posted August 06, 2014 12:02 AM              

BUDDHA– There are two truths: the real and the seemingly real. Their connection is the negative emotions. On the path of the seemingly real, the emotions imprison us. On the path of the real, the emotions liberate us. There is a secret life to the emotions.

posted August 06, 2014 05:39 PM              

Positive reinforcement: Praise, flattery, adoration, attention, affection, gifts, superficial sympathy (crocodile tears), superficial charm, recognition, appreciation, intense sex, and declarations of once-in-a-lifetime love.

Intermittent reinforcement: This is a very effective manipulation tactic, one abusers use to great effect. Intermittent reinforcement occurs when your relationship goes from nonstop positive reinforcement to only getting attention, appreciation, praise, adoration, declarations of love, etc. once in a while, on a random basis. This will create a climate of doubt, fear and anxiety, while compelling you to persist

Negative reinforcement: The manipulator stops performing a negative behavior (such as giving you the silent treatment) when you comply with his demands.

Not allowing negative emotion: The victim is typically chastised for emotional behavior. The focus is put on the emotional upset itself, not the cause behind it

Indirect aggressive abuse: Name-calling is direct and obvious, but an underhanded way to make it much less obvious is to drop the angry tone of voice that usually accompanies it, and disguise the insult as teaching, helping, giving advice, or offering solutions.

Manipulators share intimate information about themselves, their lives and families early on to create a false sense of intimacy.

Triangulation:

Blaming the victim: This tactic is a powerful means of putting the victim on the defense while simultaneously masking the aggressive intent of the abuser.

The manipulator will make carefully chosen insinuating comments to evoke an uncomfortable emotional response or even several responses at once.

Empty words: The abuser can turn on the charm and tell you exactly what you want to hear: “I love you,” “you’re so special to me,” “you’re so important to me,” etc. The problem is they are just words, backed up by nothing.

Denying/ Invalidating reality: Invalidating distorts or undermines the victim’s perceptions of their world. Invalidating occurs when the abuser refuses or will not acknowledge reality.

Gaslighting: An especially frustrating manipulation tactic where you know you heard him say something or saw him do something but when you confront him, he simply denies it

Minimizing: The manipulator will tell you you’re making a big deal out of nothing or that you’re “exaggerating” when you confront him with something he’s done.

Withholding: Includes refusing to communicate, refusing to listen, and using emotional and/or physical withdrawal as punishment. This is commonly called the “silent treatment.”

Lying: It’s often difficult to know when someone’s lying, but psychopaths are pathological liars who will say anything to get what they want. You may notice they lie so much they can’t keep the details straight.

Projecting the Blame: Nothing is ever a psychopath’s fault, and he will always find some crafty way to find a scapegoat.

Diversion and Evasion: When you ask the manipulator a question, instead of answering it he may use diversion (steering the conversation to another topic) or evasion (giving an irrelevant, vague and often rambling response).

Selective forgetting: The manipulator pretends he forgot something important he once said. If you feel the need to use a tape recorder when speaking with someone, covert emotional manipulation is at play.

Refusing to take responsibility for his behavior, for the relationship or for your reactions to it. He somehow makes you responsible instead.

Attempts to turn the tables and make you look like the abuser: These skilled manipulators have an arsenal of tactics at their disposal, and they will be pushing as many buttons as possible to get you to lose control. They can inflict so much psychological warfare and make you suppress so much emotion that you can be backed into an emotional corner. When this happens, the intense frustration you feel, but are not allowed to express through normal communication, will cause you to blow up in a reaction of self-defense. Emotional reactions in self-defense to an abusive situation do not make you an abuser.

Brandishing Anger: The manipulator will put on an act of intense anger for the purpose of shocking you into submission. This is also called ‘Traumatic one-trial learning,’ because it will quickly train you to avoid confronting, upsetting or contradicting your abuser.

Diminishing and belittling your opinions and ideas either verbally or non-verbally, by using eye-rolls, scoffs, smug smiles, etc.

Putting you on the defensive: Most of the covert tactics listed here will put you on the defensive, meaning that they cause you to react in a defensive manner. These covert manipulation tactics trigger us to react emotionally instead of responding rationally.

posted August 06, 2014 06:24 PM            

However, I believe any mind-control I have experienced has come from the media, either from direct consumption/exposure, or through other people who have consumed/been exposed.

posted August 07, 2014 01:17 AM              

EMOTIONS

Fear: The message is that something needs to change. Anger: The message is to fight against problems.
Joy: The message is to remind us what is important. Sadness: The message is to connect us with those we love.
Acceptance: The message is to open our hearts. Disgust: The message is reject what is unhealthy. Anticipation: The message is to look forward and plan. Surprise: The message is to focus on new situations.

