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asparklerwhowrites · 3 years

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Writing Indian characters, from an Indian person

India is a huge country! while most characters in mainstream media are from the 'big cities' i.e Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, etc, there are many, many more places and areas to look at! since India is such a vast country, there is incredible diversity. 19,500 languages and dialects are present, with people of different skin, eye, and hair colors and types! there are, of course, a lot of inherent prejudices present, which I'll address a little later.

#1. Know their roots

There is no 'one' Indian experience. People from different places celebrate different festivals, worship different gods, and speak different languages!

A checklist of things you should know about your Indian character's background, in essence:

Which state and city/town/village are they from?

How many and which languages do they speak, and with what frequency? (Mostly, people can speak at least two languages!)

Are they religious? (more on religion later)

What are some of their favourite memories/moments linked to their culture? (festivals, family gatherings, etc)

#2. Naming your character

Some common names for boys: Aarav, Advik, Shlok, Farhan, Ritvik, Aarush, Krish, Ojas, Zain.

Some common names for girls: Arushi, Ishita, Trisha, Rhea, Riya, Zoya, Vedika, Khushi, Charvi.

Common last names: Shah, Singh, Agarwal, Banerjee, Dala, Bhat, Joshi, Iyer, Jain, Dhawan, Dixit.

Be careful while picking a last name: last names are very much indicators of the ethnicity/community you're from! most older folks can guess the ethnicity of people just by their last name - it's pretty cool.

Naming systems usually follow the name-surname format, and children usually take the last name of their father - but I believe some regions have a bit of a different system, so look that up!

#3. Stereotypes to avoid

This goes without saying, but I'm gonna say it anyway. Being 'Indian' shouldn't be your character's entire personality. Give them traits, feelings, and a purpose other than being a token diverse character. Some stereotypes that are really a no-no when it comes to Indian characters:

Making them good at math and academics in general (my Cs in math beg to differ that all Indians are good at math. often, the reason Indians are stereotyped to be so smart stems from an incredibly toxic and harmful environment at home which forces children to get good grades. unless you've experienced that, its not your story to write)

Making your Indian character 'hate' being Indian (not everyone?? hates their culture?? like there are many, MANY faults with India as a country, and it's important to recognize and take action against that - which often makes us iffy about how we feel about our country, it's genuinely not your place to write about that UNLESS you are Indian. don't bring in 'hatred' of a place you've never visited, and don't know much about.)

Make them scaredy-cats, 'cowards', who are good at nothing but being the 'brain' (I will literally behead you if you do this/lh)

#4. Why India shouldn't be portrayed as 'perfect' either

It's likely that most of you won't be going in SO deep with your Indian character, but India isn't the perfect 'uNiTy iN diVerSitY' as it's depicted in media. There are incredible tensions between religions (especially Hindus and Muslims), and even remnants of the 'untouchable' way of thinking remain between castes. There's a lot of violence against women, and misogyny is definitely something Indians are not foreign to. People with paler skin are considered to be 'better' than those with darker skin (in the older generations especially)

#5. Some common customs

Removing your shoes before entering the house, since your house is considered to be 'godly' and shoes shouldn't be brought inside

Eating dal (lentils), chawal (rice), sabji (a mixture of vegetables/meat that's cooked in different ways) roti (Indian flatbread) is considered to be a full, well-balanced meal and at least aspects of it are eaten for lunch and dinner (if not all four elements)

The suffixes -bhai (for men) and -ben (for women) are added to first names and are commonly used by adults to refer to someone of importance or who they hold to esteem.

However, 'bhai' (which literally means 'brother) is often used as slang when referring to friends or family. Other slang includes 'arrey' which is used to show irritation or 'yaar' which has the same context.

It's custom to call adults who you refer to in a friendly way 'aunty' or 'uncle', like the parents of your friends.

Talking back to your elders is forbidden, especially your grandparents who you have to refer to with utmost respect.

#6. Religions

India is a very religiously diverse country. The most common religion is Hinduism, then Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, and Buddhism. All religions have their own complexities, and since I'm a Hindu, I can tell you a little bit about that!

It's common to have a mandir which is a small altar dedicated to the deities your family worships. (Fun fact - they're usually placed in the East direction because that's where the sun rises)

Most kids can say a few shloks by-heart, which are a few lines of prayer! (lmao I've forgotten most but I used to be able to rattle off at least ten when I was younger)

Most people know at least the general plot of the Ramayan and Mahabharat - two famous epic stories. (I'm not sure if they're inherently 'Hindu' or not)

Many people wear necklaces with a small pendant of the deity they worship!

Common Hindu deities: Saraswati, Ganesha, Shiva, Krishna, Vishnu.

It's important to note that religious violence is a thing. Muslims especially, are oppressed and discriminated against. It's a very, very complex issue, and one that's been going on for thousands of years.

#7. Myth & Facts

India is a very poor country

Yep! Lakhs of people live in villages with no electricity, clean water, or amenities nearby. There's no point sugar-coating it. There are HUGE gaps between the poor and the rich (have you heard of Ambani and Adani :D) and while our millionaires rejoice in their thirty-story mansions, people die of famine, disease, and hunger every day. I am personally lucky enough to be EXTREMELY privileged and attend an international school and live in one of the most developed cities. Most people aren't as lucky as me, and it's a really true, horrifying reality.

Everyone in India is vegetarian

No lmao - while many people ARE, there's a greater and equal amount of non-vegetarian people.

We burn our dead in parking lots

This circulated back when the second wave was going on in India, and the media blew it out of proportion. First of all, what the actual f!ck. Cremation is a Hindu ritual, and by saying that aLL Indians burn their dead you are erasing the other religions here. Secondly, cremation is a sacred ritual only attended by close family of the deceased member. It does not happed in PARKING LOTS. It's a time of grief and loss, not a way to humiliate a religion for the way they treat their dead.

Drop any other questions about India in the comments/DM me!

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renardtrickster · 3 years

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@pitovsorrows

First, "it's just a belief" is a pithy nothing statement. "I don't like gay people and I don't want them having any rights" is a belief. "I think slavery was good and we should bring it back" is a belief. "I think people like you should be exterminated down to the last man, woman, child, or otherwise" is a belief. "I prefer vanilla ice cream to chocolate" is also a belief! Now, I present you with two options. Option one, stick to your guns and this line of thinking, and embrace the position of "it's wrong to oppose slavery or genocide because those are just beliefs". Option two, stop focusing on "is this or is this not a belief", because everything is, and ask whether or not a given belief or good, bad, correct, factually untrue, or harmful. And consequently, does it deserve to exist, at least in a mainstream sense? Because I oppose the bad, factually untrue, and harmful beliefs, which is why I think being anti-LGBT+ is wrong.

Second, you absolutely can fight how people think, and you should. Assuming you're American (or familiar with America's history), do you remember how the British thought "the American colonies should pay us taxes and lick our boots and get nothing in return", and we fought them? And a couple of decades later, the Confederacy thought "black people don't deserve rights and should continue to be slaves" and we fought them? When belief becomes action, you absolutely can fight that (and belief inevitably becomes action, which is also why the "it's just a belief line" is foolish), but you can just fight thoughts, and it isn't fucking brainwashing holy shit. Did Martin Luther King Jr brainwash the entire country of America with his "I have a dream" speech? Did the LGBT+ community, through countless years of activism, displaying their humanity and their convictions, convince America of their right to exist, to happiness, that they're not monsters or mentally ill? or did they just use a secret Gay Chemical they dumped in the water supply to Orwell Brainwash people into not being homophobes? The problem with your line of thought is that your use of "reeducation" signals to me that you think any instance of "changing minds" is "2+2=5" stuff, when most of the time, the "reeducation" you speak of is actually affirming that 2+2=4 and you shouldn't kill people for being different.

