PaperOliver

This reminds me of my time at school in the UK. At school we were divided into "houses" based on where you lived. You had to meet in your house twice a day so we all became friends and after school we would meet up and play basketball, football or skateboard in our rural village (this was around 2008 so smart phones were rare). In the winter when we got home we would just put our xbox 360 headsets on and play endless games of Gears of War or CoD MW2 together. You got as much social credit for being good at gaming as at you did for being sporty. Good times, and nowadays I still see those friends about once a month.

After I learned to lucid dream real life became much less interesting in comparison. It felt like I came alive at night in my sleep, everything in the dream world was so vivid. I learned I could create any environment I wanted, like when Neo trains in the matrix. I would practice things (like tai chi) but it is a bit boring when the other characters don't have free will, so it was like interacting with robots.

The end game for me was going behind the curtain - into the dream control room. It was a room filled with screens each showing a dream I had experienced, even abstract dreams from the age of 3 or 4. From here I could enter any of the dreams through the screen. In the room was a man, like Morgan Freeman (it was like in the film The Dark Knight where he tracks everyones phone), he was the only person I ever met while lucid dreaming who seemed like a real person.

After some visits to this dream control room, I overcame my addiction to lucid dreaming, I stopped being active in my dreams and watched them like someone would watch a film. I knew it was a dream but I chose not to participate.

At this time I was also experimenting with astral projection. I really wanted to have a shared out-of-body experience which could be validated. I got my flatmate to place things in certain areas around our flat to see if I could find them while meditating, but I couldn't.

Being deeply involved in spirituality really distances you from most people in our society. I gave up meditating to better connect with the kind of people I am surrounded by.

I have also had this experience. Meditating for 12 minutes a day for a year or so.

Out of curiosity how would someone earn £20k of benefits while also getting a house? That seems outlandish to me.

I think the key is to actually like other people. If you don’t like them, how do you expect them to like you. When you find people you like, ask them questions, people most love to talk about themselves. You should be interested in what they’re saying (because you like them). People don’t like feeling that others are smarter than them so don’t try to act smart. People also love giving advice, as it makes them feel smart, so ask for advice. I’m very popular, I almost always boost people’s ego’s and I’m happy to be laughed at. Also I believe people can often tell on a subconscious level when we don’t like ourselves, and if we don’t like ourselves why would someone else choose to like us.

This happens in a similar away at the small architecture company I work at. A client will pay for work, and then it will then become clear the work they have asked for is infeasible. However we are still contracted to do work. It benefits us to do this work and bill for it. I find it totally unethical to do any work after finding out that it will never result in a building, but my managers know that if we do the work we can bill for it. I think this story is the same, whereby the managers know the client will not benefit, but also that they will pay. A recent HN post spoke about how employees are either aligned with a company (profit) or the overall goals espoused by the company. These goals appeal to the client. This story is an example of the OP being aligned to the client but not the company, and essentially how our economy is not aligned with ethical practice.

A side effect for me was receiving a final warning for my work performance. For me WFH is like how most people would respond to being asked to sleep at the office. Im an architect and have a relatively enjoyable job but I would just procrastinate and do a whole project overnight before a deadline. I couldn’t do the things I enjoy because I would be working in the evenings. It was horrible. As a result, during the pandemic, I chose to be the only person present in a 25 person office, which meant I was answering all the business calls, which meant I couldn’t do much work when I was in the office, and even resulted in complaints about my phone manner.

At home I have an immaculate setup with multiple layers of internet blocking tools. I have my own office room with a standing desk and 5k monitor. One friend noticed how nice my workstation was and could not stop laughing when I told him I now work 0 days days from home. Covid made me realise I might need a formal ADHD diagnosis but also how much I value the office. I love helping people at work, giving and reviving advice, and learning from what is going on around me.