The true nature of our experience.

[southflorida]

If one does not consider someone or some institution to be an authority then do you think it likely they'll conclude that what is said is truth? Typically when we say someone is an authority it's because we've looked at their conclusions and determined they were the result of an accurate analysis of the associated data. Now yes under this view anyone could apply the title authority to themselves by merely believing their conclusions meet the criteria but their judgment is biased and as such not likely to be accepted readily by others. Typically what is truly considered an authority is what a majority of people consider to be an authority as that is likely to be the least biased choice.

are you serious about this?

authority is a concept...nothing else

For example most people would agree that the Pope is the authority of the Catholic Church. Where as only one crazy person might believe it is Vinny the Night Janitor at the Vatican.

the pope is the pope.

and maybe, Vinny the Night Janitor at the Vatican, is the real authority.

and I'm sure it's possible, considering what the Vatican stands behind and does in the world. Murder, lies, and all kinds of other BS.

There have been quite a few leaks that all the roots start at the Vatican, especially in relation to folks like the Illuminati and world bankers, etc.

As for authority establishing something as truth, again it depends. I'll agree that not all beliefs of all authorities turn out to be truth. Using the Pope as an example again though since he is also the leader of the Catholic Church he does have the ability to establish truths about the church because his word is law.

you're mixing up beliefs and assumptions with truth.

the pope doesn't know and can't know the truth, but simply invent all kinds of BS based on his second-hand interpretations.

the truth is what is (for the fuckin millionth time folks) it can't be interpreted and layed out on the platter for the intellect to grasp.

the truth is PRIMARY.

interpretation of the truth is secondary.

stop mixing all up, start making distinctions between things and it will become quite clear how hypnotized you are by your thoughts.

...in fact, what you think you "are" is nothing but a thought

Personally though I believe this whole side debate about authority is pretty pointless, we all understood the original question being asked. To debate the definition of authority only serves to distract from the point the question made.

That the person in question has no authority outside his own opinion.

Which if you look at it honestly that's a truth that applies to any and all of us, it's called free will. Free to choose whatever we want to believe.

free will is free will...it is not true, in and in itself, it is also a concept created by the mind.

you are NOT free to choose what you want to believe...lol

you believe what you learned to believe/assume.

if you are not aware of this, my question again, is what have you been doing for so many years of your life?

...maybe you should try NOT thinking.

that would be a great first step toward wisdom.

and remember you can't think your way into the truth.

 

[southflorida]

I was thinking about this some more while doing some bong rips

...this might be the only problem in relation to your conclusions

and came up with what in my opinion is part of the problem with SouthFlorida's interpretations. He is incorrectly defining the elements. I think he fails to consider important and likely possibilities. There may in fact be some super reality out there which is just a blank screen and if so then likely it is the archetype for all other realities. Setting that one aside though reality is the screen plus whatever living thing is sensing it.

How they interpret those sensations is the movie and as the viewer (owner of the sensations) every living thing can choose how they will decide what the movie is (comedy, drama, action, love story, documentary, etc.) If they are a higher order of life with the ability to consider abstract then they can even change their mind about what the movie means when presented with some authoritative reviews.

the movie screen is obviously only an analogy.

the point is that there is an experience occuring NOW, and always and only NOW.

This experience is non-dual, there really is no screen and movie, there is only one, non-dual experience.

what veils this non-dual reality is thought.

concepts simply cloud reality, similar to how the clouds cover the sun on cloudy days.

but, the sun doesn't disappear in reality, it only seems that way.

same with this experience, it is one experience, but thought makes it seem as if a human being is separate from the rest of the world, but in reality that is not how it is.

if one actually looks into their experience without thoughts, he will clearly see that all there ever IS - is this experience.

there has never been anything and never will be anything except this experience that is occuring NOW.

this is simply a fact, that the majority of folks are resisting in their thinking. Why? I don't know.

This whole topic if you think about it is just a new age variation of If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it does it make a sound?

this is for folks that are not aware that perception is secondary.

and obviously if someone is not there to see and hear the tree falling, then there can't be any tree there to see or fall.

anyone that thinks otherwise doesn't grasp how perception works.

As soon as a life comes online and sensing the world around it a new version of reality comes into play. So the most reasonable conclusion is that there are an infinite number of realities and all of them combined make up true reality. Each individual reality is as unique as the living thing sensing it and it may at anytime include or exclude any of the other realities. Also any one individual reality is just as real and valid as any other even if it appears at conflict with the other realities. Which is to say that ultimately what is real is what we each believe is real, just because someone else says what we believe is real, isn't, does not mean we are going to smack ourselves in the forehead and say "Well I feel so silly, all along I thought it was real."

actually life online is fundamentally the same as offline, interpretation of data, nothing more nothing less.