ADDITIONALLY, you're making a big point about re-education and how changing minds is either impossible or immoral brainwashing, meanwhile what I criticize and what you're implicitly defending is a political party violating freedom of speech and assembly by overturning a private platform's ability to uphold terms of service, essentially compelling speech (but hey, that's just a belief, right?). But even by your standards, you should be opposed to this! If you sincerely think you can't fight how people think, then Prawo i Sprawiedliwość/Law & Justice is doing that in spades! They sue anyone who criticizes them or criticizes religion, and they defend and support homophobia and no doubt all manner of other bigotries, whose purpose is to fight how people think by encouraging hatred towards outgroups while, on the other front, working to criminalize any positive thinking about LGBT+ people. Exactly zero parts of your post were either sensible or internally consistent with regards to reality, you posted "actually fighting bigotry is just as bad if not worse than being bigoted" cringe, and I am coming for your subscriber.

#oh no renardie is posting #infoxicated #''what's wrong with being anti-lgbt'' is where you should have stopped to consider what brought you to this situation #and it's probably where i should have stopped reading but alas

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comrade-meow · 3 years

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This is a transcript of a speech by developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton delivered on 29 November 2020 for the ‘Feminist Academics Talk Back!’ meeting. This talk was originally published by womentalkback.org

Sex denialists have captured existing journals We are dealing with a new religion

Thank you for the invitation to speak today, as a feminist academic fighting back.

As ever, let’s begin with a story. And, trust me, by the end of this talk, you’re going to know a lot more about creationism that you expected:

1. In the 1920s, in concert with many other American states, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed the Butler Act, making it illegal for state public schools to: “teach any theory that denies the Story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible.” In other words, banning schools from teaching the theory of evolution.

Three months later, Tennessee science teacher John Scopes was on trial, charged with teaching the theory of evolution, a crime he was ultimately found guilty of. He was fined £71 – about £1064 in today’s money – so it could have been an expensive affair for him, had he not got off on a really boring administrative technicality.

Yet, despite the evidence against him and his own confession, he was an innocent man. Scopes was not guilty of teaching the theory of evolution. He admitted to a crime he had not committed. He even coached his students in their testimonies against him. So why would he admit to this wrongdoing of which he was entirely innocent? Why would he contrive apparent guilt? In protest. In protest against a law he viewed as fundamentally incompatible with the pursuit of scientific truth.

2. The history of creationism and education laws in the US is turbulent and often opaquely legalese, especially for those of us unfamiliar with US law. Some of the methods of the wider creationist movement, however, will be immediately recognisable as they are employed by a new movement, one which seeks to erase another scientific truth, the fact of sex.

Method 1. The framing of human classifications, whether it’s species or sex, as “arbitrary”. This leads to the premise that such phenomena are “social constructs” that need not exist if we chose to reject them. That truth must be relative and consensual. Never mind that these “arbitrary” classifications appear to be surprisingly similar classifications across all cultures and civilisations.

It also necessarily spotlights tricky boundary cases – not really a personal problem for the long-dead evolutionary missing links, but a very real problem in the modern world for people whose sex is atypical and who are constantly invoked, even fetishized, as “not males” or “not females” to prove sex classification is somehow no more than human whimsy.

People with DSDs have complex and often traumatic medical histories, perhaps struggling to understand their bodies, and they deserve more respect than to be casually and thoughtlessly used as a postemodernist “gotcha” by the very people so horribly triggered by a pronoun.

Method 2. The distortion of science and the development of sciencey language to create a veneer of academic rigour. Creationists invented “irreducible complexity” and “specified complexity” while Sex denialists try to beat people over the head with their dazzling arrays of “bimodal distributions arranged in n-dimensional space”.

Creationists, unable to publish in mainstream science journals because they weren’t producing, well, science, established their own journals. “Journals”. Sex denialists have captured existing journals – albeit limited to more newsy ones and to occasional editorials and blogs about gender (which is not sex), about how developmental biology is soooo complicated (which does not mean sex is complicated – I mean, the internal combustion engine is complicated but cars still fundamentally go forwards or backwards), about how discussing the biology of sex is mean (OK, good luck with that at your doctor’s surgery). Many such blogs and articles are written by scientists who simultaneously deny sex to their social media audience while writing academic papers about how female fruitflies make shells for their eggs (no matter how queer they are), about the development of ovaries or testes in fish and about how males make sperm.

The current editor-in-chief at Nature, the first female to hold this position, studied sex determination in worms for her PhD, and she now presides over a journal with an editorial policy to insert disclaimers about the binary nature of sex into spotlight features about research on, for example, different death rates in male and female cystic fibrosis patients.

The authors of the studies are not prevaricating or handwaving about sex, but the editorial team is “bending the knee”. I used to research a genetic disorder that was male-lethal – that is, male human babies died early in gestation. I’d love to know if this disclaimer would be applied there.

Method 3. Debate strategies like The Gish Gallop. This method is named for Duane Gish, who is a prominent creationist. What it boils down to is: throw any old argument, regardless of its validity, in quick succession at your opponent and then claim any dismissal or missed response or even hesitation in response as a score for your side. In Twitter parlance, we know this as “sealioning”, in political propaganda as the “firehose of falsehood”, although Wikipedia also suggests that it is covered by the term “bullshit”. So, what about intersex people? what about this article? what about an XY person with a uterus? what about the fa’afafine? what about that article? look at this pretty picture. what about what about whataboutery what about clownfish? The aim is not to discuss or debate, it is to force submission from frustration or exhaustion.

Method 4. The reification of humans as separate from not just monkeys but the rest of the living world. The special pleading for special descriptions that frame humans as the chosen ones, such that the same process of making new individuals, common to humans and asparagus, an observation I chose because it seems superficially silly – it could have been spinach – requires its own description, one that accounts for gender identity.

3. In the Scopes trial, which saw discussion of whether Eve was actually created from Adam’s rib and ruminations on where Cain got his wife, Scopes was defended by a legal group who had begun scouting for a test case subject as soon as the Tennessee ban was enacted. This legal group claimed to advocate for:

“Freedom of speech for ideas from the most extreme left such as anarchists and socialists, to the most extreme right including the Ku Klux Klan, Henry Ford, and others who would now be considered more toward the Fascist end of the spectrum.”

The legal group so keen to defend the right to speak the truth, in this case a fundamental, observable scientific truth? The American Civil Liberties Union, a group whose modern day social media presence promotes nonsense like:

“The notion of biological sex was developed for the exclusive purpose of being weaponized against people.”

and

“Sex and gender are different words for the same thing [that is] a set of politically and socially contingent notions of embodied and expressed identity.”

and shares articles asserting that biological sex is rooted in white supremacy.

Since the Scopes case, the ACLU have fought against many US laws preventing, or at least compromising, the teaching of evolution. I cannot process the irony of a group of people historically and consistently prepared to robustly defend the truth of evolution while now denying one of the most important biological foundations of evolution.

4. How do we fight this current craze of sex denialism? A major blow for creationism teaching was delivered in 1986 while the US Supreme Court were considering a Louisiana state law requiring creationism to be taught alongside evolution. The Louisiana law was struck down, in part influenced by the expert opinions, submitted to the court, of scientists who put aside their individual and, as one of them has since described “often violent” differences on Theory X and Experiment Y, to present a unified defence of scientific truth over religious belief. 76 Nobel laureates, 17 state academies of science and a handful of scientific organisations all got behind this single cause, and made a very real change.

