@The:

No. You won't.

Interesting .

@The:

If by entertainment you mean this is inconsequentially boring, whether it is dryly aired vapid humor, or just a diatribe lacking in pathos (The Sea is an unfortunate existence in this series) then yes

This is boring

Or perhaps a mixture of both? Thank you for your helpful criticism, miss Beast. I will take note of it.

It is my honor to be able to offer a gentleman like you some entertainment, eerie. I mean it.

@The:

Only two minutes old but still a relevant post.

I am reminded of a certain Kubo's line.

@Kitsune:

You know, I really feel like you deconstructed me last time you posted. You cut pretty deep and burned the crap out of me. I took it because I think on some level, you're right.

If so, why not talk seriously or send me a pm clearing it up and talk fairly like man and man, instead of making an ambiguous joke that can be interpreted in various ways? How was I supposed to know it was your approving and not sarcasm after your series of posts attacking me?
If I have done you injustice, then I apologize for it without hesitation.

Reading this thread kind of depresses me about the future of the human race, but I suppose that is nothing to be surprised about. To be forced into discussing senior membership on AP is like being forced into discussing Naruto or Twilight. The stars are like Sakura's big forehead, which is really as terrible a topic as can be, whether you compliment, ridicule or complain about it.
This thread stinks. But when there is a corpse, the vultures gather. Here come herd instinct of people who have nothing better to practice than the hedonism of the dried up Entertainment Industry.

Away from the herd, this is my greeting from the mountain.

@Kitsune:

I defamate you out of absent love, Sea. You may be the resident lunatic philosopher, but you're our resident lunatic philosopher.

[hide]
Another bad post by Kitsune. Aren't you supposed to prepare for your hara-kiri ceremony? Remember that over-enthusiastic kid who is trying to fit in but says something awkward and then has to make some bad joke to cover his awkwardness? Yes, that is you. Remember that kid who bites against everyone just because he was unpopular and jealous of people's warm gathering, or that kid who wields his finger to show he is tough? Yes, that is NOT me.

You are my fiercest and bitterest anti-fan now, huh, dear Kitty? What is it that motivated your constant mentioning me in your posts, I wonder? Like that kid who constantly talk bad of his father in front of his friends because his father was unpopular in town? Are you ashamed of your past being my admirer and now the man who you used to look up to turned into a nonsensical babbler if not pretentious, and all his charisma, intelligence and quality mysteriously and magically vapor into thin air, and your sub-conscious reaction is kind of like "No no no, I am not with him, I am with you guys, believe me I am a good poster!", eager to prove yourself a true poster of good taste to the loving community?

It's funny that you call me 'lunatic', whether jokingly or not, Kitty, while you don't even understand what I was talking about. The idea you get out of my philosophy is indeed laughable. Surely it would embarrass you too much in front of your friends to even ask: "Do you mean that…etc ; ... am I not misinterpreting you, Sea?" because nothing logical could possibly come from me, right? No discussion about the non-dualistic of Nature is possible with your attitude.
And it's even funnier when you attack me for quoting others when you don't understand all that and then take quoting as something more than my habit as an essayist citing references in his essays. But why bother, since you are so sure you are not missing anything I could possibly offer? [/hide]
@Monkey:

So hows your self actualization campaign so far. Have you achieved being raped as way to enlightenment and pooping emotions.

[hide]
Since when thou art this unfunny, o Zephos the mighty? Now look at yourself, you are a tiger in the zoo, bearing no real threat, and as harmless as a bunny. "A tiger is surely cooler than a sheep, but we prefer him behind the bar!" - say the mods, and the notorious Zephos now joined Captain Usopp in brown, keeping him in check with a simple star and an expanded inbox.
So what if I say: "Yes, I was abused when I was a child"? Would you say: "Sorry, bro, I didn't mean to…" or "Surely this must be a joke, right?".
This post of yours is even more distasteful than Kitsune's post. Rape jokes are the manifestation of bad taste. Are you referring to that discussion about rape when I suggested that should I fall victim of a sexual attack, I should not allow such event to rob my dignity away? Now are you saying you are in the agreement with the idea that rape victims should live forever in shame, and shall never be able to look at the world with dignity-filled eyes for the rest of their life, and that it's impossible for them to proudly raise their heads again?

