Isn't mindfulness meditation supposed to teach us to be mindful of our thoughts and actions and how they affect the self and others? If that's the case and it's a 1.5 billion dollar industry why do I see so much selfishness and disregard for others in this world?

I believe most people that "practice" buddhism do so to make themselves look better in the eyes of others. Purely ego driven and bull**** if you ask me.

I use meditation to better myself. To be more understanding of the pain others feel and to not lash out at the world when I feel pain.

Well the Eastern/ET perspective is the only one that has intellectually made sense to me after searching for truth for many years in other philosophical theories and religions.

From when I was a young teenager I’ve always searched for truth and true identity and I read a huge amount of books and articles etc to consider different theories, took philosophy classes, considered different religions, searched for truth in science and many other perspectives. So it was a search across many different perspectives and theories and philosophies.

None of them seemed intellectually correct and all encompassing to me until I came across Eastern philosophy/ET. Their perspective is the only one that seems to me to fully explain the truth and the self.

So I was a not blank slate searching for meaning and Eastern philosophy/ET was not the only one to suggest a truth. I had considered and rejected MANY other philosophies/truths/perspectives previously during my search. Eastern/ET was just the only one to really make sense to me.

So I still believe it’s the truth. But I don’t like to intentionally keep going further into that direction because nobody else is really there so you’ll lose touch with other people and normal society and normal life if you go too deeply that way.

Normal people and normal society revolves around ego and a very superficial (false) perspective of the world and the self. It’s an illusion but that’s where everyone is. If you detach yourself and move too far toward truth you lose connection with the rest of society and you lose your normal superficial (false) self that you need to function in this society.

So do I think depersonalization/derealization is the ultimate truth - YES. I think that is what you experience in your final moments before death as your true identity and true understanding of reality. Do I think it’s a good direction to seek if you want to function as a normal happy person in normal society - NO.

Well the Eastern/ET perspective is the only one that has intellectually made sense to me after searching for truth for many years in other philosophical theories and religions.

From when I was a young teenager I’ve always searched for truth and true identity and I read a huge amount of books and articles etc to consider different theories, took philosophy classes, considered different religions, searched for truth in science and many other perspectives. So it was a search across many different perspectives and theories and philosophies.

None of them seemed intellectually correct and all encompassing to me until I came across Eastern philosophy/ET. Their perspective is the only one that seems to me to fully explain the truth and the self.

OP I just drove 3.5 hours for work. 2 of those hours were spent meditating with some theta wave chit in the background while driving these winding roads through the woods on this rainy morning.

I feel loose like I just got a massage and I'm 100% calm, collected and focused. How is your mental state this morning? I hope you aren't more than 1 coffee deep or anxious.

Yeah that sort of hybrid approach is what I aim for now. Understanding on a deeper level that the conventional self is just an illusion created by ego and conventional reality is just an illusion created by society and the human need to structure and control the world. But on a more superficial daily level to just participate in all those things like a normal human bean instead of further detaching.

Yeah man I cannot stand driving these days when 80% of the time there's a significant delay at a red light because someone is staring at their phone instead of paying attention to their surroundings.

Mindfulness may be more important now than ever since we're constantly bombarded by technologies that hijack our attention.

Like this:

To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.

Dogen