There is no thought process, no chant, no prayer, no secret formula, no ancient Chinese secret that will change the screen and the movie our sense play on it. All there is are things that can distort our senses giving us a temporary false reality and/or how we choose to feel about reality. To try to teach one's self to ignore the mind's interpretations of the senses amounts to deliberately trying to not watch the movie which is to deliberately not live.

what I'm saying is to simply make a clear distinction between the screen and the movie, and grasp that fundamentally the screen remains while the movie ALWAYS ends.

 

[southflorida]

What South Florida WON'T tell anyone is that rather than listen to his broken record of blah, blah, 1, 2, 3 - over and over again - he COULD simply tell you the basis for all his reasoning and thinking - but then, it would just become another WORD - which by default, means it is just another thought developed via secondary experiences - and therefore as meaningless as any other thing that is derived from thought...

This whole mess he keeps talking about is called existentialism. It is NOTHING more than a branch of psychology. It is just more text book learning. But if he tells you this - then he loses his grip on the conversation and .... POP goes the EGO...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism

lol...my basis is my direct-experience, nothing else is needed, and nothing else can be used as the base for the fundamental truth!

...this is what you, dank.Frank can't grasp for some reason.

Now if you read from wiki - you'll not only learn about the single aspect of it's thought process that relates to living and existing within a now concept - but also all the other lines of thinking that are derived from such. And heaven forbid he cut himself short of another 500 threads in which he gets to come in here and toot his horn and tell everyone else just how much of less of the world they comprehend than he...

if someone actually reads that page, they will see that Existentialism is not something that can clearly be defined...lol

...as far as NOW being the only thing we ever have going on, well this is simply a fact of life, reality, and what IS.

...if you can't grasp this, this is where you currently stand, this doesn't mean others can't grasp it.

Typical psycho-babble-maniac that got stuck on one singular concept of a theory and never progressed past it to incorporate the BENEFIT of understanding it - but rather wants to think this is some miraculous application to life that some how takes you to Pluto and beyond...

this post, and the majority of the other posts in this thread, by you and a few other folks only show a reflection of where you are currently in the evolution of your consciousness.

...you simply are not clearly seeing the "intent" behind your posts.

arrrrgggghhh...I really wish I could leave this thread alone - but every time I read it, it is just chock full of the same circle jerk that NEVER progresses to ANYTHING other than his own limited understanding of what he is trying to preach.

It's like buying a box of macaroni and cheese only to realize they forgot the cheese sauce...

...maybe your "thoughts" are limited, and NOT the content I'm posting in this thread.

My main point is that reality is what IS, it is one experience occuring NOW, and always and only NOW. This is a fact, this is the truth, and anyone can clearly see this in their own direct-experience if they put their culturally programmed thoughts aside and actually LOOK.

...but no, laziness just simply won't allow this, it is simply too hard and uncomfortable to let go of false notions and to go out and actually experience one's experience directly without the comfort of the beliefs and assumptions that you have been spoon-fed by the society where you live.

 

[southflorida]

Negative.

Yes. A lot of beliefs come from that. From many people.

Because it's mostly universal truths - so people have independently produced these ideas by just thinking.

You say all of it is learned, and we've been learned. But we also do think.

But I sit here, and I know SF does, and we constantly produce ideas that line up with Existentialism.

You just wanted to pin down something that you saw someone as being dominant in, but really produce a lot of "existential" ideas anyway.

We learn from our bodies, not paper. This is why I think, instead of scan existensialism and type it in.......then box myself into the paradigmal "existensialism"

You were adding things to the convo just fine.

The reason, like you said, is we are describing things with words.

So I could go on and on describing with words, about how they don't matter - but words are reality.

An utterance from an animal. An animal turns its head to the side. The first is a declaration, the second is a question. Even worms, encountering things "process" or ask questions.

Therefore, when what we call God said "Let there be light." That is the physical grammar of it.

Like a cow standing there when something novel approaches it. The cow asks a question. If you scare it, but it thinks it's bigger, it will buck up and down.

Words are simply grammar, for the physical world. So I can see now why it was said "let there be light" because English didn't exist, yet it happened, and it declared itself so.

