Syd's bird's-eye-view log [Discussion]

syd · 28 February 2026 14:48

Thanks. It represents a combination of two of my favourite play activities—hacking & swimming—being enjoyed as a naive persona^[1] after ceasing^[2] to believe in, via having first successfully “empowered” to be^[3], the MSC^[4].

See “the forgotten naive part of ‘me’ (the one prior to having experienced all hurt)” in footnotes 2 & 3 of Syd's bird's-eye-view log - which naive persona, when fully and unreservedly allowed, results in “utterly spontaneous (i.e., unplanned) interactions with people” such that “everyone’s fascinating in the moment”. ↩︎
See “no longer believing in” in Syd's bird's-eye-view log ↩︎
See “staying with → no longer serious” and “[not] ‘fighting’ it → [not being] serious” in Syd's bird's-eye-view log ↩︎
See “marginalized scared child” in footnotes 2 & 3 of Syd's bird's-eye-view log ↩︎

Andrew · 28 February 2026 14:53

Awesome, I like the concept and some brief experiences of “hacking “ and many extensive experiences of swimming!

I like how you are able to “hack” and enjoy it the way you do. Very cool!

Andrew · 28 February 2026 14:54

Andrew · 28 February 2026 14:55

My most favourite pastime is comedy. Hehe

syd · 1 March 2026 12:40

Oblique reference to post #1, presented as a direct reply for readability in future:

VINEETO: [You are] presently on ‘Cloud Nine’ (link), an altered state of profound detachment, due to [your] extended Vipassana training. [You] presently [do] not reside where mere mortals live (link).

syd · 1 March 2026 15:12

It seems the diagnosis of ‘hynomania’ may be a little bit premature - as only three, out of the “At least four consecutive days” (link), have passed so far since resurrecting (and, more importantly, with a clear knowledge of the ‘how’) naiveté. And since I seem to have, at most, only one day left, I might as well publish the draft I’ve been refining to describe my current ongoing experience in the last three days (~80% of time, ebb’ing and flow’ing) before this purportedly Vipassana-induced hynomania leaves the scene.

On a Haply Occasion in the Coffee Shop

For instance, there is this vivid immediacy of engaging with a laptop computer, the fingers nimbly traversing the trackpad, the eyes absorbed in the fluid shifting of windows across the screen, and the rhythmic percussion of typing away at the keyboard (by virtue of engaging in my favoured play-activities of hacking and pottering around the internet, reading this or that), while seated in the pleasant ambiance of a local coffee shop.

With the raw affective energy dynamically enabled for one purpose and one purpose alone, channelled^[1] directly into the sheer thrill of doing that which is already happening, the eyes are wide-open to the vivid visual delights of the computer screen. Whether it be the perusal of sundry texts or the mental machinery behind the code unfolding, one is drawn inexorably closer to the sheer magic of the brain in operation. These so-called mundane tasks thusly become intimately fascinating, being experienced with more of a heightened, immersive, and immediate awareness of them as they are happening.

This intense fascination thusly engendered, along with the sensory closeness by-now ensuing more, soon segues into a delicate intimacy with the entire room, which is flowering as this luscious richness now opening up. The yellow-lit ambiance of the café takes on a brilliant character; the visual acuity is markedly increased, and out of this splendid exquisiteness this excellent state of affairs, where the habitual separation is so wondrously diminished, is oh-so-sweetly manifesting in all its wondrous, environmental scope.

Looking up over the rim of the laptop screen, gently gazing into the bustling café, there is the mutual recognition of fellow travellers in this (normally) faraway land where the grip of psychological time has been so wondrously loosened, whether it be a middle-aged man intent upon his e-ink tablet, a young man likewise occupied with paper and ink, a family with two dogs chatting in the corner near the window, or the two baristas appearing so very happy and calm, thusly leaving one fully here in this vivid immediacy.^[2] There is a profound revelling in being this forgotten, naive part of ‘me’ (the one prior to having experienced all hurt and thus prior to all the defensive personae), and this very appreciation, of being as a child again, unburdened by adult personae, only serves to magnify the sheer enjoyment of the moment and to further reinforce this very naive way of being. Through these freshly naive eyes, everyone, including oneself, is equally fascinating.^[3]

For here, where the habitual separation has so felicitously receded, both hurting and being hurt are far removed; thusly here is the environment ever with me, pervasive and largely benign, just as it is ever the same with me for it.

There is a marked contentment here, having little need for anything or anyone, for one is so wondrously out-in-the-open and in marked exposure to the world about, with so very little left to hide. This is all that is wanted in life, to be naïve through and through and to unreservedly enjoy this only moment of being alive. With a very pleasant, unforced demeanour,^[4] I can no longer pretend, upon any spontaneous association hence, to again be someone I am not as this freshly naive openness has left no room for the adult persona’s habitual duplicity.

