And now when that kid grows up, it and the whole world get to see when their life changed forever.

>> ^kceaton1:

>> ^ant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhEOa82KL_c for the split screens.
I still need to see this movie.

It's a movie that won't disappoint, so make sure you do see it! Defiantly, one of Martin Scorsese's great films and that is saying something.
The "magic" tag helps define the feeling your left with after seeing this film so its use is well used here, for many reasons well deserved and earned...


Personally, I found it to be HUGELY overrated. I really came away from it going 'meh, it was ok'.

* I really disliked the forced colour palette of teal and orange
* I disliked that it was set in France, and yet everyone spoke English
* I found the story just basic fare, with just the fact that it was saying how life changing and wondrous film was being the thing which probably made those in the industry think it was the best thing in the world because it made their profession seem more important than it was.
* I found the humour (especially that of Sasha Baron Cohen's character) to be pretty low level slapstick.

I didn't hate it, but it's not a film I would chose to watch again. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if it weren't so hyped as being the second coming of christ.

When I speak of ecstasy, I'm not talking about a sense of awe or wonder in the presence of natural beauty or a particularly moving passage in a piece of literature. There is, of course, no religious barrier to experiences of that sort. What I'm talking about is ek stasis, standing outside yourself. The Greeks originally used this term to speak about the powerful trances that would come upon the worshipers of Dionysos at their holy revels.

When I say "ecstasy," then, I'm talking about visions of gods and angels. I'm talking about howling to the bowels of the earth to dredge up demons and bend them to your will. Or alternatively, quiet sitting, focusing the mind on only the tip of your nose for an hour at a time, until a vision of the Unconquered Sun comes on you and explodes your world. The kind of experience that causes you to walk around for the next week as if the blood in your veins has been turned into holy wine. I'm talking about experiences that are life changing, help you to break bad habits and come to epiphanies.

Literal belief in these things is not necessarily key. But our brains need a hook to plug into this transcendence. Very few of us are able to do it without some kind of religious approach. And, of course, literal belief can sometimes be quite dangerous, if the belief is not just wrong, but demands harmful action--the Pentecostals who literally demonize those who disagree with them, for instance.

So we're not just talking about metaphor here. Non-literal interpretation by no means implies metaphorical interpretation, in the sense of the metaphor as a literary device.

*life-changing-experience

Great video... Good summary of the current view forward.

However, historically, doomsday predictions appear totally accurate until a lateral change makes it all irrelevant.

We definitely can't continue a profit based industrialized society - but that doesn't mean we all resort to a pre-industrialized subsistence that the hipsters are dying for.

War, Climate change, Disease, Civil uprising... who knows. Not a new power source or life style change - but a new era. Something big and unpredictable and uncontrollable. People will probably die and we'll all see our way of life change. But i can almost guarantee riding a bike and growing lettuce and tomatoes in your backyard isn't going to help.

>> ^DuoJet:

This is total, f cking, bullsh t. I tried a number of different medications before I found the right one for me. Some of the medications I tried did nothing, some caused unwanted side effects, only one got me where I wanted to be.
For me the difference has not been modest, but life-changing.
Friends have described the similar experiences.
Do not stop taking your anti-depressants based on this report.


My experience is similar to yours but let us not dismiss these findings just because they are not what we want to hear.

Assuming these findings are correct for a moment, it could be that you and I are the sort of people who genuinely benefit from the drugs whereas the vast majority of people who are given the drugs are not and are merely benefiting from placebo.

That's great that you found a medication that works. Really, I mean that. I'm a big fan of "whatever works" when it comes to mental health -- although there are some extremely unethical goings on with pharmaceutical companies and the FDA, readily spelled out in this brief piece. I especially like that the FDA man has a fundamental misunderstanding of basic statistics -- and then said it was basic statistics. Facepalm!

Data are data, and anecdotes are anecdotes. And with anecdotes, there is a distinct lack of control over extraneous variables.

Also, at the end of the report, and in the companion piece, they state explicitly that you should not stop taking your anti-depressants.

I encourage you to look further into this story and the science behind it, rather than dismissing it simply because it doesn't match your experience.

>> ^DuoJet:

This is total, f cking, bullsh t. I tried a number of different medications before I found the right one for me. Some of the medications I tried did nothing, some caused unwanted side effects, only one got me where I wanted to be.
For me the difference has not been modest, but life-changing.
Friends have described the similar experiences.
Do not stop taking your anti-depressants based on this report.

This is total, f*cking, bullsh*t. I tried a number of different medications before I found the right one for me. Some of the medications I tried did nothing, some caused unwanted side effects, only one got me where I wanted to be.

For me the difference has not been modest, but life-changing.

Friends have described the similar experiences.

Do not stop taking your anti-depressants based on this report.

what amazes me is how many techies, artists and engineers - creative minds from all over the world (and especially silicon valley, sf, portland) converge on this place. the ideas that flow from this event are incredible, life changing, and benefit humanity.
so many people, while they are cursing the hippies and typing on their Macbooks, should really get a clue.

the only thing burning man org really does is create a place for creative expression. creative possibilities. then it just goes. and goes and goes.
imho, more countries should do this.

we are of course, dangerous to the establishment.

*promote this life changing child bearing music.

>> ^marbles:

Wow. Dawkins embracing infanticide. Good find @shinyblurry.
However, you should acknowledge that "God" in the Old Testament was also a fan of infanticide. And "Godly" people also embraced it. Did the value of human life change from then to now?
You should be questioning the morality of the Bible's God and why you must depend on God's "inspired" word instead of God himself.
Wish I could upvote half a comment.

Who do you say God is, and why don't you think Gods word is inspired?

>> ^marbles:
Wow. Dawkins embracing infanticide. Good find @shinyblurry.
However, you should acknowledge that "God" in the Old Testament was also a fan of infanticide. And "Godly" people also embraced it. Did the value of human life change from then to now?
You should be questioning the morality of the Bible's God and why you must depend on God's "inspired" word instead of God himself.

Wow. Dawkins embracing infanticide. Good find @shinyblurry.

However, you should acknowledge that "God" in the Old Testament was also a fan of infanticide. And "Godly" people also embraced it. Did the value of human life change from then to now?

You should be questioning the morality of the Bible's God and why you must depend on God's "inspired" word instead of God himself.

This is so awesome. The tubes may be full of idiotic and egocentric douchebags, videos of death and suffering, and numberless cute fuzzy animals, but then you also get the occasional video of genuine, life-changing moments that reconcile you with humanity. Thank you so much for this find @eric3579, I will be smiling large and wide all day!

I had sympathy for him, up until the end.


Buying gold is not the answer, if you feel like he does, educate yourself, maybe start with this life changing film:

http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/