The appropriate thing to do is change your life. I guess.
If you really want to do the work, you can do it here. No need to vacation to do the work.



You are not free if you are not soverign.

How many people are actaully soverign?

the key IMO is to realize that it's not just bs, but rather a distortion that is no longer appropriate for YOU to entertain depending on where you are. Simply thinking about it is not really enough, nor is it appropriate IMO to only think about it while claiming to not entertain it. We all entertain it, unless we are living a life we can truely say is fulfilling. Very few people seem to be doing this, even though many claim to be fulfilled I just dont always get that impression..but many many of us sit around and whine about it..becasue that is where we are at..and it's not really appropriate beyond a certain point if you wish to move into a certain way of being. There is a difference between doing and being. I see many people doing little things, sometimes just yelling about it etc..but very few people seem to actaully be that person they dream about.

We came to earth to learn IMO. Polarity is part of that process. If your path is moving beyond the current distortion, than find a way to accomidate that. Change your life. Moving away might not really be aiding in that growth process though, becasue what happens when you come back? Do you just fall into the same cycle? This is for me, what is most relevant..I guess you have to ask, do you want to go on a vacation?..or do you want to go on a journey? These are very different things.

Well as far as needing to change myself, I don't know how much that plays into it. I'm speaking on behalf of "external" forces that are being exerted on me, of which I have little to no control.

And again I want to be clear that I'm actually not complaining. Ostensibly yes, but I'm really just wondering if there's an environment where there's a lot less of this sort of thing. Because that would be great for everyone. I mean this is a pretty innocent question, and it's somewhat depressing to think that there isn't any such place. It would be really cool to live somewhere, but among other people, that just had no nonsense, really. I think that's achievable anyway. Somewhere that no one has an ego, essentially.

I had a good friend who lived in a tiny town north of San Francisco, on the other side of Mt. Tam. It was where a bunch of hippies moved who had money and bought land after the fall of the haight. It was paradise to me, at the one restaurant in town, one could puff a fatty with their meal, the police had NO presence, there was a beach, add once, while I was sunbathing on it, I looked up to see a beautiful naked woman riding a house on it towards me. They had a "border patrol", and would reverse road signs leading to the place as an effort to confound tourists. There was a hot spring, on the beach, where you dug a little pit in the sand to lay in. All around on the cliffs were huge florescent purple and orange starfish, and when high ride came in, one had to scramble back up them to escape.

It was beautiful, perfect, an absolute paradise. But BS? Plenty of it. Unfortunately, that is human nature. In my little amount of tine there, I witnessed a little microcosm off the bs one encounters in the city. Drug addiction, poverty, even racism, it was all there, just as an under current to the awesomeness above.

like others have said, the only bs-free environment is the one you create in your heart. It cards be anywhere,a paradisiacal little town on the California coast, or in some northern city being overrun by greedy Californians (hello Portland!).

It's up to you...

Semidetached or Condo?

(did the carpet match the drapes?)

I'll smoke whatever he's having

A HORSE,A HORSE OF COURSE!

I have yet to smoke anything today...that's prolly the issue.
Otherwise, I blame it on my near-blindness,.and the cracks in my phone's screen. Yeah that's it.

Jeez.



On the horse? There was no house.

EDIT: so what do you think should I change my name to "nullsautocorrectquirks"? I kinda like it. And that way, everyone would know right off hand.

You could always join a monastery of some sort. There's still some BS in monasteries, but if you're looking for people who are trying to increase their awareness and live a peaceful life, this would be the place to go.

You do give up a little freedom, but the majority of the freedom you give up is used to advance your awareness and to allow the monastery to be self-sufficient. Depending on the religious tradition, you would probably have to take an oath of celibacy. And you'd definitely have to give up "drugs".

I've always thought it would be cool to be a Buddhist monk.

If you really want to avoid BS being forced on you, you could go out into the deep wilderness and live off the land in isolation. But even in the wilderness there can be BS since there is always the possibility of running into other people.