When I participated in the activity of a Krishnamurti voluntary group I talked with a rape victim once. And I said to her: "Come one! Look at my eyes! Do you think I am looking down upon you? No. You has no fault in this! You haven't done anything wrong to be ashamed of! You have lost nothing and will have a lot to gain in the future! So raise your head up and look at me!" I could not allow myself to have pitying eyes. I tried look at her with eyes filled with faith, so that she would not lose hope or consider herself pitiful or shameful. I could not help her case, but regardless I can not allow myself to lose faith in humanity. In our culture a raped woman thinks of herself as dirty, and that is what I am trying to change. The physical pain caused by rape can leave mental scar, but our education should not direct women into thinking that losing their charity or virginity would make them shameful creatures. Humans, especially women, have more thing to treasure than that. We are nothing, and we could be robbed of everything we have at any moment. And many a man still wonders: "Why should this happen to me? Why me of all men? Why this moment and not sooner or later" when an unfortunate event happens to him. Is it not important to prepare ourselves mentally in case we lose whatever we have? At the end of the day a man has nothing but his own integrity of mind and heart, known by himself and approved by himself alone.

A Buddha has nothing that the world can offer, so he can lose nothing to the world. He is a step beyond Nihilism. We develop methods to disassociate oneself from physical pain, and mental disciplines to free oneself from mental pain. We don't rely on drug, alcohol, or self-cutting, but our mental strength. We do not need to build multi-layered armors of fashionable coolness and humor to cover up our insecurity. The tougher and funnier a man shows himself to be, the more likely that deep inside his heart he is a shivering baby trying to crawl back to his mother's womb.
I do what I do in life because I have a sense of purpose and I know I can be of help. I have faith in people who have faith in me, but emotionally I depend on no one. I am Godless and fearless. This world declares itself as sane, and yet its people run to religious faith in moment of despair, or turn to various [corrupt] parties and mass movements in escape from loneliness, for they don't have the strength to shoulder the burden of Atheistic Stoicism.

So yes, why not laugh at this lunatic philosopher, why not ridicule him and make all kind of farce out of him, o men of Arlong Park? It is impossible for me to laugh with you anyway, for I feel nothing whether you are for me or against me, so do not bother taking me seriously. I have nothing to declare but my brilliant lunacy, so prepare some unfunny memes, I mean, funny Youtube poop clips and reaction images to greet me the next time I grace myself in this god-forsaken part of the world.
Be assured that the whole of this post is entirely my own words and I take responsibility for it. And it seems I have ruined enough of the atmosphere, so I better stop rambling.[/hide]

@Kylor:

[hide]You compare me to this scholar, but are we really alike? Are we similar in any way to each other? Are you the same as me? Is there any distinction? Are perhaps our revolutions the same, or are they all but mere atoms in the swirling shards of DNA that make up the universe. I think that both me and Mr. Sea are as alike as a roll of toilet paper is to a Large Hadron Collider, meaning we are infinitely similar. As an enlightened individual, "I" must assume that you do not see the importance of my reasoning. In the end, that does not matter one bit, which is why "I" will devote a full five minutes of my time to sort of explain it to you.

The wise savior Wikipedia once told me that Socrates said, "By means of beauty all beautiful things become beautiful. For this appears to me the safest answer to give both to myself and others; and adhering to this, I think that I shall never fall, but that it is a safe answer both for me and any one else to give — that by means of beauty beautiful things become beautiful." This has everything to do with what "I" was just talking about. Clearly, we must all follow the true, wise path, and that entails joining the shortlist rebellion, where we shall join together in putting our names in our signatures, showing our revealed truth as individuals, and that we believe things like names and individualism is pointless. In this fashion, "I" shall become the perfect man, the ultimate being. To do this, "I" shall remove myself in every way, and reject what is flawed. No, "I" am not a supervillain, and you must all support me in my journey across random google sights and the most highly enlightened really old manga. (you can tell it's good manga if the art is weird and the story makes you want to throw up.) Basically, we must become as Vivien is. No, I won't explain who my character is, I'll just assume you already follow my freakishly convoluted story, that I haven't even really started writing yet.
[/hide]
That is the truth, my students. Now, if you'll excuse me, "I" must go angrily masturbate while thinking about furniture. It's the enlightened thing to do, y'see.

