All About You
Above all, do not lie to yourself. The person who lies to themself (and listens to their own lie) comes to a point that they can not distinguish the truth within them or around them and so loses all respect for themselves and for others. And—having no respect—they cease to love.
- Fydor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember
You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad that it was over
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
No you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know
(chorus)
In 2011 this song, by Gotye, Somebody That I Used To Know, quickly became an earworm grating on earbones. Walk Off The Earth's cover was less grating because my eyebones were entertained by the unique performance.
Since that time, I've found myself playing spot-the-narcissist frequently enough that, in 2021, I was awarded the Advanced Narcissist Hunter merit badge (a hand behind a back with two crossed fingers and a lighted gas lamp hanging over the wrist).
If you, dear reader, are struggling to understand (feigning confusion)—then, bless your black heart—you're the narcissist Dostoevsky and Gotye are describing.
more:
Feeling is the secret - Neville Goddard
Lay down. Get comfortable. Play this 40-minute audio book (watching the video is not needed and headphones are not needed).
If I were teaching an intermediate-level pass-fail course called: Conscious Awareness: Meditation versus Mindfulness versus Prayer this would be a foundational class. I would play the audio book in a classroom with everyone laying on a yoga mat (doors locked, lights off, phones put away) and then ask everyone to discuss. Students would be given a week to submit an essay detailing their perspectives. Just like many foundational classes, passing this class would be mandatory to enroll in more advanced classes.
Intermediate-level because there are some prerequisites. One needs to already know about consciousness, brain chemistry, physiology, religious philosophy, and meditation. Also, it is important to understand that the author adds quotes from the christian bible (as do other important philosophers) and why it is extremely valuable information none-the-less. In fact, it is crucially important to discuss the various biblical quotes in a non-religious context (e.g. the reason Goddard uses the term 'prayer' instead of the more appropriate term: 'meditation').
How to Begin, Middle, and End
If you don't have ten minutes to listen to this man's advice, now, today, then--whenever you learn that I died--find ten minutes at that point and listen to it. And take everything he says during this TED talk as if some asshole you once called by my name was claiming this was the one piece of advice I wish I had gotten earlier in my life and the one piece of advice I wish I had passed along more often. To you.
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