Everything is physical, so it limits us in our understanding. That still does mean we can't think about infinity, or non-existence. But really, and existing creature..imagining it doesnt exist...can't do it. You'd simply can't gain a state of mind like that LOL

DMT.

I share a collective reality with weed. Plants taste good, have antioxidants, which help animals, which help the plants, because more animals live. And the ones that live, because of the plant, would eat more plant. And the ones not eating that plant, would live less.

A plant has many ways to carry it's seed. It seems to be thought out.

Everything is.

The whole thing is living.

I am not saying something out there "thinks", but if I call my process of the mind..that...and I believe I am motion. And that the combined motions and energies are me, and it is seemingly arbitrary, yet I AM A THINKING MACHINE. And therefore, the universe is also thinking.

People say it can't think. I tell them, "who built your brain." Your DNA.

DNA also has information for birds to build nests, and for some animals, they build eggsacks.

They externalize and utilize nature and build it up with their DNA, and the same with themselves and the information DNA carries to build the mind.

I say to people, "our mind is very smart, but whatever built it, is smarter and I know it didn't build itself"

Not saying there is a being, but since I am a thinking machine, I say the whole machine is thinking, in a way.

But never in physical reality is anything real truth. It's all based on other physical things interacting with it, defining it in turn. It's own truth.

The real truth, is that it can be wiped away, including our bodies, but in doing so, you hope your thoughts, your inventions, your love and ideas carry on.

So material things, dying and living...those box us in to think this is the only reality. Reality tells you you're hungry, you see a poor person, you give them the money - a piece of your body. People don't live in bodies, they live in virtues. You wanted to maintain your own body, but if everyone did that, no real thoughts would occur, and it would all be drawn into the self-made and physical world, which is only truth based on itself interacting with itself, and only a self-definition.

had a blast reading this post

 

[southflorida]

"But really, an existing creature..imagining it doesnt exist...can't do it. You'd simply can't gain a state of mind like that LOL"

Eh, actually one can. It once came through an understanding I got during an outerbody experience and was not that difficult to comprehend.

...excatly, as soon as you are not confused/identified with and attached to your mind and thinking, everything becomes clear and what it is.

the truth is what is, so the only thing in the way, as an illusion, is thinking by the illusional mind.

 

[southflorida]

to the OP:so if I should only live in the now and not think of the future, does that mean I shouldn't bother getting my gear ready for work tomorrow? will I suffer if I think of what I have to do tomorrow? tomorrow being the future and not the now.

you already live in the NOW, and only and always in the NOW...anyway

making a distinction between the future/past concept and reality that is always NOW, simply helps you to be honest with yourself, and not be hypnotized by your self-mind.

 

[southflorida]

There is no future according to him - future is nothing more than a word used to describe some idea that gives us a way of understanding that we are here and continue to be so - so in the context - "future" is only a thought derived from our fear of the unknown - so we give a meaning to what hasn't yet occurred or may never occur - ie the future - but it doesn't technically exist because it is not something we can experience - you never experience the future - or the past for that matter - you only experience what is taking place immediately before you.

You may THINK about an existence beyond your own - ie the future - but that doesn't make it real - it only makes it a thought....what is real, is what is always and only what is currently happening...the rest is mere conjecture / self-created expectation from your ego, which is developed by society to tell us what we should think or expect or prepare for, in the notion of what is yet to come...

Yeah, see...I totally get it - it's just NOTHING NEW. These thoughts and ideas have been developed and written about and described and even expanded upon in countless different branches of psychology. It is all just another man's thoughts...

You could say - because multiple people have come to the same conclusion that it gives credence to it's correctness and it's factual-ness - but it doesn't...

See, if great minds all think alike - the immediate inverse of that is so must the stupid ones also. Only ones ego allows them to think they fall on the side of greatness vs being an utter moron...

it is not about intellectual grasping something, but experientially.

that NOW is the only thing occuring is a FACT...period.

there's nothing that can make this - not be so

 

[southflorida]

So let me see if I got this down. Since the future is unknown and I can only live in the now then if I think about what it will be like 24 hours from now and then when 24 hours passes and it's exactly like I thought it would be then does that make me a prophet. Also since the moment I had the thought was 24 hours in the past to the future I predicted then would that mean I prophesized the future by thinking in the past even though the past was now when I did the thinking?

actually, the future and past were thoughts that occured in the NOW.