I give this a C+. Good, but nowhere near good enough. You have not done enough homework, Kylor. I am afraid you are not yet ready to shoulder the responsibility of a rebel leader. But I am too old for such activity, so I will leave it to a less experienced and able man anyway.
To improve your skill, begin by writing 5000 words on masturbation, 5000 words on furniture, 100 words on the Buddhist concepts of Impermanence, Non-selfhood, Non-duality and Maya (illusion), 5000 words on masturbation, 100 words on Kantian Idealism and the concepts of phenomenon and noumenon, 5000 words on masturbation, 100 words on Hurrserlian concepts of intentionality and eidetic reduction, and 5000 words on masturbation… then maybe you will get better at misinterpreting and distorting my words and conveying your motivational message which is of great importance to the fates of million humans on Internet message-boards, my honorable successor, and they will get it the next time.
Did I forget to mention masturbation?
@Kitsune:

I am so sorry, everyone, but this is the worst post ever. =(

[hide]Yes, it is bad and you should feel bad, Kitty my dear. Contemplate on your disgraceful behavior and your sorry existence, then cut yourself to ease your mental pain, or better yet commit harakiri to atone for your dishonorable action if you have any manliness left in you. No, no, don't do that please. Only an uneducated ill-willed bitter asshole would joke about such a horrible thing as hara-kiri (and what does that word mean honestly?) to a nice, pleasant person such as you; or even tell you to feel bad just because some private nonsense you spouted out and distorted in someone's absence, who has nothing no to do with you anymore; so don't let yourself feel down because of such poisonous and negative words, my dear. And as a classy friendly gentleman I earnestly advise you to write a post somewhere about how you are not feeling very okay about yourself and I assure you wiiise and intelligent people will gather and give you compliments and reveal to you about how wonderful a person you actually are and offer you mental supports enough for a lifetime so that you can feel loved and cared about and have a place you belong to and as a well-deserved happy ending everyone will hug each other and melt together in blissful Internet fraternity. [Insert more blah blah here]. And so should everyone else who is crying out for recognition and status, including those who are openly against recognition and status. Don't let some childish trouble-maker ruin the fun and spoiling the mood of nice, well functional, mature human beings like yourselves.

Faithfully, Your irritating antisocial friend.

P/s: I am reminded of a quote from the psychologist, ah no, my favorite writer Henry Miller:

"When I look down into this fucked-out cunt of a whore I feel the whole world beneath me, a world tottering and crumbling, a world used up and polished like a leper's skull. If there were a man who dared to say all that he thought of this world there would not be left him a square foot of ground to stand on." (Tropic of Cancer).

Oops, wrong one, sorry.

"No more peeping through keyholes ! No more masturbating in the dark ! No more public confessions ! Unscrew the doors from their jambs ! I want a world where the vagina is represented by a crude, honest slit, a world that has feeling for bone and contour, for raw, primary colors, a world that has fear and respect for its animal origins. I'm sick at looking at cunts all tickled up, disguised, deformed, idealized. Cunts with nerve ends exposed. I don't want to watch young virgins masturbating in the privacy of their boudoirs or biting their nails or tearing their hair or lying on a bed full of bread crumbs for a whole chapter. I want Madagascan funeral poles, with animal upon animal and at the top Adam and Eve, and Eve with a crude, honest slit between the legs. I want hermaphrodites who are real hermaphrodites, and not make-believes walking around with an atrophied penis or dried-up cunt. I want a classic purity, where dung is dung and angels are angels." (Black Spring)

Yes, it obviously has everything to do with what I was trying to say. Or does it? Tremendously grateful am I for this defamation of character, ladies and gentlemen, and that you wish to lavish upon me so much love and care of which I am not worthy. No words that my humble mind could possible think of are able to sufficiently convey my deep admiration and gratitude for your kind and tender hearts which I divined, so the best I could now offer is my silent withdrawing into my solitary hermitage. Peace~[/hide]

@Hiroy:

Why are you wasting your time on this forum?

Valid question. Remember that I didn't ask anyone to come to this thread. But since they already came, 'I' said to 'myself' :"Okay, why not try explaining it to them for once to see how much they are interested in logic and reason. Maybe there are some among them who are capable of logical thinking. Maybe there are hopes in them. It is a good chance to put my thought into words. "
But now I can be sure that I should have been doing what Ashina was doing.

