Many questions. Take your pick.

[Inexorable Username]

Question "1" (because 1 is what you make it):
Can you see your own face in your minds eye? Is it easier for you to envision the face of others? When you visualize faces, are there crucial details missing? Do they go into and out of focus? Can you only see sections at a time, or do you see faces as a whole?

Question 2-ish:
What logical traps do you have? Are there thought processes that lead you to complacency, because after going through what appears to be a valid philosophical frame of thought, you conclude by deciding that inaction or complacency or acceptance is all that can be done? Do you believe that is true? Or do you feel like these are the issues that you have failed to grow beyond?

Question category 3:
Who among you have performed self-experiments in visualization, memory, or learning? What did you do? What were the results? Was there any influential media you consumed along these lines that significantly affected the way you perceived the world?

(4) Do you think you would recognize the person you are today, if you were able to meet yourself 10 years ago wearing glasses, with hair dyed another color?

(5) At night, do you fall asleep by thinking thoughts in your head, or do you fall asleep by trying to clear your head of all thoughts?

(6) Have you ever felt a forbidden attraction? Have you, for instance, ever felt attracted to someone who was very old, or very fat, or mentally/physically handicapped - or have you ever questioned your sexuality? If you've had these sensations, do you feel like you were comfortable pursuing them mentally, or did the fear of the social mindset prevent you from being able to fantasize?

(7) Was there ever a philosophical question that you were never able to satisfactorily find an answer to?

(8) Do you still crave your parents approval?

(9) If given the choice, would you leave behind everyone and everything you know to be born again as the person you always wished you could have been?

We don't do 10 here, because that would be too normal.

 

[Cognisant]

Question "1" (because 1 is what you make it):
Can you see your own face in your minds eye? Is it easier for you to envision the face of others? When you visualize faces, are there crucial details missing? Do they go into and out of focus? Can you only see sections at a time, or do you see faces as a whole?

I don't visualize faces well, people's faces often surprise me when I notice some feature that I've been missing and it can take a while for me to notice if something has changed, I think I'm better at recognizing people by their shape and body language.

Question 2-ish:
What logical traps do you have? Are there thought processes that lead you to complacency, because after going through what appears to be a valid philosophical frame of thought, you conclude by deciding that inaction or complacency or acceptance is all that can be done? Do you believe that is true? Or do you feel like these are the issues that you have failed to grow beyond?

I find I need someone who is less rational to get me out of the rut of "playing it safe", I'm very good at avoiding situations that don't favor me but in doing so I miss a lot of opportunities, I find I'm at my best when someone else has gotten me into trouble and it's up to me to get us out of it.

(5) At night, do you fall asleep by thinking thoughts in your head, or do you fall asleep by trying to clear your head of all thoughts?

I don't clear my mind (that's impossible) rather I turn up the static, I release control and allow myself to be engulfed by nonsense until the components of my consciousness fall apart and I forget myself.

Conversely when I am awake I strive to be as consolidated as possible, that the less fractured I am the more capable I become, I spend a great deal of time considering my thoughts to rout out any inconsistencies, it's like going through task manager looking for for errant/superfluous processes. Consequently when I interact with someone who holds clear inconsistencies in their thoughts/beliefs I'm disappointed by their wasted potential, some theists are evidently incredibly intelligent given how they can still be intelligent in spite of their handicap.

 

[Cognisant]

(6) Have you ever felt a forbidden attraction? Have you, for instance, ever felt attracted to someone who was very old, or very fat, or mentally/physically handicapped - or have you ever questioned your sexuality? If you've had these sensations, do you feel like you were comfortable pursuing them mentally, or did the fear of the social mindset prevent you from being able to fantasize?

I'm disappointed that I'm not bisexual, in theory I could be physically intimate with another man so long as they're not inherently repugnant for some reason but I doubt I could bury my face in their crotch like I can with a woman.

Being made of meat bothers me, I have no problem with my sexuality, whether I had a male or female body I won't really care, I just don't want to be made of meat. There's a deep existential terror of how fragile and irreplaceable it is, that absolutely everything I'm doing (even breathing!) is damaging it. I feel like I'm rotting.

(7) Was there ever a philosophical question that you were never able to satisfactorily find an answer to?

