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Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#351

Post by mehphp »

confidantlake wrote: post #340
mehphp wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if those with aphantasia tend to hate reading novels. For me, once I get into a book I basically "see" it playing out in my head and I won't even notice that I'm reading words. I could totally understand how it would be bland if you were just reading a description and nothing was coming to you.

I have it and I love reading novels. Like I can't "see" your comment or any other comment but I understand what you are saying. Likewise I can't "see" novels but that doesn't mean I can't understand and find them interesting.

To be clear, I don't "see" comments like this. It's pretty specific to engaging content that is apt to be visualized. i.e. I don't tend to visualize books or passages that aren't as engaging to me.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#352

Post by ajkjk »

Dumblydorr wrote: post #283
ajkjk wrote: post #96

"How I found & fixed the root problem behind my depression and anxiety after 20+ years" by Kaj Sotala. It describes the concept of 'self-concept' and a, I guess, pseudo-treatment for addressing deep-set neurosis/anxiety caused by having one that is a little malformed. This post led (in a sort of roundabout way, hitting at a good time in my life and while I was already thinking in the direction of fixing this problem)…

That seems like a very long-winded way of saying he didn't love himself, so he worked to reframe and reinforce positive memories and loving himself. That's pretty standard in metta meditation, you are instructed to direct love and kindness towards yourself.

I think it is not quite that simple. The key insight isn't realizing that you don't love yourself, or whatever, but realizing that your behavior today is seated in specific reinforcing memories from your past, which can be specifically re-framed in a way that causes the present behavior to dissipate, as if by magic. Assuming that is really the mechanism for what's happening, I don't see a reason to think, a priori, that just 'loving oneself' is sufficient, as it wouldn't exercise that exact mechanism for self-transformation. Anyway, my particular case did not involve anything to do with loving myself, but the same machinery seemed to work for a very different neurotic behavior.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#353

Post by tingol »

stevofolife wrote: post #323
salt-thrower wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very beautiful and interesting to me that Stoics and Buddhists arrived at very similar conclusions despite being thousands of miles apart and having little to no contact.

Seems like mainstream folks tend to give credits of life wisdom to Buddhism and Stoicism but let’s not forget the Bible also mentioned the same in the book of Luke: “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭17:33‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.17.33.NKJV

That's because they did it centuries before Christianity?

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#354

Post by ztjio »

Perhaps it was my generation's timing but all throughout my life growing up we were constantly told how important self-esteem was, except, it never made any sense. Nobody ever explained how or why self-esteem was really important and even more critically, never really gave good explanations for what it even meant. So naturally it was totally ignorable.

Then one day I happened upon this https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/12/18/bruce-lee-artist-of...

That perspective on the meaning of self-esteem and its counterpart of Pride gives so much justification for the concern about it. It has also been extremely useful as a parent to explain the real value and meaning of self-esteem to my kids.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#355

Post by salt-thrower »

stevofolife wrote: post #323
salt-thrower wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very beautiful and interesting to me that Stoics and Buddhists arrived at very similar conclusions despite being thousands of miles apart and having little to no contact.

Seems like mainstream folks tend to give credits of life wisdom to Buddhism and Stoicism but let’s not forget the Bible also mentioned the same in the book of Luke: “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭17:33‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.17.33.NKJV

As others said, Buddhists and Stoics were earlier. Some Christian writings were definitely influenced by those lines of thought though, yes.

Speaking for myself, another reason I enjoy Buddhism and Stoicism is that they feel more like pure, distilled wisdom. Especially Zen Buddhism. Christian writings are filled with excessive moralizing and mythology, which enables all sorts of problems.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#356

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

salt-thrower wrote: post #279
certeoun wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of stoicism. If it's outside your control, don't bother too much. Face your challenges and do the best you can, being a better you.

It is very beautiful and interesting to me that Stoics and Buddhists arrived at very similar conclusions despite being thousands of miles apart and having little to no contact.

