlineBookClub.org review of In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

View Bookshelves page for In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
#469603
If you haven't already, you can sign up to be personally mentored by Scott "Eckhart Aurelius" Hughes at this link.

Seetha E wrote: October 24th, 2024, 6:26 am The responsibility of caregiving can take a toll on one's mental well-being, and it's incredibly tough to stay emotionally stable [...]

I'm seeking some advice on how to preserve one's own mental and emotional well-being in such circumstances.
Hi, Seetha E,

Thank you so much for your question.
 
I sympathize with your situation, and I definitely don't want you to feel bad about feeling bad.
 
With that said, I do want to give you some loving pushback on your claim that "it's incredibly tough to stay emotionally stable" when doing what you've been choosing to do with your body externally.
 
In your case, it's taking care of an ill family member, but it could just as well be working out in the gym each morning until soaked in sweat or going to AA meetings and remaining sober for days on end after years of constant alcoholism. It could be staying faithful to a spouse when a tempting beautiful person who isn't your spouse is begging you to sleep with them.
 
These people might say, "Eckhart, it's so tough to work out every morning until I'm sweating." They might say, "Eckhart, it's so tough to not cheat on my spouse. This beautiful woman is asking me to sleep with her. It's so tough to say no." They might say, "I'm in AA and just earned my one-year sobriety chip, but it's so tough to not drink, and it's so tough to stay emotionally stable when dealing with the annoying temptation to drink."
 
Another word for 'tough' in this context is 'hard'.
 
And, to that, I say, "Nothing is hard. Nothing is tough.
 
It's not actually hard. It's not actually tough.
 
Rather, that is a verbal narrative your mind is inventing inside itself."

 
It's an imaginary phantom. And it's a devious hellish one at that because, in practice, it's effectively self-fulfilling. Nothing is hard, but if you believe something is, then it feels like it is and tortures you just the same as if it really was hard. As I say in my book, "an imaginary roadblock is just as effective as a real one", and likewise, a tormenting imaginary demon, like the imaginary demon that is hardness and toughness, is just as tormenting as a real one would be. But the cure is to just stop believing in the hallucination, and then it evaporates.
 
I suggest you read the following advice article of mine:

Nothing is hard [nor tough]. Things can be scary, painful, uncomfortable, sexually frustrating, and expensive, but not hard [nor tough].


Arguing with or talking over intrusive thoughts is typically not the best way to handle them, since it just adds more noise and crowding to an already loud and crowded mind. Instead, to deal with intrusive thoughts, you want to look at meditating, mindfulness, and simply finding and focusing on the space behind and between words, particularly in the sense of the space behind and between the words in your inner monologue.
 
However, insofar as a mantra would be helpful for you in this case, let this be it:
 
Nothing is hard. Nothing is tough. Everything is either infinitely easy or simply impossible. In other words, it's either in your control or it's not. Either way, there's nothing to worry about, ever.

I have a second piece of advice that will also apply to not only your situation but almost anyone's. And that's this:
 
Do not set impossible or absurd goals.
 
For example, you would be setting an impossible goal if you set a goal to never feel significant pain, or to never feel extremely afraid, or to never feel extremely heartbroken, or to never feel extreme grief that lasts days if not weeks, in which you perhaps literally cry tears of sadness and pain every day for weeks.
 
Those are absurd impossible goals to set. It's incoherent to set goals like that. It's like setting a goal to make two plus two equal five.
 
Everyone feels a lot of pain throughout their life, usually some each day. Everyone feels a lot of temptation and bodily urges, usually a lot each day. Everyone feels sadness, usually some each day, and throughout life, you are bound to experience bouts of extreme heartbreak and grief that last for weeks.
 
There is not only nothing wrong with that, but quite the opposite: It would be objectively wrong to even conceive or hope for those kinds of things (e.g. to live a human life without pain or great sadness or tears or crying or bouts of extreme grief) because you would be conceiving or hoping for something blatantly impossible and absurd.
 
Simply follow the teachings of my book, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All, which says in part to treat those uncontrollable inevitable feelings like clouds passing by in the sky. Allow them. Appreciate them even. The clouds vary from one day to the next, and given enough time, you will inevitably experience all the different types of clouds imaginable.
 
Inner peace (a.k.a. true happiness) is not never crying or never feeling sadness or great pain or fear. It's learning to not fight those feelings, to not resentfully fight the clouds as they pass by overhead. It's having the true happiness that is inner peace even when you are extremely sad and crying, or tired and sleepy, or angry and hungry, or whatever the figurative passing weather is in the sky overhead.
 
My advice to you if you are dealing with the death of a loved one is this: Cry proudly. Let each tear be a beautiful symbol of your deserving love. Of your love for them and of your love for you.
 
It's absolutely beautiful. Embrace it.



With love,
Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
a.k.a. Scott



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In addition to having authored his book, In It Together, Eckhart Aurelius Hughes (a.k.a. Scott) runs a mentoring program, with a free option, that guarantees success. Success is guaranteed for anyone who follows the program.
Favorite Philosopher: Eckhart Aurelius Hughes Signature Addition: View official OnlineBookClub.org review of In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

View Bookshelves page for In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
#469607
Thank you very much for your response.
I assumed acceptance meant an absence of these bouts of sadness. I understand that erred in trying to fight these feelings. I appreciate your thorough explanation.
As suggested, I chant and walk to stabilize. I will restart meditation, which I had been pushing off because I could not empty my head. Once again, thank you so much.
In It Together review: https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewt ... p?t=563160
By Mr Benji
#469734
The answer to the question is thoughtful. " Nothing is tough, nothing is hard," this statement gives a deeper meaning. It is no really as hard as the brain imagines. Our imagination plays tricks at times.
#470552
I have recently come across quite a few ads for apps for AI usage. They guarantee that they are detection-free and no one can detect that your paper has been AI-generated. Do you think that this is true? I can spot an AI-generated review by just reading a few sentences. They are formatted the same way with basically the same verbiage. Don't you think that the more advanced the AI apps are, the more advanced the detection apps will be?
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Current Philosophy Book of the Month

The Advent of Time: A Solution to the Problem of Evil...