So basically, to minimize being subjected to BS you have to live some kind of ascetic lifestyle. Otherwise you just have to learn to deal with it.

Perhaps somewhere in the distant future?

The responses in this thread are so spot-on. Create your own utopia. You cannot control the actions of others, but you can control the ways in which you react to them. A counselor I worked with for a while suggested this to his clients: when you feel yourself starting to get angry, annoyed, frustrated, etc. ask yourself "how does this thought serve me?" If that particular thought does not serve you in a positive and productive way, which could help you achieve your goals (both minor and life-changing) and live a fulfilling life, simply let it go and move forward. It will take some practice, but after a while it should become somewhat of a knee-jerk response.

The way I see it, a person has two options. When someone else does something inconsiderate one can either get frustrated/angry/whatever, or they have the option of not allowing the inconsiderate action to affect them. When you take control of your emotional response, and you decide what is and is not worth your energy and focus, you will be able to live a life completely free of "BS". If you continue to let the actions of others initiate an emotional response from you, then you are essentially allowing other people to be in control of your emotions.

"Spiritually enlightened" is a very vague term, and I have yet to find a definition for it which is not entirely subjective. Because of this, a community of unanimously "enlightened" people would essentially be impossible. As stated previously, your definition of "spiritually enlightened" could be identical to someone else's definition of "BS".


Endless, this is a wonderful statement. If it is alright with you, I would like to add it to my log of inspirational, powerful, and funny quotes that I have been keeping. Thank you for sharing this.

Im gonna quote this, because (its beautifully said and) by identifying with the anger and resentment, i would be squashing people like bugs for the obvious permanent ignorance.
(not saying that im not angry, resentful or ignorant at some points in time)
But fighting unconsciousness like that will only make oneself more unconscious.

But yah, kinda have better things to do in this short time on earth then destroying every pesky little bug.

To me real freedom is to be able to react in the way i really want



So the question is, what do you want?
(and no, utopian spaceship escape is not an option, sorry)

Graveyards

I really do appreciate the feedback from this community, but I feel like I need to reiterate that I pretty much do have complete control of my emotional response. Virtually nothing bothers me to the extent that I actually get viscerally angry or worked up. Trust me. I'm almost too emotionally stable. I was just wondering if anyone here felt that there was a physical location on earth that resembled what I described. That's it. This has been taken a bit off course.

Hypothetically, let's just say someone kicks me in the balls whenever I step out of my front door in the morning. Now to illustrate where I'm at psychologically, I'm currently at a point where I can just shake it off and go about my day as if it never happened. But I was just kind of thinking: "Oh you know wouldn't it be preferable if there were somewhere that I could live that I didn't get kicked in the balls every morning? Because even though I can deal with it, it's still not the ideal situation." Is that more clear?

Polem beach, South Goa

It's small, beautiful and deserted. Since you would be the only one there, the only BS within miles, would be the crap you brought with you.

Of course, the occasional cow does wander along the beach, so you'll have to be a bit flexible.

Then you are a far better man than i. If i got kicked in the balls every time i went out (hypothetically), i would get severely aggravated.

I think that there is nothing wrong with getting viscerally angry at times. It is an important emotional outlet. I am reasonably laid back about the BS of myself and others and try to see the causes as to why bs is prevalent in the human race. If it all gets too much i remonstrate with gusto and then calm down. There is nothing wrong with this as it can define boundaries for people. When i brood about BS 24/7 is when it becomes self defeating and a little hypocritical.

un-known-ome, I know what you mean and I agree that we can have better control over our emotions, be more considerate to others, etc, avoiding a lot of BS as the stuff you mentioned....

But I don`t think it is that simple...

I`ve lived with `alternative´ people who had great ideas in general and in paper, seemed like those who would belong to a good community. They were all into psychedelics and being `good to others`, but then when it comes to the real actions, it wasn´t that way. For example being proactive and taking initiative in cooking, it was always me having to suggest stuff, and at most they`d help out once I got started. Or washing the dishes, people always leave for later and things pile up and then nobody knows from who it is anymore. Or cleaning or working on the common areas of the house instead of just their bedroom, people always seem to leave that for last (or never). And they all probably thought they were people who were very aware of things, and critical of `the system`.