Nary a word needs to be expressed to the room of this most precious revelation, as this very exposure is speaking for itself in a language of its own. An older man walks by, a young woman orders a drink, and a completely unplanned, spontaneous smile is exchanged.

She asks, instead, if the chair next to me is taken.

By the usual run of things, the adult persona is on guard hereabouts, subtly attempting not to be distracted by the females walking past, and filtering the room through sophisticated, protective, and sexualised layers. The instinctual passions, such as the biological drive of lust, are typically frittered away and squandered upon fantasies, narratives, expectations, or stratagems (and all such burdensome psychological movements navigating psychological time), however, having already ceased to fight this dynamic (having realised that fighting it only ever rendered it ‘serious’), and with the belief in the at-core marginalised scared child-identity having already evaporated, one instead employs the developed knack to instantly ‘arrive here’ (what is actually happening) wherein the raw energy of the libido, whilst still-born in its biological intent, segues seamlessly into aesthetical enjoyment, whereupon the habitual, predator-like focus eases back into a more wide-eyed partaking in all that happens, thusly allowing the affective energy to be felicitously channelled (which is to say, dynamically enabled rather than being repressively “declined” as a robotic, unfeeling persona might otherwise sudorifically attempt). ↩︎
Because the instinctual passion has been successfully channelled into this felicitous immersion, the women going about their day are no longer ‘distractions’ to be managed, nor objects of an adult sexual layer to be ‘possessed’. To be carried away by such instinctual passions, such as by attempting to ‘possess’ another, is to be instantly swept out of the immediacy of the actual environment and plunged back into the burdensome navigation of psychological time. ↩︎
This very quality of experiencing has so felicitously informed my social interactions, as evidenced by a recent haply occasion during a gathering with some French students, occurring whilst playing a board game and partaking in the simple delight of some pork rinds, where there was no longer any habitual urge to ‘think too much’ during those naturally occurring lulls in the conversation, nor any planning of what to say, nor even the urge to say anything at all. Instead, with the internal conversation having been so wondrously quietened, one found that these fellow human beings were not in the least bit boring; rather, it was with a complete ease that one could just be here, fully present and unreservedly engaged in the simple business of being with others. ↩︎
The facial muscles are no longer held in their habitual grip; the rigid visage (the ‘poker face’ put on to pretend being unaffected, for instance) has given way to this actual ease. ↩︎

Vineeto · 3 March 2026 06:27

Hi all,

(In response to “syds-birds-eye-view-log-discussion/1207/6”)

Despite the author’s assurance that he “resurrected … naiveté” in order not to qualify for the clinical descriptions of Hypomania his demonstration of such ‘naiveté’ is so fake and so laboriously manufactured, whilst heavily leaning on Richard’s own breathtaking description of a childhood PCE (Richard, Selected Correspondence, Intimacy) that anyone can smell the hoax a mile away, or, to say it another way, “a squirrel would see through this guy”, to use one of Geoffrey’s brilliant phrases. Just look at the last sentence in Richard’s story and the one this author used, quite out of context in his fantasy story …

If you need more evidence, he was only recently bragging that one of his two most favourite hobbies is “hacking” (“two of my favourite play activities – hacking” link) and it’s not the first time he has done it with material of the AFT (Director’s Correspondence, A Matter of Style).

This is just so nobody is under the illusion that this most laborious and elaborate (ha, “refined”) construct of imagination, with liberal use of Richard’s words and style, is not the same as a sterling report of a genuine description of naiveté or a PCE. All this fantasy story is useful for, is as an example for everyone to learn to distinguish between what is fake and what is genuine, since there were other people on this forum already, who were under the (temporary) illusion/ delusion that they were something they were not.

It is actually quite hilarious – and to use this obvious fantasy story to prove the absence of hypomania … lol.

But perhaps it is not hypomania but deliberate misdirection – but then he can’t even claim ameliorating circumstances for “action with deception aforethought” …

What do they say? When you are in a hole don’t dig deeper.

Oh what tangled web they weave … (Richard, List D, Syd, #1)

Cheers Vineeto

Kub933 · 3 March 2026 10:17

To comment on all this a little too, there is a famous BJJ coach who said - Don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do (in this case what they are ‘being’), this was in reference to studying high level grappling, what actually happens in competitive matches vs fanciful theories being sold on what should happen.

Sure if I was just to look at the words written by Syd in a vacuum I could perhaps say it fits the bill. But to take a bird’s eye view and look at the whole thing, the entire behaviour, then it’s so clear that this is deception, a pretty skilled/refined deception at that.