Support for creationism has slowly ebbed away and the US is in a much more sensible position these days, although I still meet the occasional student from a Southern state who didn’t learn about evolution until college.

Sadly, one of the Nobel laureates has highlighted how unusual this collective response was and that he could not imagine any other issue that would receive the same groundswell of community support. Although he forged his career listening out for the Big Bang, so maybe I need to go through the list and find the biologists.

Part of the problem petitioning biologists to speak out is not necessarily fear of being cancelled or whatever, but simple lack of awareness of the issue, or incredulity that it is being taken remotely seriously. I’ve been working on a legal document and was discussing with a colleague about my efforts to find a citation for the statement, “there are two sexes, male and female”. He laughed at the idea that this would require a citation, told me to check a textbook, then realised that this statement is so simple that it would not even be included in a textbook.

And he’s right. I can find chapters in textbooks and hundreds of academic papers dedicated to how males and females are made, how they develop, how they differ, yet very few that feel the need to preface any of this with the statement “There are two sexes, male and female”. It is apparently something that biologists do not think needs to be said.

But of course, I think they are wrong, and that we live in a time where it does need to be said, where some aspects of society are being restructured around a scientific untruth, and where females will suffer.

Without recognition of and language to describe our anatomy, and the experiences that stem from that anatomy, mostly uninvited, we can neither detect nor measure things like rates of violence against women, the medical experiences, the social experiences of women and girls.

And, as for creationism, the reality of sex perhaps needs to be said by those with scientific authority, in unambiguous terms. Otherwise, we are living in a society that tolerates nonsense like there is no such thing as male or female, that differences evident to our own eyes are not real, that anatomies readily observable and existing in monkey and man alike do not actually exist. I’m sure this last assertion has the full support of the creationist community. And perhaps, as for creationism, a true tipping point will be tested when it is our children being taught these scientific untruths, or worse, when it is illegal to say different.

5. At the end of his trial, the only words Scopes uttered in court were these:

“Your honor, I feel that I have been convicted of violating an unjust statute. I will continue in the future, as I have in the past, to oppose this law in any way I can. Any other action would be in violation of my ideal of academic freedom—that is, to teach the truth as guaranteed in our constitution, of personal and religious freedom.”

I do not exaggerate when I say we are dealing with a new type of religion, a new form of creationism and a new assault on scientific truth. I also do not exaggerate when I say it may take a high profile court case to rebalance the public discourse around sex. There is only so far letters and opinion articles can go.

Two things I predict: 1. It will not be defended by the ACLU, and 2. With the recent proposals on hate speech law, it will probably involve a Scottish John Scopes, who finds themself in front of a judge for the seditious crime of discussing the sex life of asparagus at their dinner table.

Dr Emma Hilton is a developmental biologist studying aspects of human genetic diseases, and her current research focuses on a congenital motor neurone disease affecting the genitourinary tract, and on respiratory dysfunction in cystic fibrosis. She teaches reproduction, genes, inheritance and genetic disorders. Emma has a special interest in fairness in female sports. A strong advocate for women and girls, Emma tweets as @FondofBeetles.

#Anglo.txt

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veryvincible · 3 years

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Hey! 👋🏼 I was looking at Tonys panel with Carol and his AA panels. It got me thinking how can a person like Tony .. who is an atheist, a believer of science and a confident engineer rely on AA which has a religious foundation (the 12 steps) and place so power on God. I know secular AA have different takes on it and encourage a personal definition of God as any higher power the person may choose. But doesn’t that defeat Tonys belief? Because I don’t think he believes in a higher power regardless if it’s a deity or not.

This is a wonderful question. There’s a lot of nuance to the answer, in my opinion, because I think there are some things called into question here that Tony (very realistically) treats with a lot of complexity.

Firstly, Tony’s atheism is kind of... I don’t want to say it’s up in the air, because at this point, I think it’s kind of made its place in canon and fanon both. But, most likely as a result of the times in which he was created, he has been shown in canon (at least in the early stages of his life) to follow some sort of organized religion. This is from Iron Man Vol. 1 #164, and it’s... not strong evidence for him being a spiritual man, as most people who call themselves “not that religious” tend to be religious by way of traditions, but. You know. It is what it is.

Of course, we could dismiss this as yet another thing that early canon imposed on a character who wouldn’t be like that at this point in time, but I think it brings up interesting beats in the way Tony’s character has progressed over the years.

Considering him as someone who may have been raised as traditionally religious makes sense in the context of defining events, as well, given that we watch him pray the Lord’s prayer in #14 of Iron Man Vol. 4, one of his Civil War tie-ins.

Given the proximity to the alcohol (and the point he’s at in the timeline, here), one could also easily assume that even if he had no religious background, the very presence of the Lord’s prayer in AA meetings could have formed a connection in his head between this “worship” and sobriety-- at the very least, enough of one that the prayer strengthens the effectiveness of his willpower. It seems the little push he needs to pour a drink down the drain is borderline Pavlovian.

There’s actually a lot of religious imagery in Tony comics in general. He’s a man with a suit facing conundrums of cosmic proportions. It’s difficult for him to keep rationale exclusively within the range of earthly probabilities.

Point is, his atheism doesn’t come from his disbelief in a higher power. It’s quite the contrary, actually. His atheism comes from a belief that there’s no single entity that could claim the title of God, that any being willing to try has, just by being, already forfeited the title.

Which is a fair assessment to make, given that he’s fought many people claiming to be Gods, and they’ve all bled. He’s also watched people worship Gods that turned out to not... really be Gods, whether they were otherworldly beings, his buddy Thor, or, uh, himself. The idea of him, at least. In space.

Because of course that happened.

But Tony actually does have a higher power to give himself up to in these meetings. In Civil War II #1, he very explicitly states it:

“I respect the future. I believe in the future. I worship at its feet.”

“The Future” to him is something he can affect, certainly, but he’s aware of just how massive it is, just how massive all of time is compared to the few decades he’ll spend on earth. This is his higher power, his cosmic deity of choice.

It can’t bleed. It can’t falter. It’s inevitable.

And this mindset is... pretty in line with everything else he’s done. He’s referred to himself as a “necessary monster.” He’s implied many times over that he thinks he’s rotten and potentially dangerous, but he’s also intelligent and capable and he wants to do the right thing, even if he doesn’t always know what that is.

If you’ve ever been in a religious environment, you’ll probably recognize his mindset going into any problem: there’s always a solution, always information he’s missing, always a “right choice” he’s looking for with a domino effect that’ll be as favorable as possible for future generations. He trusts in the future the way people trust in God, with an awareness that he’ll never have all the pieces to make sense of everything, but he can have enough information to act. And he must act, or else his worth, his right to be alive, even, is at stake.

So, needless to say, he’s not praying to a mainstream God. But religious imagery isn’t and has never been off-putting to him, and though he certainly could seek out unreligious (is that a word?) alternatives to AA, I find it hard to believe that he would, given just how influential his higher power of choice is as it guides him through life. He puts everything at stake for it, going so far as to make choices that will destroy not only himself, but also his relationships with his loved ones if it means he’s doing what he perceives to be the right thing.

Secondly, even if he were a man who had no belief in any form of higher power, not even a stand-in for it, AA still might not be something he’d discard in favor of an alternative.

Religion serves as a guide. Most often, it has “do”s and “do not”s, certain beliefs it supports, and a kind of... basic explanation of what human life is and how it should be treated. One of the more common threads among most religions that I’m aware of (I am not an expert in religious studies; please don’t @ me) is the idea that human life is generally sacred, and as such, people should treat each other with respect. Yes, some texts can contradict this, but the general rule is “be nice to each other!” when you really look at the basics of what people are trying to teach. At its core, religion is linked to what we as humans already tend to for the sake of survival: compassion.