No, although I do find the arbitrary nature of identity disappointing, that for example whether or not a clone of you is actually you really has more to do with whether it chooses to believe it is than anything else. Likewise the pursuit of immortality is somewhat futile, not because immortality itself is impossible or rather it is because the inherent sense of self, the ego, is an illusion. We are meat-automata that has been fooled by natural selection into thinking we aren't, it's a farce, a theater show for an absent audience.

(8) Do you still crave your parents approval?

No, though the lack of it still hurts me.

(9) If given the choice, would you leave behind everyone and everything you know to be born again as the person you always wished you could have been?

For a loose definition of "born" absolutely.

 

[Inexorable Username]

(6) Have you ever felt a forbidden attraction? Have you, for instance, ever felt attracted to someone who was very old, or very fat, or mentally/physically handicapped - or have you ever questioned your sexuality? If you've had these sensations, do you feel like you were comfortable pursuing them mentally, or did the fear of the social mindset prevent you from being able to fantasize?

I'm disappointed that I'm not bisexual, in theory I could be physically intimate with another man so long as they're not inherently repugnant for some reason but I doubt I could bury my face in their crotch like I can with a woman.

Being made of meat bothers me, I have no problem with my sexuality, whether I had a male or female body I won't really care, I just don't want to be made of meat. There's a deep existential terror of how fragile and irreplaceable it is, that absolutely everything I'm doing (even breathing!) is damaging it. I feel like I'm rotting.

(7) Was there ever a philosophical question that you were never able to satisfactorily find an answer to?

No, although I do find the arbitrary nature of identity disappointing, that for example whether or not a clone of you is actually you really has more to do with whether it chooses to believe it is than anything else. Likewise the pursuit of immortality is somewhat futile, not because immortality itself is impossible or rather it is because the inherent sense of self, the ego, is an illusion. We are meat-automata that has been fooled by natural selection into thinking we aren't, it's a farce, a theater show for an absent audience.

(8) Do you still crave your parents approval?

No, though the lack of it still hurts me.

(9) If given the choice, would you leave behind everyone and everything you know to be born again as the person you always wished you could have been?

For a loose definition of "born" absolutely.

Wow. You just scarred my brain I think. I never thought of people as meat. To be honest, that thought makes me hair stand on end.

Why though? Hmm...I think the “why” of being bothered by the meat perspective is more interesting than the perspective itself.

I’m actuality, we aren’t really meat. Meat is dead flesh and ours is living. Filets don’t cry out in pain when you cut them. In the same way, living meat does not rot.

That almost makes me wonder, though...would meat rot if you could keep a fresh supply of blood running through its veins? Hmm...

7) This feels like it touches on a “Who am I” philosophical crisis. If we are nothing more than meat, then indeed we have no identity, I would think.

What do we know, though, that confirms this to be the case?

It seems to me that, philosophically, you associate the “who” of you to be a thing which is bound by the body.

Perhaps it is not. Our bodies are essentially pieces of software (pun intended), that process input and produce output. Some of our input we know to come from our sensory observation of the world. Some of it we can be fairly certain comes from our brain’s processing of data.

However, some inputs...I feel like we have insufficient evidence to claim that they come from within the body, itself. It is possible - and there are some studies and beliefs in religious philosophies to support this notion - that some inputs assimilate with us without activating the senses.

Or else, we may have an additional sense we have not yet identified because the receptor for it is not readily apparent.

Feeling is like that in a way. The physical senses are easy to believe in as they are easy to simply see and experiment with. Feelings, however, are also a sense in a way - but the way they work is not biologically obvious.

People with high levels of empathy, it seems, can easily “feel” the feelings of others as if you were smelling a pie. Some can even experience physical sensations that mimic the physical sensation of others.

So that is a demonstration of a sort of “sense” or mechanic which processes stimuli, that we can not necessarily find a sole structure to attribute to.

It could be that there some of the stimuli we receive that surround sounds is likewise owing to a mechanism we possess that we do not understand.

Perhaps who “you” are is not defined within your meet. Maybe it is an aura that surrounds your being. In which case, your clone would certainly not be you.

It’s just a thought. It’s not going to be a popular one among the sorts of people that don’t have patience for suppositions like that one.

