Jay on Nostr: Does anyone else feel like bringing up #bitcoin or #nostr in a regular conversation ...

Does anyone else feel like bringing up #bitcoin or #nostr in a regular conversation makes you feel like a crazy person? I never look forward to explaining my worldview because I necessarily have to explain how Bitcoin affects it.

I think back to a post I found by a guy named Trent on dharmaoverground years back that addressed this in terms of seeking Buddhist enlightenment. If I apply that, then the right path is to hold my beliefs close to my heart and allow others to just observe the good it does for me without necessarily knowing why. Even though I understand the reasoning, it's still bittersweet. #buddhism #dharma

https://www.dharmaoverground.org/discussion/-/message_boards/message/1320932#_com_liferay_message_boards_web_portlet_MBPortlet_message_1320932

Copying the response here, it's fairly long:

Hi,

Beoman Beo Beoman:
> Any advice or stories from the path-attainers on telling others about their attainments?


In the context of one's personal life, I think it is best to generally only tell a very select few people about one's attainments, and then only if it seems like it will benefit them because it seems that it will influence them to practice more seriously or to take one's advice on these matters more seriously. If I would have applied this same principle to myself over the past few years, I would not have told any of my familial relatives and perhaps only a single friend. Unless there is clearly going to be a practical result, I think it is best to avoid the topic entirely.

The main reason to avoid it is because it probably won’t help you get anywhere in your practice, but it can definitely lead to a situation which can hold you back. In the best case scenario: nothing happens. The worst case is another story (which I am aware of because I have personally experienced it): By sharing, you open yourself up to being rejected by them in that way, and as a feeling being, you are prone to feeling bad about that outcome. By feeling bad about that, an implicit association is draw in your mind which reads something like this: the dharma is causing me and my (family, friends, whatevers) pain. Now there is a deeply sown hindrance in your mind... you will then be at odds with the very thing you are trying to be more sincere about. It may be stressful for other people, too. If you don’t say anything, they may just think “he’s changing…I wonder why…oh well, I guess this is just how he is.” In that situation, it is likely to hit a dead end in their mind; they can't tack down what exactly is going on, and so they can't really channel much energy into it. If you tell them specifically what's going on, though, they will associate their feelings (including any fear and resentment) with the dharma, rather than with you only, thereby objectifying it in their minds (and just a moment before depersonalizing it). Then, it is practically impossible to remove that association, and your every action or way that you change or whatever from then on will be judged through those (possibly severe) biases. This association will actually be a part of ‘you’ for them... it is not a cleanly sectioned off piece of their mind which says “I don’t like the dharma” it is more like “I don’t like the dharma and I don't like what it has done to you.” This means that anytime they become aware of anything dharma related, they will have a propensity to feel bad about 'you,' too. It is hard for people to be rational about ‘outside forces’ which they perceive to be tampering with their comfort. And this situation can be unfortunate in another way, too, which I alluded to above: anyone you’ve shared it with who has a negative reaction will also now be much less likely to get into it for themselves (hence why I stated that it is then practically impossible to remove).

Besides, one should avoid bonding with people about these things anyway... seeking out such bonds is presumably antithetical to the whole reason that one is meditating in the first place (to end suffering).

Trent