As such, though we might not always identify with religion as a concept, it’s not difficult to identify with some religious morals and teachings. Some people take to certain teachings better than others-- it’s super case-by-case-- but if you’re stuck in a religious environment listening to some preaching or anything, there’s probably going to be something you can relate to, and some way you can morph and adopt the message. This isn’t, like, all-encompassing, by the way. Of course there are some things that atheists and religious folk will never be able to relate to within each other, but.

You get what I mean.

I’m an atheist myself. I spent a chunk of my schooling at a religious institution. At best, there were messages that affected me deeply (as they were hard-hitting even when I stripped them of the God-worshipping aspects). At worst, I had to grit my teeth through some assignments, though I felt mostly indifferent (if slightly resentful at times, more out of frustration with the closed-mindedness of the administration than with the concept of religion itself). My experience isn’t universal, of course-- some people in my shoes were more frustrated and angry than I was, and I can see why. But my point is, being an atheist in and of itself (even one as strict as Tony) doesn’t render religious imagery useless.

For example, if you happen to pass by a pastor preaching about struggles with guilt, you might not identify with the sentiment of “Give your worries to God and know He’ll take care of you.” However, you could identify with the sentiment of, “Those little things, those side effects of decisions you’ve made? They’re here. Those decisions have been made. You’re allowed to swallow past the reality of what it is that’s passed and move on. You’re allowed to let go of it, so long as you’re better today than you were yesterday.”

It’s especially easy to do this if you’re listening to or being exposed to content from a religion you’re already familiar with; in Tony’s case, if we assume he was a Christian at one point or was raised with Christian ideals (not unbelievable in the slightest, given his circumstances and upbringing), then he wouldn’t have to do a lot of heavy lifting in order to get to “core messages” of certain Christian teachings that he could still identify with. Couple that with the higher power mentioned before, and... it’s not hard to see what might be appealing to him about AA, and it’s not hard to see why it was so effective at sticking in his mind all the way through his darkest periods in life.

Now comes the less healthy part.

There’s also an aspect of self-flagellation to it that I feel Tony might identify with on a deeper level. We’ve seen him hate himself openly, and we know how he regards himself. Even if he managed to find himself in a courthouse-like environment where the religious undertones were more about judgment than recovery, I don’t know that that would necessarily... push him away? He’s already told himself there’s something rotting and evil at his core many times over. He’s already committed himself to a lifestyle of atonement and progress, punishing himself when he fails to accomplish things no human reasonably could and barely praising himself when he doesn’t fail. Do I think these kinds of meetings would be totally sustainable for him, given that he clearly needs to feel pride or relief on some level for conquering his demons? No, not really, but. I don’t think he’d abandon them straight away.

Besides, every healing environment he’s been shown in has been more on the welcoming, open side, even if we only get to see a bare bones interpretation of AA (with deeper exploration happening more with Tony’s response to it, or his and Carol’s responses to each other) in canon. He’s in a good place with it, and it’s very nice to see.

Tl;dr: Again, great question. At the end of the day, I think the combination of self-loathing, his desire for progress, and his conceptualization of “the future” as his higher power makes AA a good fit for him despite his lack of a belief in "God” as an entity.

#cassks #religion #alcohol tw #the day has come where my quasi-religious background has become useful #if there are parts of this that are illegible... that is my bad #i have. a killer headache right now #and i hurt all over #but thank you for the ask it was very nice

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kgyst · 3 years

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There is a lots of uncertainty about what exactly is happening in Afghanistan, or what is going to happen. So, here an attempt to sort out at least the few corner stones of this affair. As always, I’m trying to avoid being impressed by what we do get served by the mainstream media: its superficial reporting is neither providing backgrounds nor context. This is why so many people do not understand Afghanistan, nor what is going on there.

1.) How did the Taliban secure all of Afghanistan ‘in a matter of days’?

The impression that the Afghan armed forced folded up and the Taliban overrun all of Afghanistan in a matter of days is wrong. It’s created by the mass of the media and you all not following the situation there, before ‘suddenly’ focusing on it. Actually, the Taliban were in quite firm control over more than 50% of the country already the last year, more than 70% about a month ago, and the Afghan armed forces began falling apart almost as soon as the USA signed the cease-fire with the Taliban and announced its intention to withdraw (see Doha Agreement of 2020) last year. That said, no doubt: the last two weeks saw them rapidly taking over numerous major urban centres, too. How comes? The ‘tactics’ in question is actually nothing new: it was applied by the Taliban already during their first advance, back in 1994-1996, and by the USA during its intervention of 2001. I call it ‘advance-by-bribe’. The essence is: the advancing party bribes top military and civilian authorities in the area of its interest; these order the armed forces under their command to give up. The advancing party then moves in. There is very little fighting, actually, but have no doubts: an operation of this scale and extension is taking years to organise and months to execute. Just think about all the necessary negotiations with corrupt Afghan governors and military commanders…

2.) Who took over/is taking over there?

It’s three parties:

a) Crucial party is Qatar, which – in 2008-2014-period – took over as the primary sponsor of al-Qaida, Nusra, Hamas, and the Taliban - represented through its government and diverse private financiers, and operating through its Qatar State Security (local equivalent of the CIA and the FBI). Qatar is the ‘enabler’.

b) Second most important is Pakistan. Acting through the Afghan Bureau of its Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI, which is the local equivalent to the CIA), Pakistan was instrumental in organisation of the original Taliban, and is – traditionally (see: since 1994) – exercising the command and control over Taliban armed forces (the ISI is running about 20 training camps for Pakistani, Kashmiri, Taliban, and different foreign jihadists in Pakistan already since decades; its tentacles have been traced all the way from the USA via Nigeria to the Philippines over the time). Pakistan is the ‘executor’.

c) Taliban, led by Amir al-Muminin (leader since 2016), and his three ‘political deputies’ Mullah Abdul Ghani Bardar (co-founder and leader of the ‘Political Office’ in Doha); Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob (son of Mullah Omar, original Taliban leader); and Sirajuddin Haqqani (leader of the Haqqani Network). Taliban are the ‘tool’.

3.) What’s the aim of this alliance?

This is hard to answer for the lack of details. Obviously, as an US ally, a country housing a major US military base, and one of biggest customers for US (and West-European) weapons systems, Qatar is not keen to propagandise its motivation and activities related to supporting (quasi)Islamist extremism. On the other hand, it’s powerful enough to avoid being sanctioned into oblivion – as one would expect to happen with a country sponsoring really all the major jihadist ‘outlets’ there are. That said, it seems the Qataris are curious to establish some kind of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as evidence that this kind of state can ‘work’ nowadays.

