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I'm an addict

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Re: I'm an addict

#91

Post by treeman79 »

seti0Cha wrote: post #71
paskozdilar wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem I have with religion is the focus on "removing the doubt", which I strongly disagree with - doubting a god's existance is a major no-no in most popular religions. And as soon as you remove the doubt ban, you don't really have a religion anymore, but a philosophy. So I'd personally recommend philosophy to people, instead of religion. Bertrand Russell (also known for his mathematical work) is an excellent p…

That's only true on the folk-religion side of things. I can't speak to other faiths, but serious Christian thought has always engaged with doubt.

12 years of growing up in Christian schools. Doubt came up a lot. Depended on the speaker too. Many would talk about their struggles. Times when they got angry at God, or fell away. Or there reasoning on why God exists.

One constant teaching was that Christianity is not a religion. But about forming a relationship with God through Christ.

Re: I'm an addict

#92

Post by wccrawford »

cyphar wrote: post #21
artemonster wrote: post #9

This hits hard. I recently counted hours watched on YT (via history export) and OH MY GD, it averaged around 3 hours daily throught the year, for several years. I just imagined WHAT IF I have spent this amount of effort and time on ANYTHING else: playing an instrument, learning a new language, coding a side-project. The thought scared me so much, aka the difference between current me and "potential" me that I have ab…

I started learning Japanese about two years ago now and now all of the time I used to waste watching YouTube is spent watching YouTube in Japanese as language practice. It's still the same activity but is at least somewhat productive. I barely go on Hacker News too, since it feels like more of a waste of time ("I could be studying Japanese right now!").

Any particular recommendations for an intermediate Japanese learner?

Edit: Maybe "upper beginner" is a better fit. I dunno, self study is weird.

Re: I'm an addict

#93

Post by klik99 »

The broadest definition of addiction I've heard is "When you do something compulsively enough that it's affecting the rest of your life" - the implication being that everyone compulsively do things and that's fine but it's only really a problem when it damages your relationships, careers, happiness, etc. All brain stuff has a chemical component but chemical dependency/addiction is a particuarly dangerous subset of addiction, and not necessarily what I'm talking about here.

Many people here have the super power to focus on a problem relentlessly, it's kind of the trademark of the nerd stereotype - Addiction is the dark side of that superpower and one that I have to constantly keep in check. But I don't want to kill that superpower by squashing whatever thing I'm deep into at the moment, so I always use the litmus test - "Is this affecting the ability to keep my life in order?"

As long as there isn't a strong chemical component to whatever addiction you're trying to purge, a book like "Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg has a lot of practical ways to adjust your unconscious compulsions.

Re: I'm an addict

#94

Post by 4gotunameagain »

kanonieer wrote: post #79
4gotunameagain wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird approach to attack the substance of this sentence, since psychology is the most vague of sciences.

There's no substance in the sentence I quoted. That's what I pointed out. I haven't expressed any opinions regarding psychology. > since psychology is the most vague of sciences But since you make this claim, we can talk about it. So what's your advice? See religious scholars instead of board certified psychologists?

My advice is to keep an open mind to the possibility of someone having some level of wisdom without having an official degree™

And yes, I used the word wisdom on purpose :)

Re: I'm an addict

#95

Post by cies »

bowsamic wrote: post #66
SnowHill9902 wrote: post #23

Knowing that HN is generally against it, I say it anyway: I recommend religion and religious teachings which address this and many other daily worldly issues perfectly. Christianity and Judaism both have excellent resources. Religious scholars have actually been the best psychologists but are generally dismissed by non-believers. Edit: for those asking for specific recommendations. It’s always best to find your own p…

Buddhism also has a well developed psychological system that everyone seems to ignore

I truly think Buddhism has the best offer here on addictive behavior. Detachment is a main topic, their teaching can be consumed in "secular" way (with needed to believe in any unseen phenomena), the teaching does not place much outside of oneself.

Re: I'm an addict

#96

Post by christophilus »

paskozdilar wrote: post #56
SnowHill9902 wrote: post #23

Knowing that HN is generally against it, I say it anyway: I recommend religion and religious teachings which address this and many other daily worldly issues perfectly. Christianity and Judaism both have excellent resources. Religious scholars have actually been the best psychologists but are generally dismissed by non-believers. Edit: for those asking for specific recommendations. It’s always best to find your own p…

The problem I have with religion is the focus on "removing the doubt", which I strongly disagree with - doubting a god's existance is a major no-no in most popular religions. And as soon as you remove the doubt ban, you don't really have a religion anymore, but a philosophy. So I'd personally recommend philosophy to people, instead of religion. Bertrand Russell (also known for his mathematical work) is an excellent p…

That's kind of a strawman. Serious Catholic thought (John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Pope Benedict, etc) doesn't try to "remove the doubt" at all. I highly recommend Ratzinger / Benedict for modern text, and the great contemplatives for non-modern texts. They grapple with doubt and all other tricky subjects head on, and have a broad (and in my opinion accurate and subtle) view of the journey of life.

