Category Archives: Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will

It’s All Chemistry, Isn’t It?

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Dave Pollard

This is #29 in a series of month-end reflections on the state of the world, and other things that come to mind, as I walk, hike, and explore in my local community. Chart above is my own invention, having studied the various … Continue reading →

Posted in How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Month-End Reflections, Our Culture / Ourselves | Leave a comment

Your Ikigai: A Self-Awareness Compass?

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dave Pollard

my synopsis of the some of the elements that might comprise one’s Ikigai; any misunderstandings about ikigai here are mine For those unfamiliar with the ancient Japanese concept and philosophy of ikigai, it is about the lifelong discovery, appreciation and … Continue reading →

Posted in How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Our Culture / Ourselves | 4 Comments

Childhood: Conditioned to Pretend to Know

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Dave Pollard

 New Yorker cartoon by the late Charles Barsotti When I was a young child, I would look at my parents and other adults interacting with each other, with a mixture of bewilderment and amazement. “Surely”, I thought to myself, “they … Continue reading →

Posted in How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Our Culture / Ourselves | 5 Comments

A Blameless Explanation of Why Everything is Falling Apart, for Schoolkids

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Dave Pollard

If I were invited to talk to a group of students (of any age) today, to explain why everything seems to be hopeless and falling apart, this is what I think I would tell them. When I was young and … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Our Culture / Ourselves | Leave a comment

The Crag and the Chasm

Posted on April 11, 2024 by Dave Pollard

Another annoying post about radical non-duality. But cool title, no? Dave’s four worldviews, 1951-???? Since I started listening to, and speaking with, the radical non-duality speakers shown on my blog’s right sidebar, eight years ago, I have started exploring the … Continue reading →

Posted in How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will | 5 Comments

Acceptance, Forgiveness, Gratitude

Posted on April 9, 2024 by Dave Pollard

Since I’ve come to the (tentative) conclusion that we have no free will (and that in fact there is no ‘self’ to have free will), it’s utterly changed the lens through which I see the world. I now see that … Continue reading →

Posted in Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Our Culture / Ourselves | 2 Comments

The Value of Therapy, When You Have No Free Will & No Self

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Dave Pollard

image by Layers on Pixabay (this is the same image Tim used to illustrate his post) I‘ve mentioned before that I battled severe depression and then debilitating anxiety for much of my life. Over the past decade or two, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Our Culture / Ourselves | 1 Comment

Always Wanting More

Posted on April 2, 2024 by Dave Pollard

Screen cap from a brilliant mashup of the top pop songs of 2008 by Dj Earworm that kinda touches on the subject of this post. In Robert Sapolsky’s 2017 book Behave (before he took on the subject of free will … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Our Culture / Ourselves | 7 Comments

Quack

Posted on March 30, 2024 by Dave Pollard

This is #28 in a series of month-end reflections on the state of the world, and other things that come to mind, as I walk, hike, and explore in my local community. mergansers in Bowen Island’s lagoon; my own photo I‘m sitting … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Month-End Reflections | 4 Comments

Pretzel Logic: If There’s No Free Will, There’s No Self

Posted on March 24, 2024 by Dave Pollard

image of human cortical neurons and glia from Zeiss Microscopy on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 When asked about things like whether we have free will, or agency, or consciousness, the answer you’ll get from radical non-duality speakers is that “it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Our Culture / Ourselves | 5 Comments