Is porn the problem, or is it just a lack of moderation?

Good. Thanks for clarifying. I like that you are doing constructive things and working on improving yourself. Those things help me too. One fo the best things I found for removing the urge to look at smut is to do something exhausting like marathon running or bicycling.

 

You choose the easy path... you fell to the dark side, as I did - but I'm coming back and yeah if you call people who have absolute control, unfettered focus and ceaseless charisma, freaks of nature, that's exactly what I'm aiming for. I can do that because I've done it before man. I have known a life before PMO and before it really became an addiction to me (and I don't mean to brag) but I was go-with-the-flow, magnetic personality, and flawless vibes dude. I can still tap into it momentarily but not yet again, as a way of life. I also went through the pain of washing my sheets on a daily basis personally before tossing them in the general laundry. Just because you can't do something or don't think it's possible, you have no right to discourage those that are willing to reach beyond the known.

Don't exactly know where you're going with that brother. Yes I have been suicidal before but because of my background, I never attempted suicide but had around 3-4 close shaves where I knew I could have just ended the story there and then. I'm far out from there... and not at all hanging by a thread, anymore that is. The reason I'm hanging here is b/c there's a self-doubt that persists, but daily it's diminishing vary rapidly. I am by no means against the seeking of medical help but I know that I started it and I know myself enough, that I have the resolve to emerge victorious without becoming a zombie on drugs and getting needless crutches. I am taking risks, telling the truth and disagreeing with people that project cancerous mentalities (I'm sorry if that seems too agitated - not directed at you, but silence, like a cancer, grows) and just in that respect alone, I am winning. Fapping is nothing but a tool of self-denial. After the veil of PMO has lifted I know it was just covering a deeper and far worse foe, that is my depression, in its rawest sense.

 

Caleb loves me secretly, I know it IQ of a 155 huh? Wow! I am so impressed, especially since you found the need to flaunt a useless number based on abstract algorithmic patterns in logic puzzles to try and prove a point about masturbation, human sexuality and behavioral science? Indeed, you're intelligence is literally out of this world, almost perhaps like an alien. Based on your own attitude problem stemming purely from your beliefs. I'm sincerely concerned for you and sorry that you need a goddamn number to be your shield in this argument. I am never an insolent brat especially to a man who's older than my own father. I referred to you as Sir in the beginning but I dropped it b/c just like how you want the society, government and world to leave you alone to deal with your porn, you don't merit the sage experience you claim to possess. Go back, swallow the butthurt and read my last post... if you're truly defending your porn usage in NoFap, you have to face criticism... I will never deny help if you want it or need it, I am about progress but if you think you can derail this community by promoting your filthy mindset, just fuck off you troll.

 

I chose the only path I could handle without going insane, and I won. That kid D took the higher path but killed himself. I just don't believe it is humanly possible. I don't know how you define porn, but the worst I looked at was Sports Illustrated, either the magazine or online) or sometiems old playboy magazines I found in the bushes. I haven't fapped or looked at porn in more than a year. This is mostly because I had a gf, but I didn't do it between gfs either. I no longer have a gf and I still don't fap any more.

In some cases, people masturbate as a way to cope with depression or anxiety or any number of psychological issues. It temporarily relieves the depression but it does not cure it. I agree with you in not wantign to go on meds to treat your depression. Avoid it if you can safely do it. Just talking to a good therapist can help you gain insights into what is causing it. Depression is a big deal and it kills people. I suspect a lot of people on this site have underlying conditions like depression and they are avoiding facing those issues.