Pakistani aims are gravitating around securing the reasons for that country’s existence, and the resulting conflict with India: Islamabad is thus searching for gaining ‘strategic depth’ vis-à-vis New Delhi, and ‘converting the Afghan barbarians’ to the ‘right religion’. The Pakistanis are going to tell you that they are ‘the same’ with the Afghans; Afghans have their own opinion in this regards; indeed, most of those I happen to know despise Pakistan from the bottom of their hearts… …and the Taliban are an inter-tribal movement (that’s what’s making them so ‘superior’ to most of other major actors in Afghanistan), striving to create a state of the kind they’ve been indoctrinated to create in Madrassas (religious schools) and ISI’s training camps of Pakistan. This comes from the fact that originally, the Taliban were anything else than ‘Afghans’: at least 30% (some say two times that) were foreigners (Pakistanis and Arabs), while the mass of Afghan members grew up in refugee camps of Pakistan. That said, there’s no doubt that over the last few years they did attract lots of ‘genuine’ Afghans: youngsters primarily from the countryside, deeply disgruntled by endemic corruption of the US-crafted Afghan government, and lack of outlooks.4.) What’s going to happen with Afghanistan next? In short term, the Taliban are going to establish themselves in power, kill whoever is opposing them (summary executions of local notables are already going on – of course, well away the cameras of Western news-teams). Qataris are going to continue sponsoring them (while maintaining friendly relations to all the Western powers), and the Pakistanis are going to continue commanding and advising their armed forces (while continuing to pretend being the ‘most important non-NATO ally’ of the USA). Turkey under Erdogan – which is already neck-deep in an alliance with Qatar – is likely to join this alliance. China might follow provided the Qataris offer enough commercial incentives. And then they’re all going to face the same problems the US & NATO were facing for the last 20 years. Then, by now it should be clear that bringing Afghanistan under control – primarily with help of bribes - and retaining and securing that control, are two entirely different things. That said, as long as Qatar is flush with cash, and continues financing this, and most of the Western powers remain keen to cash from maintaining their ‘friendly relations’ to Doha while looking away at its links to jihadism, they should have no major problem in reaching their short term aims. What’s going to happen in the long term: no idea.

Note for those who might have doubts about all of this, or demand sources, I recommend reading this:

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115hhrg26427/html/CHRG-115hhrg26427.htm?fbclid=IwAR3l_dGe0tPFKNjeYGTZNqMgedOAekZpOmz2t8YsoKFlZd9l_PlvWmlMzB0

That's as far as Qatar goes. For full understanding of the local circumstances in Afghanistan, the coming-into-being of the Taliban and the Hakkani Network etc: check Lukas Müller's Wings over Hindu Kush.

via Tom Cooper

#Afganisztán

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giftofshewbread · 3 years

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In Place (Prophecy Update)

By Daymond Duck Published on:July 11, 2021

I think it was the great Bible prophecy teacher Jan Markell that said, “Things are falling in place, not falling apart.”

Here are events that seem to be falling in place.

One, concerning the decline of America at the end of the age to allow the rise of one-world government: on July 1, 2021, the conservative pro-liberty group Brighteon wrote:

“Today in America, every pillar of sustainable civilization is being ripped to shreds: The rule of law, the family, logic and reason, the First Amendment, and even the very concept of due process.”

“It’s all part of an effort to take down America so that the U.S. Constitution can be nullified by globalist interests. After exterminating billions of humans, they want to rule over the survivors via global government.”

“Like a building with a broken foundation, America is about to shift into the ‘gravity free-fall’ collapse scenario, which will likely start with banking and finance.”

Brighteon’s statements are horrible, but they summarize the globalist agenda and seem to be shadows of the coming Tribulation Period.

Two, concerning the ‘free-fall” of America: on July 2, 2021, White House correspondent and prophecy teacher William Koenig wrote (https://watch.org):

“The outcome of the 2020 audits in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are making it look more likely Trump could be determined the winner. More details are pending. The Arizona audit in Maricopa County (Phoenix area) is almost complete. Georgia looks as though they are moving toward a Fulton County audit and possibly the whole state. Pennsylvania Republican leaders are moving forward with an audit, as well as Wisconsin. They are at different stages, and they all look favorable to Trump.”

“Major U.S. cities were locked down and/or boarded in the event Trump won the November 3 election.”

“The fear over civil unrest prevented some of the Republican majority legislatures from challenging the election results, and that very possibly caused the Supreme Court not to take the Texas lawsuit that contested election results in four battleground states and was supported by 19 other states.”

“We know the Democrats and the mainstream media reactions and their violent factions could cause major disruption and violence in U.S. cities.”

Pray for America.

Three, the UN is a godless, anti-Israel organization that wants to become a world government.

It constantly passes anti-Israel resolutions, investigates Israel, condemns Israel, etc.

Its attitude and actions fit what the prophets foretold for the end of the age.

On June 29, 2021, Israel’s departing Pres. Reuven Rivlin met with UN Sec.-Gen. Guterres at the UN building in New York.

Rivlin told Guterres, “Our region, the Middle East, needs trust between people.”

“Peace between Israel and the Palestinians will never ever be achieved by anti-Israeli resolutions or investigation committees.”

According to the Bible, peace will not be achieved until Israel accepts Jesus as their Messiah.

Four, those that believe in a Psa. 83 war before the Battle of Gog and Magog are aware that Asaph prayed in part because Israel’s enemies would say, “Let us cut them (Israel) off from being a nation” (Psa. 83:4).

On July 5, 2021, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivered a major speech at a conference in Lebanon and said, “There are no people in the Israeli entity; they are all occupiers and settlers.”

If Psa. 83 prophesies a future war, as some excellent prophecy teachers think, Mr. Nasrallah could be in for a big surprise.

Five, concerning the Mark of the Beast in one’s forehead or in their right hand (notice “in” not “on”): on June 30, 2021, it was reported that current tiniest nano storage devices are at least 100 atoms thick, but researchers in Israel have discovered a way to store data on film that is 2-atoms thick.

Storing information on chips inside the human body (in the forehead or right hand) is getting easier and easier.

Six, Greg Hunter, producer and creator of USAWatchdog.com, recently interviewed the former Assistant Sec. of Housing, Catherine Austin Fitts, and here is some of what she said about the economic situation:

“The central bankers are using the government to shut down the main street economy, and then they are going direct and injecting money into the private equity firms and Wall Street who are running around the country buying things. Think of this as a leverage buyout of the world. We are being purchased with our own money. Also, we are liable. If you look at all the debt the government is issuing, our assets are liable for that debt.”

For those that may doubt what Fitts said, it has been widely reported that Bill Gates now owns more farmland than anyone in the U.S., and World Economic Forum globalist Klaus Schwab said under the Great Reset, “You will own nothing and be happy.”

Here is an interesting comment Fitts made about the role of Covid-19 in the globalist ownership of everything in the world:

“This is freedom or tyranny, and tyranny is slavery. We are talking about very invasive slavery because they are planning on installing the smart grid into our bodies. There will be 24/7 surveillance and control of your money. If you don’t behave, they will turn off your money. If they don’t want you to go more than five miles, your money won’t work further than five miles.”

If this writer understands this, Fitts (not a kook; the former Sec. of Housing) believes Covid-19 is part of a coming surveillance system that will use buying and selling to control people.

Understand that many of those that are left behind after the Rapture will be watched (surveilled), they will not be allowed to buy and sell unless they take the Mark of the Beast, and they will perish in the Lake of Fire if they do (Rev. 14:9-11).

Seven, concerning a peace treaty in the Middle East: on July 1, 2021, a writer for a publication with close ties to Saudi Arabia’s royal family carried an article that said many Saudis believe that Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman (MBS) has concluded that his nation is making a mistake by clinging to the Palestinian peace process until the Palestinians and Israel agree to the Two-State solution.

MBS and others have concluded that the Palestinians will never agree to peace with Israel because the Palestinians want the destruction of Israel, not peace with Israel.

According to the article, MBS believes Saudi Arabia needs to expand its economy for the good of its own people instead of restraining it to achieve a Two-State solution that the Palestinians do not intend to accept.

Past reports about this issue have indicated that Saudi Arabia’s move toward normalization will be followed by many other Arab nations.

The Bible tells us these 4 things:

1) No one knows the day or the hour of our Lord’s return (Matt. 24).