 

[Inexorable Username]

(6) Have you ever felt a forbidden attraction? Have you, for instance, ever felt attracted to someone who was very old, or very fat, or mentally/physically handicapped - or have you ever questioned your sexuality? If you've had these sensations, do you feel like you were comfortable pursuing them mentally, or did the fear of the social mindset prevent you from being able to fantasize?

I'm disappointed that I'm not bisexual, in theory I could be physically intimate with another man so long as they're not inherently repugnant for some reason but I doubt I could bury my face in their crotch like I can with a woman.

Being made of meat bothers me, I have no problem with my sexuality, whether I had a male or female body I won't really care, I just don't want to be made of meat. There's a deep existential terror of how fragile and irreplaceable it is, that absolutely everything I'm doing (even breathing!) is damaging it. I feel like I'm rotting.

(7) Was there ever a philosophical question that you were never able to satisfactorily find an answer to?

No, although I do find the arbitrary nature of identity disappointing, that for example whether or not a clone of you is actually you really has more to do with whether it chooses to believe it is than anything else. Likewise the pursuit of immortality is somewhat futile, not because immortality itself is impossible or rather it is because the inherent sense of self, the ego, is an illusion. We are meat-automata that has been fooled by natural selection into thinking we aren't, it's a farce, a theater show for an absent audience.

(8) Do you still crave your parents approval?

No, though the lack of it still hurts me.

(9) If given the choice, would you leave behind everyone and everything you know to be born again as the person you always wished you could have been?

For a loose definition of "born" absolutely.

It’s interesting that you distinguish between caring and hurting. Some might suggest that is repression.

I think I understand where you’re coming from, though. I feel like there are certain things I no longer care about, but would care about if I thought too much about them.

 

[Inexorable Username]

(1) I can’t see my own face, only other peoples faces. It bothers me that I can’t see my own face.

When I do see faces, minor details usually manifest, but go out of focus if I try to remember other details of the face. Sometimes I see a snapshot of the face as a whole, but it’s fleeting.

Faces are what I have the hardest time visualising. Objects are easier. Animals are very easy.

(4) I absolutely would not recognise myself. Not my face, not my ideology, not my behavior or my demeanor. I think I could have a three hour conversation with myself and never know it was the future me.

I think I would disagree a lot with myself! Lol. I think, though, that me back then would be intrigued by the me now if we talked for more than 30 mins or so. I think the now me would think the then me was cute but naive. I think I would tell her to take it easy - not try so hard. I think she would think I was lazy for that XD ...wow what a thought.

(5) I fall asleep thinking thoughts. Every once in a while a do the “don’t think anything” sleeping thing...but it’s usually when I’m depressed for some reason and I’m afraid where my thoughts will lead me.

Usually I play movies in my mind. Sometimes I envision having a deep conversation with a sexy guy XD
...oh god. Embarrassing confessions!

Sometimes I try to envision problems or process something philosophical. Sometimes I try to see myself in strange places or strange situations.

Other times I’m boring and I just think of the things K have to do when I get up.

(7) Like you, Cog, I do wish I could have had a different sexuality - but frankly, I wish I just could have been a straight up lesbian. I don’t see a lot of happy, fulfilled Male x Female couples. They all seem to be somewhat miserable. But I feel like I’ve seen a few happy gay couples. I feel like the sexes just understand and empathise with their own sex so much better. I think it makes things better in the bedroom as well.

I definitely think I would have been better off as a lesbian. Even given the social back flack of it. Obviously, that’s not to try to pretend I know anything about what it’s like to experience that - and if it had been any other day and age I wouldn’t have wanted that for myself. But these days there’s at least a community for LGBT, and I feel like my friends and family would have adjusted. The updraft of it all is that I seriously doubt I would have had such terrible relationships. But the downside is that I probably would have never found very many, if any partners to be with. I don’t connect as easily with women.

When I was a little kid I had a crush on Obi-Wan Kenobe or however you spell it XD
That was kind of “taboo”. I told that to some other girls and they laughed at me because he was so old.

Age has never really bothered me much though. Not my age, or anyone else’s. Age is at the bottom of the list of things that define a person to me. I don’t know why it’s always been a non-issue for me. Just is, I guess. I’m also just not disgusted by many things. Wrinkles don’t disgust me, fat doesn’t disgust me, strange facial features don’t disgust me....