The fact remains that no amount of sophistication or refinement will land one at naiveté. It’s not like one of my games either where if I grind away at some monsters for a few hours I will earn that next weapon set and then breeze through the rest of the game - which this is the kind of MO I have observed here, as if naiveté could be located that way.

I have done all this myself as one of the “other people on this forum already, who were under the (temporary) illusion/ delusion that they were something they were not”. This trap is particularly alluring it seems for personas pre-disposed to intellectualising their way through life. This kind of persona will sweep all the “uncomfortable emotional stuff” under the rug and then use the powers of their intellect to apparently solve it all away, as if breezing through a checklist. But proceeding in this manner, the ‘naivete located’ is concocted, it is a fake.

I think I might be at risk of being placed into a diagram here, but I will say that all the “uncomfortable emotional stuff” cannot be conveniently walked around, and for the kind of persona pre-disposed to intellectualising I would say that the remedy is to dare to aim for intimacy, not with objects but with fellow human beings. I have found this in myself (as that kind of persona) that this challenge to aim for intimacy was initially like trying to mix oil with water, but eventually it made one thing clear, that this “uncomfortable emotional stuff” would have to be resolved head on.

Although I will put a qualifier on this, that it was aiming for intimacy with the person I live with (rather than a passing exchange at a coffee shop etc) which was where the tyre met the road, to borrow a phrase. And the intimacy I am referring to here is not some high level near actual intimacy, I am talking of - can ‘I’ as a feeling being, find a way to get consistently close to another, which means that the mine-field of the “uncomfortable emotional stuff” will have to be patiently and sincerely addressed.

Vineeto · 4 March 2026 10:05

Kuba: The fact remains that no amount of sophistication or refinement will land one at naiveté. It’s not like one of my games either where if I grind away at some monsters for a few hours I will earn that next weapon set and then breeze through the rest of the game – which this is the kind of MO I have observed here, as if naiveté could be located that way.
I have done all this myself as one of the “other people on this forum already, who were under the (temporary) illusion/ delusion that they were something they were not”. This trap is particularly alluring it seems for personas pre-disposed to intellectualising their way through life. This kind of persona will sweep all the “uncomfortable emotional stuff” under the rug and then use the powers of their intellect to apparently solve it all away, as if breezing through a checklist. But proceeding in this manner, the ‘naivete located’ is concocted, it is a fake.

Hi Kuba,

Even though I only had the trap of Altered States of Consciousness in mind, as for instance described here, this illusion can nevertheless happen to anyone and as you rightly say, particularly to people who have a tendency to “sweep all the “uncomfortable emotional stuff” under the rug”. Hence Richard said about the actualism method, if done correctly –

Richard: Also, it is a very tricky way of both getting men fully into their feelings for the first time in their life and getting women to examine their feelings one by one instead of being run by a basketful of them all at once. One starts to feel ‘alive’. Being ‘alive’ is to be paying attention – exclusive attention – to this moment in time and this place in space. (This Moment of Being Alive).

It certainly worked for ‘Vineeto’.

Kuba: I think I might be at risk of being placed into a diagram here, but I will say that all the “uncomfortable emotional stuff” cannot be conveniently walked around, and for the kind of persona pre-disposed to intellectualising I would say that the remedy is to dare to aim for intimacy, not with objects but with fellow human beings. I have found this in myself (as that kind of persona) that this challenge to aim for intimacy was initially like trying to mix oil with water, but eventually it made one thing clear, that this “uncomfortable emotional stuff” would have to be resolved head on.

I appreciate your observation – when one aspires intimacy in a living-together arrangement, a lot of “uncomfortable emotional stuff” has to come out in the open and needs to be dealt with, if men and women want to succeed in living together in peace and harmony.

Kuba: Although I will put a qualifier on this, that it was aiming for intimacy with the person I live with (rather than a passing exchange at a coffee shop etc) which was where the tyre met the road, to borrow a phrase. And the intimacy I am referring to here is not some high level near actual intimacy, I am talking of – can ‘I’ as a feeling being, find a way to get consistently close to another, which means that the mine-field of the “uncomfortable emotional stuff” will have to be patiently and sincerely addressed. (link)

You expressed it expertly and from your ongoing experience.

Richard: I started from a basic premise that if man and woman could not live together with nary a bicker – let alone a quarrel – then the universe was indeed a sick joke. (Richard’s Journal, Introduction, Page 5).

What better way to turn one’s life around and do something down-to-earth and pragmatic for peace-on-earth and one’s own felicity and innocuity at the same time.

Cheers Vineeto