2) Christians can see the day approaching (Heb. 10:25).

3) It will come upon the world like a snare (Luke 21:35).

4) The Antichrist will confirm a covenant after the Rapture of the Church (Dan. 9:27; II Thess. 2:7).

Eight, on July 6, 2021, Pres. Biden announced his “community by community,” “neighborhood-by-neighborhood,” “door-to-door” effort to vaccinate America’s unvaccinated citizens.

How will the government know who hasn’t been vaccinated if the government is not tracking people?

Is the government now going to monitor citizen’s medical records?

Concerning abortion, this writer believes he has heard Biden say a woman has a right to choose what to do with her own body.

If a woman has a right to kill her baby, doesn’t she have a right to refuse to be vaccinated?

America’s economy is being destroyed.

America’s military is being weakened.

America’s border with Mexico is wide open to terrorists, human traffickers and drug smugglers.

America’s large cities are plagued with shootings and other crimes.

America is beginning to see food shortages.

American companies are under attack by computer hackers.

America’s Pres. supports world gov, world religion, and the Two-State solution.

He thinks Climate Change is the greatest threat to America.

He has dementia, and his son is corrupt.

America’s FBI and CIA are corrupt and turning a blind eye.

America’s election was probably stolen.

America is divided, and a nation divided against itself cannot stand.

America’s pulpits are mostly silent; etc., etc., etc.

Where do we think America will go from here?

Nine, here is a link to a website that Geri Ungurean sent out that provides stories about adverse reactions from Covid-19 vaccinations: https://1000covidstories.com/

Finally, are you Rapture Ready?

If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.

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kylieswesting92 · 3 years

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The Healing Power Of Breath

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Consult your healthcare provider before use.

The symptoms of stress can often be sneaky, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly what is out of balance in our body. With stress and anxiety, our breathing becomes shorter, our muscles become tighter, and our minds become busier. There is a very good chance that stress can be directly affecting your health. The good news is, you hold the key to your own, natural stress relief.

Breathing is part of our biological nature. Something we hardly have to think about, and that our bodies do naturally on their own. However, when our bodies become stressed, overworked and anxious, our breath becomes shorter, shallow and restricted. Oftentimes we don’t even realize that we aren’t taking in a full complete breath, but the effects that it has on our bodies, is very real. The simple act of breathing in and breathing out, doesn’t just keep you alive, it provides our bodies with a vast array of immediate and long term health benefits. When you add the practice of mindfulness (holding awareness) to your breath, you are practicing an art known as breathwork, that is centuries old, and is extremely therapeutic.

“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.”

– Unknown

Have you ever just sat and watched a newborn baby breathe? They breathe in deeply from their diaphragm, their little bellies expand and contract with each cycle. Their whole body is immersed in the breath itself. Most of us in this day and age, with the triggers and stresses of daily life, have forgotten something so innate within our DNA. We now find ourselves detached from diaphragm breathing, and we often breathe from our chests. This can create excess tension in other parts of our body. When we breathe from our chests, instead of our diaphragm, we do not reap the full benefits of the breath itself. We use the muscles in our shoulders, necks, and chests to expand our lungs, which can result in neck pain, headaches, and an increased risk of injury. As our bodies compensate, this can also cause our posture to change as well, as our shoulders begin to slump forward. Shallow breathing also robs our bodies of vital oxygen, stress relief, and pain killing endorphins.

The Science Of Breath

When we take in a deep healing breath, it supplies our bodies with much needed oxygen. Your body’s cells need oxygen to live and carry out their basic normal functions. Our lungs are also responsible for getting rid of carbon dioxide, which is a waste product of our cells. The simple act of breathing, supplies our whole nervous system, muscles and organs with vital life force and anti-inflammatory properties. When our breathing is constricted, our bodies can suffer from a surprising wide range of ailments.

“When we breathe in a shallow way, the body remains in a cyclical state of stress—our stress causing shallow breathing and our shallow breathing causing stress. This sets off the sympathetic nervous system, the branch of the autonomic nervous system that primes us for activity and response.”

– Headspace.com

Essentially, our bodies then become more likely to contract acute illnesses, irritate pre-existing medical conditions, and extend the duration of healing times.

“Shallow breathing doesn’t just make stress a response, it makes stress a habit our bodies, and therefore, our minds, are locked into.”

– John Luckovich, an apprentice Integrative Breathwork facilitator in Brooklyn, New York.

Did you know that there are many different types of breathing techniques that are beneficial to our overall health and wellness? These conscious breathing techniques that we will get into more in a few, help us tune into our bodies and offer a holistic approach to natural stress and pain relief.

Origins of Breathwork

We can trace the practice of breathwork back through time, to our ancestors and their sacred daily rituals. Throughout history, breathwork has been referred to by many names, depending on region, religion and language. The Chinese call this lifeforce energy qi, and Hindus call it pranayama or “prana” which literally translates to “controlling the breath” in Sanskrit. Many yoga practices, ancient and current, feature Pranayama technique. There are over fifty Pranayama methods out there, some more notable than others. Buddhist Monks from all over the world have been practicing the art of Anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing) for centuries. “Ānāpānasati is now common to Tibetan, Zen,Tiantai and Theravada Buddhism as well as many Western-based mindfulness programs. Anapanasati is to simply feel the sensations caused by the movements of the breath in the body, as is practiced in the conditions of mindfulness, meditation and grounding. Simply put, mindfulness is the art of holding awareness, within whatever activity you are doing.

In more recent times, there was a German psychiatrist by the name of Johannes Heinrich Schultz. Johannes had developed what is known as “autogenic training” in the 1920s as a method of relaxation. The practice is based partly on slow and deep breathing. It is still probably the most-known breathing technique for relaxation in the Western world today. Although there are many different terms to describe breathwork, they all have the same defining principle; mindful awareness of the inward and outward breath. While in the past, breathwork has been closely tied in with meditation and yoga, today the art of breathwork has evolved into a more modern practice that can be done all on it’s own. Many holistic practitioners and teachers have now begun to practice and experiment with different patterns, lengths, and repetitions of inhalation, exhalation and retention (holding your breath).

“Sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is relax.”

– Mark Black

Connecting The Mind, Body, Spirit

Breathwork has a unique way of balancing and connecting our mind, body and spirit. This connection allows us to think clearer, relax easier, and live healthier, more harmonious lives.

Body:

Breathwork has been known to relieve pain and inflammation, due to the release of endorphins

Stimulates your lymphatic system by releasing carbon monoxide. Breathing is actually responsible for 70% of toxin cleansing within your body

When your body has plenty of oxygen, the better your organs perform and function. This also allows for more efficient digestion, and even an improved immune system

Can help lower blood pressure. When our bodies relax, our blood vessels dilate which improves circulation. Deep breathing also slows and helps regulate your heart rate

Our posture can even benefit from breathwork, allowing us to breathe in from our diaphragms rather than our chest, which puts strain our neck and shoulders

Mind:

When we become stressed and anxious, our brains release a chemical called cortisol, which is known as the “stress hormone”. When we take more complete breaths, our heart rate slows, bringing in more oxygen and more endorphins- which play a direct role in our mood and our pain levels

There are more and more studies emerging that show how breathwork can help treat depression, anxiety, and PTSD

Mindful breathing can help you access and bring awareness to the deeper parts of your mind. The areas of your brain that hold trauma, triggers, and buried emotions. This allows you to make a connection to possible layers that need to be healed and released

Spirit:

Breathwork can feed your spirit. When you practice the art of conscious breathing, you can move beyond your physical body and brain, to connect with your core, your spirit, the essence that is YOU

Simply being in the moment, focused just on your breath, allows you to tune out all distractions, and be fully present to the sensations within you. Allowing for a calm connection to spirit and all that is

Gratitude. Many find that practicing breathwork offers an opportunity to be truly grateful for the incredible capacity and ability our bodies hold, to heal, release and acknowledge anything that no longer serves us.