The only exceptions I think would be unibrows, bad teeth, or eyes that are too close together or too far apart. Even then, it’s not like i really focus on those things or actively think about them. But they make a person’s face less attractive to me.

Anyways, I suppose for that reason, it’s hard for me to think of any kind of attraction as being something that is “taboo” because there just aren’t many things that seem...I guess...wrong to be attracted to, in my mind. Or something.

A lesbian girl once had a crush on me. She was so cute - I definitely found her to be attractive looking. She also just had a really cool personality and she was so much fun to be around. She was very boyish and happy. I felt really bad when she told me she liked me. Truth is - I liked her too, but it seems cruel to screw with someone who likes you when you know you can’t really envision yourself being with them. I guess if I’d been a more heartless person I could have led her on to see if any feelings developed on my end...but I couldn’t do that to someone I like.

(8) I still crave my parents approval. I probably always will.

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

(6) Have you ever felt a forbidden attraction? Have you, for instance, ever felt attracted to someone who was very old, or very fat, or mentally/physically handicapped - or have you ever questioned your sexuality? If you've had these sensations, do you feel like you were comfortable pursuing them mentally, or did the fear of the social mindset prevent you from being able to fantasize?

I absolutely LOVE slightly older women, like 35-45. They rock. I pursue that stuff mentally with the utmost regularity

 

[Inexorable Username]

(6) Have you ever felt a forbidden attraction? Have you, for instance, ever felt attracted to someone who was very old, or very fat, or mentally/physically handicapped - or have you ever questioned your sexuality? If you've had these sensations, do you feel like you were comfortable pursuing them mentally, or did the fear of the social mindset prevent you from being able to fantasize?

I absolutely LOVE slightly older women, like 35-45. They rock. I pursue that stuff mentally with the utmost regularity

What do you like about older women?

 

[Rebis]

Question "1" (because 1 is what you make it):
Can you see your own face in your minds eye? Is it easier for you to envision the face of others? When you visualize faces, are there crucial details missing? Do they go into and out of focus? Can you only see sections at a time, or do you see faces as a whole?

Yeah but there's different versions of me based on my mood. Most are based on real-life photos of me or a memory of what I looked like in a mirror at a particular time.

Question 2-ish:
What logical traps do you have? Are there thought processes that lead you to complacency, because after going through what appears to be a valid philosophical frame of thought, you conclude by deciding that inaction or complacency or acceptance is all that can be done? Do you believe that is true? Or do you feel like these are the issues that you have failed to grow beyond?

Not particularly a trap but an unconscious driver to seek complex people. My brain just fires up in so many ways and I pretty much change in an instant. I feel that's who I truly am and anything else is a lesser-than state. I'm like a kid who develops an instantenous affinity for chocolate cake. This has it's downsites, I can become so distant from others that I can barely express myself. Or perhaps it's not a lack of expression but a lack of people that can interpet it on a similar depth. It has been a long time since I could answer the question "Are you alright?", to answer that question it requires me to go through so many tangents that I see it as a pointless task.

Question category 3:
Who among you have performed self-experiments in visualization, memory, or learning? What did you do? What were the results? Was there any influential media you consumed along these lines that significantly affected the way you perceived the world?

A lot of cyclical habits. Experimenting is pretty much all I do.

(4) Do you think you would recognize the person you are today, if you were able to meet yourself 10 years ago wearing glasses, with hair dyed another color?

I would recognise him but he would not recognise me.

(5) At night, do you fall asleep by thinking thoughts in your head, or do you fall asleep by trying to clear your head of all thoughts?

The latter. A lifelong problem of dreams, lucid dreaming: every type of dream. This is a result of the conscious and the unconscious assimilating. Thinking while you're going to sleep, thinking while you're in the middle of a dream. This disruption unionizing dream states and real-life states is a product of over-thinking. Clearing your head is better if you want to sleep properly.

(6) Have you ever felt a forbidden attraction? Have you, for instance, ever felt attracted to someone who was very old, or very fat, or mentally/physically handicapped - or have you ever questioned your sexuality? If you've had these sensations, do you feel like you were comfortable pursuing them mentally, or did the fear of the social mindset prevent you from being able to fantasize?

