glad you found this funny richard :)

coming to a theater near you

opus! its brought us far more delight than any other models

thats a good assumption gordon! it has been a year since this happened. it took that long to feel reasonably comfortable sharing. and because of the time passed, i can be more certain when i talk about the changes it has brought to me life. it was a catalyst to many uptrends, including but not limited to daily meditation, reduced screen time, less anxiety/stress, less reactivity, more confidence, dedication to relationships, heightened awareness, etc. All of these had to be followed up with conscious efforts, but i would say this experience did make things easier. in that regard, it is similar to other near-death experiences i've heard people talk about. immediately after, life was weird for about two weeks, during which i spent hours every day reading anna karenina and finished. it was perhaps the most distraction-free and enjoyable reading experience i've had in my life.

I skimmed through the posts you linked. I find your quantitative approach to life fascinating. I can understand the doubt on whether it's a good use of your time. For me, I'd say meditation is much more tied to mystical experiences, and subjective life improvements follow. At some point I think I decided this is not something we rationally understand fully, though we may try. Now I am just letting it happen to me, if that makes sense, while recognizing the intellectual component is but a small subset

Yes, it is one of many traits, but I think it is often one of the most difficult, thus making it rare, and the rarity makes it more compelling. In my life I don't think I've genuinely met more than one or two people who truly embrace this. I myself certainly fail often haha.

re: #36, I don't know about you but I call this high-quality discourse

Valid. This point could've been better developed. I think what I am trying to get at are two dichotomies, 1) inherent vs external qualities (i.e. integrity vs having a big house) 2) baseline vs additive qualities (i.e. financial independence so it doesn't compromise my independence vs wealth so it can make my life better)

I do hope to write an essay on this because man is it difficult to describe in a few words. I've been meditating daily for a year now and it is such a stabilizing force in my life. It brings awareness and equanimity. I generally feel well equipped to deal with anything that happens in life with grace. Life is more enjoyable and suffering has greatly reduced. I find myself more able to love and receive love. I find the world beautiful. I sustain habits much better. My screen time is minimal (by minimal I mean 1-2 hours vs 4+ before). Meditation itself has also become a hobby, because the space I can tap into there is magical. The list goes on and on! 

Very cool! Thanks for sharing. Checking it out now

Thank you! I, too, had no idea before I asked for a takeout. I plan on doing thorough takeouts from all the big companies. They keep track of all kinds of random things and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Scary. However, it was reassuring somewhat that the things Apple claims to to be on device are actually on device. Health data, for example, was not part of the download.