...that was your imagination working...lol

and when the so-called-future arrived, it arrived as now, and obviously was different "in-nature" than your imagination of this now in your thinking.

you and Frank are like kids in a kindergarden...i swear

these things I'm describing about the now-experience are facts, to argue against them makes you look...well...kinda...childish

 

[devilgoob]

By saying the future is unknown, right away you are talking about time. What if time ended, or that there was no future? It just ends, somewhere. If it lasts a day, it doesn't prove it. That's like playing Futuremark, and running some video games, to see if something's Prime95 stable. By saying the future might not last, is saying the future is uncertain. We don't know if it exists, but we can only assume.

Philosophy is short..... Right. Which is what it would've been if you'd understand the first post. No really, you just don't understand, and it would've been shorter. You keep saying his thoughts are misconstrued, but you're not taking into consideration everything he says. So he keeps repeating, with the same proofs in the next posts. SF keeps back-tracking to topics, because you start picking apart a post, based on simply the post if you can.

Yes, and were are such silver-tongued preachers. What a religious-oriented piece of work that is. Yes, let's all apply a religion to philosophy and then use religion to call people preachers.

Go to a philosophy professor and ask if they disagree with religion. Then ask him if he is a geek, and a silver-tongued charalatan, based on your view of man's understanding of what is evil, and what is good.

Philosophy has a hard time defining good and bad, but your belief system seems to just define and take sides..calling people geeks who pretend to do good. Wow. So all people are bad? I can't do any good by trying to maintain a conversation, while trying to endure your judgements.

We never claimed to have a super-understanding of things. You claim to have a superior one. To claim you can't understand.

Which is what we said. That it's self-defined, only the truth that obscures the real truth

Secondary reality, like we said.

You'd like to think humans don't have the answer..and we don't. Like you said, I said, and we said. We all said that.

We are discussing it.

So anything said on the topic, must be irrelevant to you. Because anything said, simply isn't God speaking to you with pure truth...........

But as happenings happen. And as of the way, being that light becomes light, is the same way "God" reveals himself. Which is why we have clues, but never have claimed to have the ultimate truth. And with light, comes physicality and true sin nature, because with things having structure, they are at stake of being destroyed by having the slighest, which is what light is. It is what is emitted when you think, because when you gain and lose electrons, a specific wavelength is released.. Also by things being physical, they are separated by time.

I hope you're not afraid of science, because the whole bible is based on it, plus our ego-projection onto what "God" would think, all while claiming it's impossible to know. So these bible writers, obviously couldn't walk on water, so they are claiming an understanding, but aren't "God"


You really think secondary reality, is ultimate truth?

You won't mind explaining why wikipedia has so much information, on such topics of simplicity. Unless you wanted to constrict someone to a certain topic, like existensialism.You're taking the amount of time you don't understand something, and confusing it with how much SF is saying in his internet post. I would say that's a very narrow-minded way of discussing a person's philosophy.

I share my thoughts, and you straight call people idiots.

We want conflict? I think you want it.

Nice one troll. Nothing but hate, and hypocritical babble. Is that what you say to something you don't understand? That it's babble?

You add no information on the topic. You share no thoughts, only reactions. You sit there smoking grandiosely, could you be any less relevant? Be an adult, so you can be taken seriously...or you could sitting there thinking you won. You might want to get your personality-style alined to the social-setting of communicating. Do you like attention? I am glad I helped, if so.

Do you feel threatened by people who actually read and understand? No, of course not! You're avoiding even talking, or having a real, logical, philosophical or rational communication.

It's a philosophy, not a religion.

If you want to apply complex teachings to your life, that nobody said was really possible - but something to strive toward..which is a philosophy, and not a religion. Religion teaches you how to think, and to take a specific path with specified goals in mind. Philosophy attempts to explain how you think how you think. Which is thinking about thinking. Which is called meta-thinking. Philosophy is a way of life and a path you take.

If you think I am talking about religion, and that only, I am not. People ask me to demonstrate that light actually interacts like pool waves and interferes when going through two slits. How the fuck is that going to work? The same with applying something you understand as cause and effect- and have a rigid and very "your reality oriented" take on it is to apply philosophy straight to a finite reality that includes you needing money, so you can buy goods and sustain lifeform, because you have a job.

It is the same with attaining Nirvana. You can't just say: "I've thought some philosophy and have applied it...WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?"