A strange question for me. In some ways yes but not because I fear reprecussions. Rather, I decide to run face-first into what can only be described as "trouble", people's negative reactions to people/events to me tell a lack of understanding of the said person/event. No one is purely evil, few are creatures of habitual negativity. If you hate/dislike a certain person/behaviour it shows me you have put feelings over thought. Feelings don't contribute to understanding. Typically, people that feel strongly negative emotions are usually into opposition of people who're not feeling in the same way. They're different, that's why they're defined as troubling.

(7) Was there ever a philosophical question that you were never able to satisfactorily find an answer to?

Some concepts are purely metaphysical which don't garner any practical utility.
The more they're grounded in abstract concepts the less we're able to meet a mutual understanding, which inhibits from talking about a concept which isn't concrete. If I state my opinion based on an interpretation, they can reject my opinion because it doesn't match with their perception of the concept. We're fighting invisible ghosts that have no tangible existence.

(8) Do you still crave your parents approval?

Nope. I'm not sure I sought approval but I sought them to stop thinking I was a waste. This is a pretty universal dislike: people looking down on me. I had problems in the past coming to terms when people slapped a lot of presumptions onto me and when I shattered their believes they started to see me in a positive light. Don't define people as you'll never know more about them than they will themselves, unless they're not the thinking type. Anyways, I think it's the greatest insult as an introvert and a thinker for people to define you so easily with such confidence in their judgement.

(9) If given the choice, would you leave behind everyone and everything you know to be born again as the person you always wished you could have been?

I don't think so. I've been in the slums in so many ways and I've risen out of them. I think I stand in the middle of disparate groups of people in some ways, it gives me a unique perspective on life. If I wanted to live a life separate from that suffering it would make my life meaningless. Struggling is a pre-condition and an existential truth to reality. The life we'd want to reborn as would have it's unique struggles, same as any other life. I've experienced a lot more of the human psyche than others, it's a great aid in understand others.

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

(6) Have you ever felt a forbidden attraction? Have you, for instance, ever felt attracted to someone who was very old, or very fat, or mentally/physically handicapped - or have you ever questioned your sexuality? If you've had these sensations, do you feel like you were comfortable pursuing them mentally, or did the fear of the social mindset prevent you from being able to fantasize?

I absolutely LOVE slightly older women, like 35-45. They rock. I pursue that stuff mentally with the utmost regularity

What do you like about older women?

well first of all I think they look good. But also less insecurities, more personality.

 

[BurnedOut]

Question "1" (because 1 is what you make it):
Can you see your own face in your minds eye? Is it easier for you to envision the face of others? When you visualize faces, are there crucial details missing? Do they go into and out of focus? Can you only see sections at a time, or do you see faces as a whole?

I have aphantasia

Question 2-ish:
What logical traps do you have? Are there thought processes that lead you to complacency, because after going through what appears to be a valid philosophical frame of thought, you conclude by deciding that inaction or complacency or acceptance is all that can be done? Do you believe that is true? Or do you feel like these are the issues that you have failed to grow beyond?

The logical trap wherein I keep falling is that I overanalyze the logic and use too much inductive reasoning. Complacency arrives when I decide to simply read up more on the existing literature on that particular thing. In the real world, I start gathering more information.

(5) At night, do you fall asleep by thinking thoughts in your head, or do you fall asleep by trying to clear your head of all thoughts?

Sometimes, I think of my imperfections and past mistakes. I just wallow all that and go to sleep. Wallowing is an exhausting activity too.

Most of the times, I fall asleep imagining something fantastical in nature. Being a zombie apocalypse survivor, playing my favourite songs in my living room with futuristic effects such as holograms, neon lights with a high degree of confounding virtual reality.

(6) Have you ever felt a forbidden attraction? Have you, for instance, ever felt attracted to someone who was very old, or very fat, or mentally/physically handicapped - or have you ever questioned your sexuality? If you've had these sensations, do you feel like you were comfortable pursuing them mentally, or did the fear of the social mindset prevent you from being able to fantasize?

When I was at my nadir, every fucked up and beat up human seemed rational to me. I was enchanted by the vilest behaviors.

(7) Was there ever a philosophical question that you were never able to satisfactorily find an answer to?

Why am I alive ?