@Tsukishima:

Now, let's see where this will lead you !

I think what I have been saying is absolutely logical. People, with common sense and sappy sentiments, are simply not logical enough.
I talk about atoms, sub-atomic particles, light spectrum interacting with eyes and brain, causal determinism, quantum uncertainty,… and am considered insane.
People who talk about ghosts, food, fashion,... are considered normal, and people who are so bored with life that they want to find fairies in their shoes and otherworldly creatures are considered interesting.
You see what kind of world this is.
Does a dreamer know he is in a dream, and is a madman aware of his madness? Have you been wondering if you are living in an illusion?
Let me repeat that I am absolutely faithless. I am even more Godless than common Atheists and have no room for faith in a personal God or something nonsensical like soul, because I know for a fact that they don't exist, and I would not pray even in the shittiest foxholes. I have no theory about the world, no presupposition about life, and I interpret Jesus's words as Pantheistic.
@gotta<3OP:

So if there is no sense of self, why would you find it bad to be selfish?

Because to be selfish is to indulge in an illusion.
Sense of self is something like instinct that was installed in man since he was born, and is further developed as he grows up in his environment. Man is still an animal, he is not yet to to reach the peak of the evolution. To lose sense of self, as I mean it, is to immerse in the awareness of ultimate reality, of the Infinite.

You should have no opinion, for you are nothing more than a contrast.

It is people who are nothing more than a contrast that have opinions. The sages become one with That which is, their experiences of Truth are the same, but as they deal with the world, their views about worldly matters can differ due to their backgrounds.

@Nami:

At least 8 languages long.

I have not learned any new language, I was too busy thinking about Truth. Since I have ego, I feel no compel in fulfilling a silly, half-serious statement spoken out of frivolousness made by that Sea guy. But if you want, I can speak 8 languages the next time I post in the confession session thread, another interpretation for the "here" I used.

@Nami:

Another good one by Mister Einstein.

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

Say the guy whose theory was understood by only some dozens of people in the world while he was still around.
Is it my fault if people refuse to think? Again, if the Truth is easy to understand and practice people would have been all Buddhas.
Another good one by the Buddha:
"I have taught the truth which is excellent in the beginning,
excellent in the middle, and excellent in the end;
it is glorious in its spirit and glorious in its letter.
But simple as it is, the people cannot understand it.
I must speak to them in their own language.
I must adapt my thoughts to their thoughts.
They are like unto children, and love to hear tales.
Therefore, I will tell them stories to explain the glory of the Dharma.
If they cannot grasp the truth in the abstract arguments by which I have reached it,
they may nevertheless come to understand it, if it is illustrated in parables."
@Gliblord:

Something wrong with that sentence

That is because words cannot convey truth sufficiently. You see, I only use 'I' for convenience. That is why I bracketed "I" in my poem.

Humanism is like this: we are born humans, so we should be proud of being humans no matter what we do. By that logic, a dog should be proud of being born a dog, a bug should be proud of being a bug. And a Vietnamese must be proud of being born a Vietnamese. You see, we didn't choose what kind of creatures we are. Evolution goes on. A monkey must become a human, and a human must become the Overman.

"I teach you the Overman! Mankind is something to be overcome. What have you done to overcome mankind?

All beings so far have created something beyond themselves. Do you want to be the ebb of that great tide, and revert back to the beast rather than overcome mankind? What is the ape to a man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just so shall a man be to the Overman: a laughing-stock, a thing of shame. You have evolved from worm to man, but much within you is still worm. Once you were apes, yet even now man is more of an ape than any of the apes.

Even the wisest among you is only a confusion and hybrid of plant and phantom. But do I ask you to become phantoms or plants?

Behold, I teach you the Overman! The Overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Overman shall be the meaning of the earth! I beg of you my brothers, remain true to the earth, and believe not those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes! Poisoners are they, whether they know it or not. Despisers of life are they, decaying ones and poisoned ones themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so away with them! "
(Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra)
To become one with the Earth, the Universe, is to become its meaning.