 

[Weird]

if people were able to distinguish between relative truth versus universal truth this could be a productive conversation

fro those who don't understand

a man stands outside in America and looks up

a man stands outside in Australia and looks up

universally they both see sky

relatively one sees day one sees night

in one instance truth is universal the other is relative yet in all instances it it still truth

dogmas, philosophies, science including our consciousness: i.e. anything born of the human mind uses a different perspective from people observing the world from different "angles" even though they are all based on observations of the same universe of humanity

take a look at the dark side of the moon album cover from pink floyd

look at the white light, the prism and the rainbow

in our universe the white light and the rainbow are the same thing simultaneously, it is the prism that differentiates

our mind, our perspectives and perceptions work the same way

any time I see someone try to sell a perception and discount all others I ask myself are they being that prism, are they creating difference when there really doesn't need to be

all of our perspectives as a collective give us a true picture of humanity and the beings that represent it

some people define an understanding that is universally understood and accepted and all previous understand reconcile to it (and this unified) in the process

the world being flat was reconciled to an understanding of horizon and curvature through science, yet the optical illusion remains, so the original observations weren't nullified they were justified by relativity because without navigation (science) to understand sail off to the horizon was as deadly to man as sailing off the edge of the world

if relativity is applied to the universe of humanity as it is to the world of physics many of our differences aren't really so black and white but instead consistently relative

 

[dank.frank]

Go join Reddit...it's where you belong.

Go join Reddit...it's where you belong.

you and Frank are like kids in a kindergarden...i swear

these things I'm describing about the now-experience are facts, to argue against them makes you look...well...kinda...childish

Actually, considering what you are saying IS establish by THOUSANDS of educated people - in which I posted a link that outlines not only what you are discussing, but also takes it 100 levels deeper..

HOWEVER- you refuse to acknowledge this - you refuse to learn more or understand more or move past a singular notion...

Childish - yeah, by even participating in this waste of a conversation.

YOU are like a freshman who did one assignment in the beginning of the semester - I'm trying to approach it from not only having attended the 101 but also went ahead and got the MA and the pHD...

But you can't seem to see past your own prostrate.

In other words - sir, you have your head stuck up your ass...

You, are the new yummybud - quit wasting our server space.

Grow some cannabis or find a new forum to preach your half-wit bull shit.




dank.Frank

 

[southflorida]

Actually, considering what you are saying IS establish by THOUSANDS of educated people - in which I posted a link that outlines not only what you are discussing, but also takes it 100 levels deeper..

HOWEVER- you refuse to acknowledge this - you refuse to learn more or understand more or move past a singular notion...

actually, the link you provided has nothing to do "directly" with what I'm talking about in this thread.

I'm providing/sharing my direct experiences using my own words.

in this link that you posted,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism

there is simply content written by different people, and it is all hearsay, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not quoting anyone, I'm describing what I experience.

Childish - yeah, by even participating in this waste of a conversation.

there you have it, you even admit you're acting childish in this thread

YOU are like a freshman who did one assignment in the beginning of the semester - I'm trying to approach it from not only having attended the 101 but also went ahead and got the MA and the pHD...

But you can't seem to see past your own prostrate.

lol...so you are the new "authority" here on icmag, that we can all go to - to finally get the absolute truth?

...is that what you're trying to say?

In other words - sir, you have your head stuck up your ass...

You, are the new yummybud - quit wasting our server space.

Grow some cannabis or find a new forum to preach your half-wit bull shit.

...this post is completely out of line, and you are overstepping your current status in this forum a little bit, don't you think?

...this is what moderators are for, and you're currently not a moderator

 

[Payaso]

The true nature of my reality is right in front of my eyes at this moment in time.

My reality includes negotiating peace amongst folks who share a common love of the cannabis plant.

However, the usage of this plant seems to lead to some confusion about our commonly shared goals, especially when discussing esoteric subjects such as politics, religion or philosophy.

I am suggesting that you all find some commonality in your thoughts, instead of dwelling on the differences of opinion that so rudely shatter the peace.

So instead of yelling at one person or another, threatening banning and or burning at the stake, maybe we can enjoy a peaceful discourse without getting so riled up...

It would be a shame to lose another thread with an interesting subject being discussed, but moderators will surely shutter this thread is it stays so argumentative.

 

[southflorida]

Thanks Payaso for stepping in and pointing this out. This thread has been under attack from the beginning, and obviously I understand since this topic goes against cultural conditioning, this can be expected.

If it gets closed, that will be the nature of this thread

 

[Easy7]

The now is to me know, as a crown of thorns of past and future. I have experienced states of xtc and that was a flowing sense of only the moment...since I didn't have much concern, although I did, I just didn't feel cracked at all. I dunno but suffering is a concern of now, unless something sooths the now. I have seen too much of the past to sit easy now, unless I can comfort my now with not caring about the future. I must repeat the past, or the now is suffering and I look to the future to repeat the past nows.