I can`t help but think that if you really are so certain you have got COMPLETE control over yourself and COMPLETE awareness, then you are just not using the right mirror to see yourself, possibly just not walking past your comfort zone enough. As a human being, if you do so, you are bound to face situations where you really don`t know what is the right thing to do, where it will be really challenging and you will see you are not as complete as you think you are. Maybe your balls are not sensitive enough but I`m sure you got a weak spot somewhere


Oh and, if you only take people who are totally aware in your dreamland, then count me out, I`m definitely not there yet

I agree with hug. Anger is an important motivating emotion. If people didn't get angry, we'd still have slavery, systematic racial oppression, Hitler's "Perfect Race", and on and on. There a lot of things people became angry about, and were motivated to act.

If there was a person being so much of a bastard that he kicked me in the balls every time I left the house, I would get angry and do something about it (probably on the very first time this happened, I would act). Then hopefully the overall change would be one less person spreading misery in the world, making it a better place.

I tell you, some dude kicks me in the balls for no apparent reason when I'm starting out my day, will find out exactly what Mr. Peabody is capable of. I agree with the "live and let live" mentality, and when someone crosses that line, to negatively impacting my life, or someone else', not only do I have the right to do something about it, it's my responsibility to do so. The hard part is deciding what action will bring about the best positive overall change.

It was a farcical scenario, of course. But this is the sort of thing that I was wondering more about. I appreciate what you said about your experience with a community of supposedly "enlightened" people. That's interesting. I'm certainly not perfect, and I didn't mean to suggest that I was. Perhaps "enlightened" was a bad word choice. What I was conceptualizing more was something along the lines of a group of people who mutually were trying to improve themselves all the time, and always working towards a better way of doing things as a collective. Where everyone is striving to be a "better" person and lift up other people around them in a similar manner, and that's their primary objective. Because that's all you can really ask of someone.

What you are looking for is something that must be built painstakingly and deliberately within yourself, moment by moment. It is no where to be found 'out there', so long as it sought after rather than witnessed.

On closer inspection: Everyone everywhere is already striving to be better, and in the same manner lift up others around, and that is really all they are asking from you. The reality of it is simply not always so visible -- but all it takes is the first penguin to make the dive. Better now than never, but I suppose we are just as likely to crowd over the edge until the first random, unsuspecting candidate has been ploughed to it.

Everyone everywhere is already striving to be better? And to lift up others? I don't feel like that's the case. I don't know. I just can't escape the feeling that as a society, things could be better than they are. I feel like the potential to live in a utopia is there, but it's not being realized. And my vision of a "utopian society" is not actually somewhere where everything is perfect and there is no adversity. It's not where everyone is smiling all the time and everyone is excessively positive. It's not that. It's just very hard to properly explain for me. Ultimately it is some place that does not exist, sadly, but I'd sure like it to!

It is complicated.

Things can always get better, I think you are right. But there are problems plaguing us today that one might have thought long gone, and ones which have devestating consequences that go unnoticed yet pervade the very essence of our potential and deaden our imagination. First world problems like nutrition and standards for quality of life. Careless tampering with genetics of all kinds, with the weather, with our culture, as with the air we breath creates barriers among us we are not adequately adapted to penetrate. These are inescapable.

Regardless, exploring our options does not mean we have to live in a utopian fantasy. Do what feels right, where ever we are, whatever our intentions. Things can always get better, but there can be improvements made in our own personal lives also, across the board. Our social atmosphere and local is no exception.

Perhaps, the challenges that others bring us are an important part of our journey.

Part of it is a motivation to be better to others: ultimately this can make for a more favorable circle of friends and acquaintances. So we do have a bit of say in the matter, but it takes work, work on ourselves. And it does not eliminate BS. I think that BS is just one of life's ingredients, like the bit of carbon monoxide in our atmosphere.