 

Dinga, that's great to hear that you've been away from PMO for a year. Your genuine concern with people taking it hard on themselves is very endearing. Because you know what it leads too... and in your case, your friend D in suicide. I am sorry about that. I just hope you understand that you don't tell people going through depression to masturbate - this is horrendous! It's like telling a heroin addict in withdrawal to take cocaine to take the edge off. WTF!?!? Also, I don't think you know the depths of porn as well as I do if your worst was Sports Illustrated or Playboy. Again... the guys defending moderation for poisons, have never actually ingested the poison but just played around with the bottle that contained it. I'm sorry that NECESSARILY discounts your advise in a room full of people whose lives have been destroyed by actually experiencing it firsthand, and not from the safety of the petting zoo or car. I know most fapstronauts will back me on this - we released ourselves into the jungle while Caleb and those with his perspective, merely took overview shots and returned to the safety of a comfortable life.

 

I don't know the Cattell iq test, but if it is roughly equivalent to the Stanford-Benet or Wechler tests, he is smarter than roughly 29999 people. There is a lot of debate on what kind of intelligence IQ tests measure, but one thing they all have in common is their ability to test for pattern recognition. On internet discussion boards and in real life, people's behavior tends to follow patterns, but someone with knowledge of human behavior combined with an astronomical IQ (is being 1 in 30000 actually astronomical?) can pick up on things most mortals like you and me tend to miss.

 

OK, I will not tell somebody going through depression to masturbate. The label 'porn' is very broad. When talking about porn, people could mean anything from playboy to animal porn. I admit I have been assuming that when people on here say 'porn' they mean something like Playboy and not something harmful like child porn. I was projecting.
The drug example is kind of ironic. There are some drugs that by quitting cold turkey, you WILL die. Extreme alcoholics and people addicted to barbituate drugs will go into seizures and die if deprived of their poison. Quitting heroin cold turkey will not kill you, but gradually tapering in a safe, clinical setting is a way to quit relatively painlessly.

 

My parents gave me a hard time in an evil way whenever they suspected me. I was sexually abused by them too. So, I felt horrible and guilty about it. I tried to force myself to quit, but of course it did not work. It's not that I'm trying to abstain. A year or two ago, I lost the urge unless I am with a partner. My new worry is that if I go for too long a dry spell, I will get erectile dysfunction. If you go too long without sex, masturbating, or getting an erection, is it possible to get ED ? I dread being in a relationship with a woman who has a higher sex drive than me because I will make her miserable and the relationship will fail.

 

Basically what you're saying here is... the urges are present, why not just relent and be a slave to them rather than use and channel that energy into something constructive. You think just b/c you masturbated and got that one urge out of the way, it means that you're not taking sex as seriously as people on here do? In fact, you have to RETURN to it EVERYDAY, I don't know about your frequency and all that but... let us have our way, oh wise Mr. 155 IQ. Also know that there are some problems IQ doesn't solve... what you lack is EQ and SQ - try and research it but I guess if it isn't present to begin with, it's unlikely you'll even understand what I'm getting at here.

 

ps,
Caleb, I dread a resurgence of Prudery too and don't want encourage it, even unintentionally. A 138 or so IQ is still very respectable. You're still 97% or so percentile. Intelligence is a good but increasinglhy rare thing. The movie Idiocracy was made by Time Travellers in the future.

I haven't had nocturnal emmisions for a few years.

 

Sorry I don't have the extensive intricacies down for drug users - it was a metaphor that I was getting at, suggesting the lax effects of heroin be compared to the morose lethargy of depression and the release of MO to be similar to that of the cocaine high. There's extensive medical evidence to support those situations but... I think you went on a tangent and missed my larger point. But thank you, all I want is sensitivity when situations are alarming and a kick in the butt when people need it.

 

I've got a cutthroat nature, I am angry at myself and that may project on others I see following a similar path to mine. I'm helping them believe it or not Caleb, in my own way. The situation in this thread is leveling from argument to discussion. Trust me, in a different topic, I employ the middle path in the right way, when it's necessary. What you propose is not the middle path... it's outright COMPROMISE! Why the hell should I compromise when I know I can damn well dream and have what I want? What's all this gooey understanding people and empathizing by lying to them that... just do it.. in moderation. You will never get it because you're not at my level Caleb. You're at the surface and you speak as if you know how deep the fucking OCEAN is, of which I've lived on the bottom!