“What consumes your mind, controls your life.”

– Unknown

Techniques, and Apps To Support You On Your Journey

Since breathwork has become more mainstream, there have been quite a few apps and websites that have been created to support you on your breathwork journey. These helpful apps and websites also offer meditation techniques, blogs, mindful practices, and other helpful stress management tools. Some of our favorites that we encourage you to check out are: Headspace, Breathwrk, Calm, MindBodyGreen, iBreath, and Waking Up, by Sam Harris. If virtual support isn’t your thing, there is a wide range of skilled practitioners and teachers all over the world, that can help guide you through your journey. We encourage you to research practitioners with several different healing backgrounds, and find someone that you really resonate with.

Are you eager to start your breathwork journey right this instant? Although breathwork can be practiced literally anywhere, it is helpful to find a quiet place, where you can sit comfortably or lie down with no distractions. So whether it is a quiet room, out in nature, or you are sitting in your parked car, relief is just a few breaths away. Here are three breathwork techniques that are perfect for beginners, courtesy of MindBodyGreen.com:

When you feel overwhelmed: The 4-7-8 breath

The traditional way of doing 4-7-8 breathing is to empty the lungs of air, breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds, exhale out of the mouth for 8 seconds, and repeat at least 4 times.

As you breathe in, imagine the grounded and nourishing energy of the earth, mountains, trees, plants, flowers, fruits, vegetables, and herbs coming up into your body. As you hold your breath, visualize the breath spiraling up the center of your body (through the seven chakras) and pulling any energy or thought that does not serve you. Then as you exhale over 8 seconds, imagine that excess energy releasing out of the mouth, and visualize light pouring through the top of your head back down to your feet and the earth below you.

When you need an energy boost: The 4-4-4-4 breath

To practice this technique, start by releasing all of the air from your chest, and hold your breath for 4 seconds, then breathe through the nose for 4 seconds, then hold your breath for 4 seconds, then exhale out of the nose for 4 seconds. Repeat this cycle for 5 minutes to feel the effects.

As you are inhaling, imagine the earth element of the north rising up and nourishing the physical body. As you hold your breath, imagine the breath swooping through the mind like the wind element of the east, clearing out any thoughts that do not serve and keeping the thoughts that do serve you. As you exhale out of the mouth, imagine the fire element of the south that resides in the center and heart of our body, burning any thoughts and feelings in our emotional heart and belly to release through the mouth (traditional box breath exhales out of the nose, but I like to exhale out of the mouth to incorporate the heart energy).

As you hold your breath for the last 4 seconds, ask the loving higher self, the gentle feminine water element of the west, to come into your presence and be with and guide you through the waves of your life.

When you feel yourself getting worked up: The 5-5 breath

To start, focus on the natural rhythm of your breath to obtain a baseline length of each inhale and exhale. Then for 1 minute, breathe in for 4 seconds, and exhale for 4 seconds. Then repeat for 5 seconds, then repeat for 6 seconds, and if you want to, gradually expand to 10 seconds. Start with 5 minutes total and work your way up over time to 20 minutes. Imagine the earth energy rising up into the body, and then the thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations in the body that you no longer want to hold on to, releasing out of the body through the exhale.

The best way to know which technique is right for you is to first identify what you are struggling with and what you are seeking. These are suggestions, but as with any healing modality, it is best to experiment with each form to see which one feels most aligned with where you are. Remember, your breath is your inherent healer and guide inside of you.

There are many different breathing techniques out there, and it usually takes some time and practice to find the ones that really resonate with you. We encourage you to have some relaxing fun, and experiment with different methods until you find the right fit for your needs.

“Breath is the power behind all things… I breathe in and know that good things will happen.”

– Tao Porchon-Lynch

Full-Spectrum Hemp Oil, CBD Can Help Bring Balance Back To Your Life

In a world where stress is running rampant, it is important to have more than one tool in your toolbox. Meditation, earthing, journaling, physical activity and yoga are all beneficial ways to help support your healthy lifestyle. In addition to these practices, there are also other ways to support your quest for calm. Hemp Oil and CBD are quickly becoming popular amongst people in search of holistic, natural ways to combat stress, pain and anxiety. Using a Hemp Oil product to start your day, and even prior to your breathwork practice, may offer a wide range of stress relieving support. Although we have a long way to go with research, there are many current studies that support the possible benefits of adding a Full-Spectrum Hemp Oil that contains CBD to your wellness routine.

CBD (found in Full-Spectrum Hemp Oil) has shown promising results, to help alleviate and possibly diminish symptoms of stress and anxiety, by working directly with your Endocannabinoid System. The main function of the ECS is to aid in the balance of all other bodily systems, including our immune system. The Endocannabinoid System is a universal regulator composed of enzymes, endocannabinoids, and endocannabinoid receptors. Endocannabinoids within the body interact with endorphins, hormones, immune cells, and cell regeneration, among other biological processes. The ECS was officially discovered during a 1988 study which revealed that these receptors, the most abundant neurotransmitter receptors found in the brain, reacted to cannabis compounds similarly to its own compounds. Endocannabinoid receptors exist throughout the brain and body, with CB2 receptors being present in high quantities in the immune system.

“The endocannabinoid system, though relatively newly discovered, is extremely important and is responsible for two basic activities. The first is to modulate pleasure, energy, and well-being. The second is to slowly nudge the body back to health in the face of injury and disease.”

– Dr. Michael Moskowitz in his book CBD: A Patient’s Guide to Medical Cannabis.

It makes perfect sense, that when our ECS is out of balance, the effects can be felt, and it can begin to take its toll on our bodies. Synchronicity

aims to bring your mind, body and spirit, back into balance, and back into sync. We have lovingly crafted the most efficacious, Full-Spectrum Hemp Oil on the market. Never using harsh extraction methods, and utilizing the entire hemp plant to bring you the full potential and full effect. Our Full-Spectrum Hemp Oil is a welcome companion to any wellness routine. We carry a wide range of capsules, aromatherapies, tinctures and topicals for you to experiment with, and find what works for you. After all, your body knows best. We encourage you to reach out to our team of customer care experts, that are here to help answer any questions that you may have. At Synchronicity

we believe a balanced body, and a healthy mind is the secret to a happy, fulfilling life.

The post The Healing Power Of Breath appeared first on Synchronicity.

Via https://synchronicityhempoil.com/the-healing-power-of-breath/

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tinyshe · 3 years

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Witchcraft 101

by Michelle Arnold • 7/1/2008 Catholic Answers

What springs to mind when someone mentions “witchcraft“? Three hags sitting about a cauldron chanting “Double, double, toil and trouble”? A pretty housewife turning someone into a toad at the twitch of her nose? Or perhaps you think of Wicca and figure that it is witchcraft hidden beneath a politically correct neologism.

Witchcraft has become a hot topic in recent years. From J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books to self-described witches agitating for political and social parity with mainstream religious traditions, Christians have had to re-examine witchcraft and formulate a modern apologetic approach to it.