There was some interaction between Greece and India, and it's possible some thought from the Indian subcontinent may have influenced the founders of scepticism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism

While there isn't much direct evidence to support this theory, both philosophies have some ideas related to mindfulness that are too similar to me to be a coincidence.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#357

Post by confidantlake »

mehphp wrote: post #351
confidantlake wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have it and I love reading novels. Like I can't "see" your comment or any other comment but I understand what you are saying. Likewise I can't "see" novels but that doesn't mean I can't understand and find them interesting.

To be clear, I don't "see" comments like this. It's pretty specific to engaging content that is apt to be visualized. i.e. I don't tend to visualize books or passages that aren't as engaging to me.

For sure, I understand. Was more trying to say that it is not necessary to visualize comments to enjoy them. Likewise it is not necessary to visualize a book to enjoy it. "For sale, baby shoes, never worn." I don't see the shoes, and I don't see the advertisement but damn if it doesn't make me feel sad.

I can't quite describe how it works, but I still get something out of a visual description. If the author mentions a small red leather book and then later a large wooden book with a blue ribbon across it I get a different "sense" for lack of a better word. I have seen both things and know what they look like even if I can't form a visual picture in my mind while reading it. To be more precise I haven't actually seen a wooden book with a blue ribbon across it, but I have seen both of those items individually and know how it would look if they were combined. But I don't actually have a picture of it in my mind.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#358

Post by kaj_sotala »

ajkjk wrote: post #96

"How I found & fixed the root problem behind my depression and anxiety after 20+ years" by Kaj Sotala. It describes the concept of 'self-concept' and a, I guess, pseudo-treatment for addressing deep-set neurosis/anxiety caused by having one that is a little malformed. This post led (in a sort of roundabout way, hitting at a good time in my life and while I was already thinking in the direction of fixing this problem)…

Thank you for sharing. <3

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#359

Post by des1nderlase »

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp...

Can't find original blog post, by Roy Baumeister, but this were his thought while writing the book with sumirali title. Short writeup is even nicer and to-the-point condensed format. Connects, to me, very well biology, evolution, society (as a system). After reading this, I connected the dots for many behavior patterns and "social" programming.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#360

Post by geocar »

meowface wrote: post #349
geocar wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If so, you've never listened to a song and later had some sort of experience where something about that song stayed remnant in your mind? With listening? Never. I can remember the lyrics of songs, and I can remember (sometimes) the progression of notes, but no: nothing I would refer to as an “experience”. They might as well be written down. > you try to imagine the loud alarm of an alarm clock, do you feel like you…

>If not, could you explain why you’re giving your opinion? I'm not a researcher or a scientist of any kind. I know very little about aphantasia, and don't experience it myself or know anyone who does (besides one podcaster I listen to). I simply suspect that some percentage of people who report aphantasia may not actually have it, based on dozens of peoples' self-reports that I've read before. Subjective experiences…

> Are you able to hum a song you've heard before? If so, I think that could potentially require a kind of ability to represent the song in your mind

If I pay attention I can tell that a sound is higher or lower than another. I can also count. It often requires a lot of concentration (and many repeats) to hum a song I have heard.

> Are you able to think about a note with some pitch frequency and then about a note with a higher pitch frequency right afterwards?

Yes. I can also tell the names of tones (as in keys on a piano) in some cases, but it requires a lot of focus to do this quickly, and the tones usually have to be pretty simplistic or extremely rhythmic.

> If so, then what's happening when you're thinking about these pitches?

What do you mean? If you have ever played SIMON you have to memorise a sequence of red blue yellow and green lights. The repetition starts slowly and gets faster. Then it can become so fast it is overwhelming. Do you memorize the colours or the names of the colours? If you haven’t played it maybe you could look at a YouTube video and get the idea.

> it seemed like you were saying you didn't have an internal monologue

I said I can’t hear one.

> I simply suspect that some percentage of people who report aphantasia may not actually have it, based on dozens of peoples' self-reports that I've read before.

That’s not what I asked. I asked you why you gave your opinion, not why you have an opinion.

I have noticed people do this quite often, and I do not really know why. I wonder if you can sufficiently self-reflect to explain your thinking to me.

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