I want a beer now!!! Lol, probably why they won't let me smoke weed. I demand it now!!! Lol

 

[dank.frank]

Thanks Payaso for stepping in and pointing this out. This thread has been under attack from the beginning, and obviously I understand since this topic goes against cultural conditioning, this can be expected.

If it gets closed, that will be the nature of this thread

LOL - this thread has NOT been under attack - this thread has been pushed in a direction which forces to you actually EXPLAIN something vs simply repeat one liners and circular statements that NO ONE can do anything with.

The simple fact what you are talking about has been discussed and expanded upon by MANY people over the years - should make you say, hmmmm...I think I'll look into that seeing how they thought the same way I am thinking - and perhaps I could learn more from their experiences and thoughts in / of life...

But instead, you refuse - and then you decide to tell everyone how much "they don't get it" and how we aren't being open minded and how we can't see past ourselves - THAT is the only attack being made - via your back door self elevation and belittling of everyone that tries to interact with you...

Never once have I said you were wrong - I have just said - there is MUCH more to what you are saying...much deeper aspects of it, that you are not acknowledging - and apparently, you are quite content at NOT knowing...

This is the ONLY place we differ:

Personally, I believe in growth and constant expansion of the mind - there is no plateau in life.

You on the other hand, have one very tiny singular aspect upon which many branches of psychology have been built upon, yet REFUSE to examine them or grow in your understanding of what you yourself find to be meaningful. You've got it "ALL" figured out - and for that reason, you are stagnant and will remain so.

I tried. Did not attack - until you told me I was being childish and indirectly called me a moron - so yeah, like I said in my last post...

Your problem is obvious.

Done. Finished. Over it. Enjoy your limited world perspective. Have fun being developmentally challenged.



dank.Frank

 

[gloryoskie]

 

[HempKat]

oopps...sorry HK...I forgot that what you think is the truth, is the truth...lol...or those folks of authority, that truly know for 100% what the truth is

I'm not the one going around stating this is fact and that is fact and talking as if my beliefs are the only way to look at things, that would be you.

okay.

Oh so then you're accepting that you've mislabeled what is primary and what is secondary?

...and I've said it time and time again for folks to look into their own direct experiences and see what they see there.

So. That has nothing to do with you making blanket statements about what people do or what motivates them. When you say "the majority of folks behave "as-if" they are real" you're assuming since there is no way you could possibly know what the majority of folks think about anything.

...I have not claimed that the truth is anything but this:

the truth is what IS.

that's it there. Nothing else have I claimed is the truth

No you're trying to play at semantics. Maybe you haven't used the word truth other then how you did above but you sure do like to declare various things that you've yet to prove, as being facts and facts are a form of truth.

lol...then you're a genius...maybe you should be the universal authority then

...for real...lol

Nah if I declared myself as the Universal authority then I'd be just like you and frankly that's not very high on my list of things to be just like.

if folks didn't become hypnotized by movies and believed they were real "while" they were watching, they wouldn't be as popular as they are.

So you're saying that when people watched the movie Avatar they really believed we had conqured long distance space travel to the point of sending military force to protect a private mining operation that was seeking a mineral called unobtainium, from a bunch of tall blue skinned aliens with tails?

Did you ever consider the possibility that movies become popular simply because people find them entertaining even though they know what their seeing isn't real?

the majority of folks behave "as-if" they are real.

See there you go again claiming to know what the majority does or thinks. Also there is no "as-if" in behavior people only do or don't do, there is no "as-if" unless of course you're some self appointed universal authority that has hypnotized himself into thinking he knows the thoughts of over 3.5billion people (a majority of the worlds population).

 

[HempKat]

it doesn't require thought...just clearly seeing that we are not thought...but the consciousness/awareness that is aware of thought.

...in other words...making a "distinction" between thought and awareness is enough, and to be aware of this, is not a thought.

...it is "being" aware.

Perhaps but making a distinction is a thought. You can't make distinctions about things without thinking.

 

[HempKat]

the truth establishes the truth...not some jerk-off that thinks he or she is authority.

or other jerk-offs that think they are or someone else is authority.

the truth is what simply is, and nothing else.

if you are not aware of this, I wonder what you have been paying attention to in your experience?

That's your opinion, just because you say it with conviction doesn't make it truth.