Thanksgiving Update & Thoughts on Nondualism | Ep #5

Welcome to the LoneDev Semi-Daily Podcast. My name is Brett. I am an

independent app developer, amateur investor, and angler. And this podcast is

about not only app development and tech, primarily Swift and Mac OS by the way, it

is also about metaphysical things, perhaps a little bit of investing and

stock market stuff thrown in the mix as well. Thank you for tuning in. I

appreciate it. Go ahead and hit that subscribe button. If you have feedback

for me or if you have any topics that you're interested in discussing perhaps

you can always hit me up on X. My handle on X is Sirius underscore Brett. That's

B-R-E-T Sirius underscore Brett. And Brett is my name. I think I already said

that. Well now that I've gotten the intro out of the way I want to talk about the

fact that this is the Thanksgiving break update. I'm giving you a Thanksgiving

break update because recording of this here podcast tends to coincide with the

times that I am inside my mobile sound recording studio, my mobile sound studio.

And the times that I'm in my mobile sound studio tend to correspond with my

kids school schedule. And my kids are on Thanksgiving break right now so I'm

not going to be in my mobile sound studio as frequently. So I'm not going to

have very many updates or very many episodes this week. It is Monday right

now. The markets are recovering a bit. It's pretty green, pretty nice and green

day in the markets. And I just finished my, I just finished submitting my timer

app, my new timer app, my new very simple timer app that I'm gonna be giving away

for free for now. It's a very simple app. There's really no point in trying to

create any kind of income from it unless for some reason it goes viral. I highly

doubt that's gonna happen. But you never know. I like to just release things, put

put new apps out there which increases the surface area of your app for

portfolio. Every app, no matter how small, can give you some information. It's good

for, if for nothing else, it's good for information gathering. Because you get an

idea of, you know, how many people want to download a free timer app in the year

2025. I'm guessing it's probably next to none. And that's the response I've

received from many of the apps I've released is next to no response

whatsoever. And that's actually quite common to spend a ton of time on an app,

release it, and have almost no response whatsoever. And unfortunately that's

that's the that's the reality of being an app developer. But in this case I'm

spending very little time on an app, releasing it with very low expectations.

So it's kind of a win-win in that regard. Because I'm expecting nothing. And that's

that. And I gain, I expect nothing in return, but I do gain a little timer app

that does exactly what I want. I just wanted a visual timer app with a

countdown before it started, before it starts. So I can use it for doing my

kettlebell sets, my kettlebell exercises. That's what I've been using it for and

it's quite effective at doing that. Perhaps other people will also find it

effective helping them with something. But that's enough about the timer app.

I'm gonna wrap this little update episode. I just wanted to put an episode

out there to let the audience know that I'm not gonna be posting any new

episodes this week. And I appreciate you tuning in. I will dive deeper into some

more interesting topics in the next episode I reckon. And that'll do it. I'm

gonna go to the grocery store now and buy some lunch meat. I've been interested.

My curiosity has found its way to something I'm

referring to as non-dualism. It's not just me referring to it as non-dualism.

That's actually what it's called. So non-dualism, it's... I would reckon I'm kind

of a noob when it comes to talking about this kind of stuff. But non-dualism, it's

it's an Eastern philosophy. It ties in with Buddhism and other Eastern type

religious philosophies I reckon. Or something like that. But I think it was

popularized by people like Alan Watts and others. And it's the idea that the

self, that which we perceive as the self, is not in fact independent of the

universe. It is in fact part of the universe. And everything is one. All is

one.

And this is a... I find it to be a useful philosophy when one is

struggling with mental health issues, depression, stuff like that. I think the

non-dualist perspective is helpful when you're struggling with

depression. Because you come to the realization that these thoughts you're

having that are causing so much suffering, that they really aren't there.

They are... they're not you. I guess they're there, that the thoughts are indeed

real, but they're apart from you. They are just a phenomenon in and of themselves

that you can choose to ignore. And it's only if you pay attention to them that

they cause suffering. And it's like a switch in your brain. You can just flip

at any moment. And you can just become

content. Or you can become just... I wouldn't say happy, but maybe it is

happiness. But just content. Just aware. And that's the nature of life. Life is

just awareness. There is just one awareness, and you are but one tendril in

this massive ranching of intelligence in the world, or awareness. And you are just

one tendril.

And...

the thoughts that you have are independent of you. They just kind of

swirl about. And you can choose to ignore them.

You can choose to be aware of them, but then you don't have to identify them. You

don't have to identify with them. That's what I'm saying. And there's also the

idea in non-dualism that where you are is already good enough. That wanting, in

and of itself, causes suffering. When what you have is enough.

You don't need to desire more. You don't need to desire more. You don't need to

have more. The desire for more, identifying with the need for more,

causes suffering. Where you have the power, just sitting there waiting to be...

waiting to be utilized, you have the power to just be happy with what you

have. Be happy with where you are. And a lot of depression, what causes

depression, is the wanting of something else and identifying with it. It's the

idea that you are not what you should be, and that things need to be different. And

perhaps some of that is true, but I reckon it doesn't need to cause

suffering. I'm just muddling my way through here. As I become more versed in the Eastern

philosophies, I can perhaps monologue on it a little bit better. But I think

there's a lot of holes in what I'm saying right now, because I'm just kind

of... just kind of like freestyle... or just rapping... just free associating is what

I'm trying to say. Just free associating on a topic that I am just now kind of

becoming familiar with. So don't expect me to be too coherent. Anyway, it's a

topic I'm thinking about lately.