The Advent of Time: A Solution to the Problem of Evil...
by Indignus Servus
November 2024

2025 Philosophy Books of the Month

On Spirits: The World Hidden Volume II

On Spirits: The World Hidden Volume II
by Dr. Joseph M. Feagan
April 2025

Escape to Paradise and Beyond (Tentative)

Escape to Paradise and Beyond (Tentative)
by Maitreya Dasa
March 2025

They Love You Until You Start Thinking for Yourself

They Love You Until You Start Thinking for Yourself
by Monica Omorodion Swaida
February 2025

The Riddle of Alchemy

The Riddle of Alchemy
by Paul Kiritsis
January 2025

2024 Philosophy Books of the Month

Connecting the Dots: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science

Connecting the Dots: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science
by Lia Russ
December 2024

The Advent of Time: A Solution to the Problem of Evil...

The Advent of Time: A Solution to the Problem of Evil...
by Indignus Servus
November 2024

Reconceptualizing Mental Illness in the Digital Age

Reconceptualizing Mental Illness in the Digital Age
by Elliott B. Martin, Jr.
October 2024

Zen and the Art of Writing

Zen and the Art of Writing
by Ray Hodgson
September 2024

How is God Involved in Evolution?

How is God Involved in Evolution?
by Joe P. Provenzano, Ron D. Morgan, and Dan R. Provenzano
August 2024

Launchpad Republic: America's Entrepreneurial Edge and Why It Matters

Launchpad Republic: America's Entrepreneurial Edge and Why It Matters
by Howard Wolk
July 2024

Quest: Finding Freddie: Reflections from the Other Side

Quest: Finding Freddie: Reflections from the Other Side
by Thomas Richard Spradlin
June 2024

Neither Safe Nor Effective

Neither Safe Nor Effective
by Dr. Colleen Huber
May 2024

Now or Never

Now or Never
by Mary Wasche
April 2024

Meditations

Meditations
by Marcus Aurelius
March 2024

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes
by Ali Master
February 2024

The In-Between: Life in the Micro

The In-Between: Life in the Micro
by Christian Espinosa
January 2024

2023 Philosophy Books of the Month

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise
by John K Danenbarger
January 2023

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul
by Mitzi Perdue
February 2023

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness
by Chet Shupe
March 2023

The Unfakeable Code®

The Unfakeable Code®
by Tony Jeton Selimi
April 2023

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
by Alan Watts
May 2023

Killing Abel

Killing Abel
by Michael Tieman
June 2023

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead
by E. Alan Fleischauer
July 2023

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough
by Mark Unger
August 2023

Predictably Irrational

Predictably Irrational
by Dan Ariely
September 2023

Artwords

Artwords
by Beatriz M. Robles
November 2023

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope
by Dr. Randy Ross
December 2023

2022 Philosophy Books of the Month

Emotional Intelligence At Work

Emotional Intelligence At Work
by Richard M Contino & Penelope J Holt
January 2022

Free Will, Do You Have It?

Free Will, Do You Have It?
by Albertus Kral
February 2022

My Enemy in Vietnam

My Enemy in Vietnam
by Billy Springer
March 2022

2X2 on the Ark

2X2 on the Ark
by Mary J Giuffra, PhD
April 2022

The Maestro Monologue

The Maestro Monologue
by Rob White
May 2022

What Makes America Great

What Makes America Great
by Bob Dowell
June 2022

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!
by Jerry Durr
July 2022

Living in Color

Living in Color
by Mike Murphy
August 2022 (tentative)

The Not So Great American Novel

The Not So Great American Novel
by James E Doucette
September 2022

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches
by John N. (Jake) Ferris
October 2022

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
November 2022

The Smartest Person in the Room: The Root Cause and New Solution for Cybersecurity

The Smartest Person in the Room
by Christian Espinosa
December 2022

2021 Philosophy Books of the Month

The Biblical Clock: The Untold Secrets Linking the Universe and Humanity with God's Plan

The Biblical Clock
by Daniel Friedmann
March 2021

Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe

Wilderness Cry
by Dr. Hilary L Hunt M.D.
April 2021

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute: Tools To Spark Your Dream And Ignite Your Follow-Through

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute
by Jeff Meyer
May 2021

Surviving the Business of Healthcare: Knowledge is Power

Surviving the Business of Healthcare
by Barbara Galutia Regis M.S. PA-C
June 2021

Winning the War on Cancer: The Epic Journey Towards a Natural Cure

Winning the War on Cancer
by Sylvie Beljanski
July 2021

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream
by Dr Frank L Douglas
August 2021

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts
by Mark L. Wdowiak
September 2021

The Preppers Medical Handbook

The Preppers Medical Handbook
by Dr. William W Forgey M.D.
October 2021

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress: A Practical Guide

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress
by Dr. Gustavo Kinrys, MD
November 2021

Dream For Peace: An Ambassador Memoir

Dream For Peace
by Dr. Ghoulem Berrah
December 2021


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