Re: I'm an addict

#97

Post by _gabe_ »

seti0Cha wrote: post #71
paskozdilar wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem I have with religion is the focus on "removing the doubt", which I strongly disagree with - doubting a god's existance is a major no-no in most popular religions. And as soon as you remove the doubt ban, you don't really have a religion anymore, but a philosophy. So I'd personally recommend philosophy to people, instead of religion. Bertrand Russell (also known for his mathematical work) is an excellent p…

That's only true on the folk-religion side of things. I can't speak to other faiths, but serious Christian thought has always engaged with doubt.

I was just about to say the same thing. Thomas is the first person who comes to mind. He said he wouldn't believe Jesus rose from the dead unless he saw him and his scars. Job is an entire book about wrestling with God. It's all about why would a good God allow all this suffering? All his friends tell him to just denounce his faith and move on with life. And several of the people throughout the Bible don't doubt that God exists, but they do doubt that He will do what He promises.

So there are definitely religions that encourage doubting whether God exists. Eventually you have to come to some sort of immovable mover. Whether that's the Big Bang or God, so there's nothing inherently illogical about believing in something that is timeless and has always existed.

Re: I'm an addict

#98

Post by AussieWog93 »

kanonieer wrote: post #48
SnowHill9902 wrote: post #23

Knowing that HN is generally against it, I say it anyway: I recommend religion and religious teachings which address this and many other daily worldly issues perfectly. Christianity and Judaism both have excellent resources. Religious scholars have actually been the best psychologists but are generally dismissed by non-believers. Edit: for those asking for specific recommendations. It’s always best to find your own p…

> Religious scholars have actually been the best psychologists Any sources that will back this claim? Oh wait, you don't need facts. Do you give this sort of unsolicited religious advice to everyone or do you specifically choose people who are troubled?

>Any sources that will back this claim? Oh wait, you don't need facts. Do you give this sort of unsolicited religious advice to everyone or do you specifically choose people who are troubled?

I mean, there's a fairly strong Darwinistic argument for the validity of certain religions. Very few belief systems have survived a hostile environment for anywhere near as long as the big religions.

If religious belief systems are "wrong" (in the sense of being useful for navigating the world, not in the sense of satisfying certain conditions of symbolic logic and reasoning), then why have these religions triumphed over secularism time and time again?

I'd still consider myself an atheist, but even then I'd be careful to be so dismissive of belief systems that have proven themselves over the course of millennia to be incredibly powerful, enlightening and enriching.

Re: I'm an addict

#99

Post by moolcool »

paskozdilar wrote: post #56
SnowHill9902 wrote: post #23

Knowing that HN is generally against it, I say it anyway: I recommend religion and religious teachings which address this and many other daily worldly issues perfectly. Christianity and Judaism both have excellent resources. Religious scholars have actually been the best psychologists but are generally dismissed by non-believers. Edit: for those asking for specific recommendations. It’s always best to find your own p…

The problem I have with religion is the focus on "removing the doubt", which I strongly disagree with - doubting a god's existance is a major no-no in most popular religions. And as soon as you remove the doubt ban, you don't really have a religion anymore, but a philosophy. So I'd personally recommend philosophy to people, instead of religion. Bertrand Russell (also known for his mathematical work) is an excellent p…

> The problem I have with religion is the focus on "removing the doubt", which I strongly disagree with

This isn't the case as often as you might think. Consider religions like Unitarianism, for example. You can also make a strong case that the doubt is baked foundationally into Christianity itself-- consider Zizek's readings of Chesterton and Hegel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEuY46p5yH4

> And as soon as you remove the doubt ban, you don't really have a religion anymore, but a philosophy

Lots of philosophers were/are extremely religious

Re: I'm an addict

#100

Post by ransom1538 »

klik99 wrote: post #93

The broadest definition of addiction I've heard is "When you do something compulsively enough that it's affecting the rest of your life" - the implication being that everyone compulsively do things and that's fine but it's only really a problem when it damages your relationships, careers, happiness, etc. All brain stuff has a chemical component but chemical dependency/addiction is a particuarly dangerous subset of ad…

"When you do something compulsively enough that it's affecting the rest of your life"

Similar to what I was told: "When you compulsively do something despite it having negative impacts on your life"

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