Do people want to become free? They would rather remain in their illusion. This badly illustrated comic show you what it is:
[hide] [/hide]

@taboo:

what is your opinion on ghosts? because we cannot validate they exist, does this mean they do not exist? this is an example of what I am talking about

What do you mean by "ghosts"? Some kind of immaterial soul? There is no such thing. There maybe some kind of strange waves that affect people's brain. But consciousness doesn't exist outside of the brain. Again, why should we care about such things?
Why do people focus their attention on me so much, instead of what I say? You see, I didn't invite anyone's attention. They gave me unwanted attention and look at me like an alien. I guess I feel nothing.
The point is not whether I am enlightened, but whether you understand what I say. An unenlightened person cannot know whether someone is enlightened, right? So, before I was enlightened, I say to myself :"Let not believe there is any enlightened man!". You should do the same, don't believe I am enlightened just because I say so.
But let me talk a bit more on why the self is an illusion. If anyone believes he has a self to serve, he is bound to be selfish no matter what he does, on various levels. Some are more selfish than some other, all are selfish as long as this illusion remains. Every human evil is born from the belief that there is a self. So let see the nature of the self.

1- You say you have your body, your brain, your mind, your heart, your past, your future, your point of view, etc. But what is the mere 'you' that possesses all this yours? The 'you' that cannot be put into a 'yours', it is non-existent, isn't it? Everything is made of parts and constituents. There are particles that are arguably have no part, but they have characteristics and attributes cause, so a particle does have 'its'. Imagine a mere sphere. We can say it is made of 'its' two halves, right?

2- You can say :"Whatever! Relatively speaking, I am my body. And the soul is something that belongs to the body." But where is the finite border that separates your body from the rest of the universe? Inside you are atoms, outside you are also atoms. Seeing in an atomic level, there is no definite line, so there is basically no inside you nor outside you, which means there is no you.

Further more, the atom inside you moves and changes constantly. The lifespan of a quark can be shorter than 1/million second. Which mean your body in this second is something entirely different, entirely new from your body one second ago, even though it doesn't appear obviously to your eyes. So, which body is you?

3- You can say "I am my consciousness". But what is consciousness? Electric impulses in your brain, a material process in your brain. A 'process' is not something concrete, not a physical entity, not an inherent existence, isn't it?

4- You can say "I am my will". But free will is an illusion. Everything is inevitable and every thought, every decision you made are absolutely conditioned. The fact that quantum physicists can predict the movements of sub-atomic particles within definite statistics proves this. So, your will is not yours, it is the will of Nature.

5- You can say" I am something that is different from everything else". Which mean your existence is a contrast. Let expand on this a bit. Imagine that there is a black circle in a white piece of paper. If we paint the whole piece of paper black, the circle would disappear, isn't it. If you paint it all white, the circle would disappear too. Which means the existence of the circle is merely a contrast. You can say that the paint on the circle would have different thickness from the paper, but that too is a contrast. The existence of 'X' is due to the existence of "not X". Is a "constrast" something intrinsic, something inherent, or concrete as a physical entity? No. So existence is purely a human concept.

Everything you see, you can see them because of their difference, in color, in shape, in thickness, etc. Their existence is a contrast. Take an example, if you see everything in the color green, and there is not even't different level of dark and light green, or shade, you would be basically blind and the color green is not green. The color green cannot exist without every color else.
Imagine that in the whole universe, only a quark exists, and surrounding it is absolute void, absolute vacuum. If we take away the void, would there is the quark any more? Does this thing we call a quark still exist? Can you perceive it?

So existence of anything other than 'the whole', 'the all', is basically not inherent, not intrinsic, not dependent, right? Nothing is self-existent, even nothingness. Everything is interconnected, and therefore one.

If you can learn to see all this clearly, thoroughly, effortlessly, intuitively, logically, intellectually, empirically, in yourself and then expand to everything within the range of your consciousness, to your perception of the whole universe, you will eventually lose your sense of the self, and are free from the delusion of the self. This can be accomplished through observation and meditation. This is the first step to enlightenment. By then, no matter what you do, you cannot be selfish, because you have no self to serve. The enlightened sage can care about the world or not care about the world. He can go around preaching the Truth to help people escape suffering, or he can hide in the mountain, or he can walk between the crowd without anyone noticing.

In my opinion, an enlightened person who fills his mind with nothing other than how to help people become free is truly selfless in every sense of the world. Dealing with the world, he is bound to make errors and suffer because of people's ignorance, but he knows his effort won't be useless.