(8) Do you still crave your parents approval?

I am usually a 2 year old child when my family members are around.

(9) If given the choice, would you leave behind everyone and everything you know to be born again as the person you always wished you could have been?

I would not want to. Otherwise, I would not be what I am right now.

 

[Drvladivostok]

Question "1" (because 1 is what you make it):
Can you see your own face in your minds eye? Is it easier for you to envision the face of others? When you visualize faces, are there crucial details missing? Do they go into and out of focus? Can you only see sections at a time, or do you see faces as a whole?

I seem to suffer from chronic manipulative daydreaming, and is able to manufacture very vivid images in my head with great detail, sometimes I get engrossed in my own thought hours on end.

Question 2-ish:
What logical traps do you have? Are there thought processes that lead you to complacency, because after going through what appears to be a valid philosophical frame of thought, you conclude by deciding that inaction or complacency or acceptance is all that can be done? Do you believe that is true? Or do you feel like these are the issues that you have failed to grow beyond?

Seem like 2 different questions, Logical trap; overanalyzing a certain aspect of an argument without looking at other more trivial part, I like to call it brain tunnel vision.
Complacency comes from the latter, it always irritates me I can only digest a certain bandwidth of thought process limited to my cognitive ability, and some conclusion seem very unsatisfying.

(5) At night, do you fall asleep by thinking thoughts in your head, or do you fall asleep by trying to clear your head of all thoughts?

Overthinking has been the main source of my sleeping problems, I try my best to clear my head from any thought. which is very difficult, so sometimes I try to 'exhaust' my brain with trivial thought like counting sheep; the most I've reach is about 900 sheep.

(9) If given the choice, would you leave behind everyone and everything you know to be born again as the person you always wished you could have been?

In a heartbeat.

 

[Black Rose]

Question "1" (because 1 is what you make it):
Can you see your own face in your minds eye? Is it easier for you to envision the face of others? When you visualize faces, are there crucial details missing? Do they go into and out of focus? Can you only see sections at a time, or do you see faces as a whole?

No, I have aphantasia.

Question 2-ish:
What logical traps do you have? Are there thought processes that lead you to complacency, because after going through what appears to be a valid philosophical frame of thought, you conclude by deciding that inaction or complacency or acceptance is all that can be done? Do you believe that is true? Or do you feel like these are the issues that you have failed to grow beyond?

Determinism. I know it is true but I cannot get around the feeling of being a free agent. The ego has everything happen to it yet feels it is all free to act. I conclude that the entire universe is free, that way freedom is on all levels. Nothing is stopping me from doing anything I wish to accept myself. An object in motion will stay in motion accept when acted upon by an outside force. I define freedom as knowing the consequences of one's actions. The will seem free in that way. That is al I need.

I know I am not free yet how can I know this without experiencing freedom to contrast this unfreedom. a paradox. Freedom all the way up vs determinism all the way down.

Question category 3:
Who among you have performed self-experiments in visualization, memory, or learning? What did you do? What were the results? Was there any influential media you consumed along these lines that significantly affected the way you perceived the world?

I try to increase cognitive control by inhibiting impulses and becoming aware of my ability to act.

I also try and increase my perceptions to be highly dense in neural connections. I pay attention so that I hear more and see more.

(4) Do you think you would recognize the person you are today, if you were able to meet yourself 10 years ago wearing glasses, with hair dyed another color?

Probably

(5) At night, do you fall asleep by thinking thoughts in your head, or do you fall asleep by trying to clear your head of all thoughts?

Thinking thoughts in my head.

(6) Have you ever felt a forbidden attraction? Have you, for instance, ever felt attracted to someone who was very old, or very fat, or mentally/physically handicapped - or have you ever questioned your sexuality? If you've had these sensations, do you feel like you were comfortable pursuing them mentally, or did the fear of the social mindset prevent you from being able to fantasize?

No

(7) Was there ever a philosophical question that you were never able to satisfactorily find an answer to?

The hard problem of consciousness.

(8) Do you still crave your parents approval?

I wish my mom was equal to me. She is unable to give me mentorship.

(9) If given the choice, would you leave behind everyone and everything you know to be born again as the person you always wished you could have been?

No.
I want to preserve my character.

We don't do 10 here, because that would be too normal.