VIRTUES

1. Independence
2. Integrity
3.Honesty
4.Productiveness
5.Justice
6.Pride
7.Rationality a product of the above

VICES
1.insensibility
2.Force

posted August 07, 2014 05:13 AM            

So, how wisely one integrates the results of actions will determine future karma?

How then can the "wheel of karma" ever be escaped?

posted August 07, 2014 06:14 AM              

They have mouths, but they speak not:
eyes have they, but they see not
They have ears, but they hear not
noses have they, but they smell not
They have hands, but they handle not
feet have they, but they walk not
Heart have they, but they understandeth not
neither speak they through their throat.

Those with a higher degree of karmic programming are likened to being statues or stone hearted.When the seeds of karmic retribution is sowed into us and it fructifies,we are conditioned to no longer be able to see or understand the deplorable conditions of our fellow humans. We just turn a blind eye to all the despicable acts against humanity.We validate such acts by becoming souless robots.We treat them as the Scum of the Society! The most convenient answer to them would be-You deserve it! ITS NOT ABOUT WHAT YOU DESERVE.
It is never, ever, EVER because you deserved it.
As you sow, so shall you reap is a misnomer propagated by the lords of karma.

posted August 07, 2014 07:09 AM            

I see the apparent "soulessness" you speak of in many people.
People can stand back and allow many atrocities to happen - it took me a long time to understand this.

I now believe the root cause of this non-action is fear.

Living from the soul involves experiencing all facets of the human and spiritual experience,
if people live from a place of fear, they sever themselves from themselves, and from their humanity.

And thus we have the "ability" to remain unaffected by the suffering of others.

I don't think it is this simple though.
There are other reasons.

If we deny our own suffering (usually though numbing agents/behaviours, e.g. media, substances, inflexibility), then we are not disposed to detect any suffering - there is a detachment.

But also, the sensationalisation of violence and suffering in the media (think: torture porn, e.g., the "Saw" films) can desensitize us.
Of course, one would already have to be "running" from the truth, or at least have a fear of the dark side of reality, to be predisposed to desensitization I think.

In saying that, I tend to not fear dark often. I value reality above all, and yet, I do not have great faith in my ability to not be programmed by the media.
Hence there has not been a TV in my house for 10 years and I rarely read newspapers/magazines.

posted August 07, 2014 07:12 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by rajji:
Yes..there is a way to escape the wheel of karma and reincarnation, the explanation for which i will save for the end of the topic.
P.S it is essential to understand the working of karma in order to know how to expiate it...still there are a few relative truths of karma left out to be discussed(pondered upon).

---

posted August 07, 2014 09:28 AM              

Human being was created in gods image which means they have an innate ability to heal themselves of any wrongdoing. extrinsic motivation can be internalized by an individual if the task fits with their values and beliefs and therefore helps to fulfill their basic psychological needs. What’s more, you don’t have to prove your worthiness in order to deserve something good.Abolute truths such as morality ,rationality ,imagination, creativity etc teaches us to judge lees and believe more, condemn less and eulogise more.Moral validation is the only way to make mid course corrections to align the surreal with the real.

Moral-We should treat anything less than absolute proof or truth as innuendo at worst.

posted August 07, 2014 10:06 PM              

According to which retributive emotions are virtuous-since our weakness prevents us from retaliating directly our percied helplessness transforms into brooding resentment for those who lack power.This form of built up resentment is so dreadful that it ultimately poisons the soul by entertaining such emotions as cruelty, sadistic pleasure at the suffering of others.How vile can that get!

There is also another side to it,The science of earning good karma.Good being rewarded with good-ie
Anti Retributive emotions can also be non-virtuous
According to moore-A tendency to easily forgive criminals can indicate a lack of compassion for victims fo wrongdoing.It also can indicate an unwillingness to face our own revulsion at the wrong that was done.How very mean!
We invent excusing conditions for wrongdoers that we would never tolerate for ourselves because we cannot stand to acknowledge that there is such a thing as evil in this world! and Worst of all that is is not IN-HUMAN but a part of creatures not so different from ourselves!
self-deseption, indifference to others, cowardice are certainly not virtues!

posted August 08, 2014 05:54 AM            

What if things just happen? What if there is not much rhyme or reason in the way they happen too? Would that eff your whole worldveiw up so much that you couldn't cope? Or is that a possibility for you? Is your mind open enough to live in a world with no "karma"?

What if you thought what someone did was "bad', but it was actually "good" but your narrow mind didn't see it that way at the time. And you went and told all your friends that that person was going to have "bad karma"

posted August 08, 2014 06:07 AM            

What if you lived in a world without karma?

What then?