In an age of science and skepticism, it may be difficult to understand why intelligent people would be drawn to witchcraft, which encompasses both a methodology of casting spells and invoking spirits and an ideology that encourages finding gods and goddesses both in nature and within the self. In her “conversion story,” self-described Wiccan high priestess Phyllis Curott, an Ivy League-educated lawyer who was raised by agnostics, describes her journey from secular materialism to Wicca as a rejection of the idea that humans are made for mammon alone:

I discovered the answers . . . to questions buried at the center of my soul . . . How are we to find our lost souls? How can we rediscover the sacred from which we have been separated for thousands of years? How can we live free of fear and filled with divine love and compassion? . . . How can we restore and protect this Eden, which is our fragile planet? (Curott, Book of Shadows, xii)

These are indeed important questions that deserve answers, answers that can be found in their fullness in Christ and in his Church. In a homily then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger gave at the Mass just before his election to the papacy, he famously observed:

How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves—flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth.

Witchcraft has been around for centuries, perhaps even millennia, but is emerging once more from the shadows as one answer to skepticism, to materialism, even to self-absorption. It is, so to speak, the wrong answer to the right questions; it is, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “gravely contrary to the virtue of religion” (CCC 2117). Catholics should not discourage these questions but must be prepared to offer the only answer: Christ and his Church.

Witchcraft’s apologists like to claim that they are the misunderstood victims of centuries of religious prejudice. Unfortunately, all too many Christians make such claims credible when they misunderstand witchcraft and craft their rebuttals of it based upon those misconceptions. If someone you know is dabbling in witchcraft, here are five things you should know before starting a conversation with him.

Witches do not believe in Satan.

If there is one belief common to witches everywhere, it is that they do not believe in Satan and that they do not practice Satanism. Witchcraft’s apologists are quick to point this out.

Denise Zimmermann and her co-authors of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft emphasize, “Witches don’t believe in Satan! . . . The all-evil Satan is a Christian concept that plays no part in the Wiccan religion . . . Witches do not believe that negativity or evil is an organized force. . . . Neither do Wiccans believe there is a place (hell) where the damned or the evil languish and suffer” (13).

Christian apologists should acknowledge that witches do not consciously worship Satan and that they do not believe he exists. But this does not mean that Satan needs to be left entirely out of the conversation. A Christian apologist should point out that belief in someone does not determine that person’s actual reality.

One way to demonstrate this is to ask the witch if she believes in the pope. “No,” she’s likely to answer. “The pope is a Christian figure.” True, you concede. But there is a man in Rome who holds the office of the papacy, right? Your belief or disbelief in the papacy does not determine whether or not the papacy exists. Put that way, a person will have to acknowledge that something or someone can exist independently of belief in its reality. That’s when you can make the case that Satan exists and that he does not require belief to determine his reality or his action in someone’s life. In fact, disbelief in him can make it easier for him to accomplish his ends.

In the preface to The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis notes that “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

While it is true that witches do not directly worship Satan or practice Satanism, their occult practices, such as divination, and their worship of false gods and of each other and themselves—which they explain as worshipping the “goddess within”—can open them to demonic activity. To make the case though, it is imperative to present it in a manner that won’t be dismissed out of hand.

Witchcraft and Wicca are not synonyms.

Wicca, originally spelled Wica, is the name given to a subset of witchcraft by its founder Gerald Gardner in the 1950s. Although some claim the word Wicca means “wise,” in her book Drawing Down the Moon, Margot Adler states that it “derive[s] from a root wic, or weik, which has to do with religion and magic” (40). Adler also says that the word witch originates with wicce and wicca. Marian Singer explains the difference between Wicca and witchcraft this way: “Witchcraft implies a methodology . . . whereas the word Wiccan refers to a person who has adopted a specific religious philosophy” (The Everything Wicca and Witchcraft Book, 4).

Because witchcraft is often defined as a methodology and Wicca as an ideology, a person who considers himself a witch but not a Wiccan may participate in many of the same practices as a Wiccan, such as casting spells, divining the future, perhaps even banding together with others to form a coven. This can make it easy for an outsider to presume that both the witch and the Wiccan share the same beliefs. But, if someone tells you he is not a Wiccan, it is only courteous to accept that. The Christian case against witchcraft does not depend on a witch identifying himself as a Wiccan. (There are also Wiccans who reject the label “witch,” but this is often a distinction without a difference. Even so, use the preferred term to avoid alienating the person with whom you are speaking.)

Several strands of Wicca attract followings, including: Gardnerian, Alexandrian, and Georgian, which are named for their founders; Seax, which patterns itself on Saxon folklore; Black Forest, which is an eclectic hodgepodge of Wiccan traditions; and the feminist branch known as Dianic Wicca after the Roman goddess Diana. Knowing the distinctions among these traditions may not be important for the Christian apologist, but he should keep in mind that there are distinctions and that he should not make statements that start out with “Wiccans believe . . .” Rather, allow the other person to explain what he believes and then build a Christian apologetic tailored to that person’s needs.

Witches question authority.

When dealing with self-identified witches, remember that no two witches will agree with each other on just about anything. Witches are non-dogmatic to the extreme, with one witch apologist suggesting “[s]ending dogma to the doghouse” and claiming that “[r]eligious dogma and authority relieve a person of the responsibility of deciding on his or her own actions” (Diane Smith, Wicca & Witchcraft for Dummies, 32).

Generally speaking, witches prefer to give authority to their own personal experiences. Phyllis Curott, author of a book titled Witch Crafting, puts it this way: “Witches, whether we are women or men, experience the Goddess within us and in the world all around us. I love what Starhawk [witch and popular speaker and writer] said about this: ‘People often ask me if I believe in the Goddess. I reply, Do you believe in rocks?’” (121, emphasis in original). In other words, witches know “the Goddess” exists because they can experience her by at least one of their five senses. Faith in such a material deity calls to mind the demon Screwtape’s longing for hell’s “perfect work—the Materialist Magician” (Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, 31).

Throwing a bucket of cold water on a witch’s “personal experiences” will not be easy, particularly since one of the frightening.aspects of witchcraft is that some witches do have, and blithely report, extraordinary preternatural experiences. Incidents that could and should scare away many dabblers from playing with forces beyond their control are recounted by witchcraft’s apologists as affirmative of their path. Curott tells of a man who once dreamed of “being prey” of a monstrous creature; ultimately, in the dream, he was captured by the creature. Rather than taking this as a sign he should reconsider the path down which he was heading, he awoke “deeply transformed” by the dream’s ending because he believed “tremendous love” was felt for him by the creature. He eventually became a Wiccan priest (Witch Crafting, 154–155).

How can a Christian argue against a belief like that?

Ultimately, it may be that a Damascus-road moment might be necessary to sway someone that deeply entrenched in traffic with preternatural creatures. To those who are not as enmeshed, a Christian can point out that sometimes apologists for the occult have warned their readers not to be taken in by their experiences with spirits.

In a section of his book titled “Practicing Safe Spirituality,” author Carl McColman gives a checklist of “some common-sense precautions” occultists should be aware of “while meditating, doing ritual, reflecting on your dreams, or doing any other spiritual work that may involve contact with spirits.” The first item on the list is “Don’t automatically believe everything you hear. Just because a spirit says something doesn’t make it so” (The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Paganism, 129).

Witchcraft is an inversion of Catholicism.

Observers of witchcraft have claimed that it is remarkably similar to Catholicism. Catholic journalist and medievalist Sandra Miesel called it “Catholicism without Christ” (“The Witches Next Door,” Crisis, June 2002). Writer and editor Charlotte Allen noted that “Practicing Wicca is a way to have Christianity without, well, the burdens of Christianity” (“The Scholars and the Goddess,” The Atlantic, January 2001).

It’s easy to see why the assertion is made. Allen notes that as witchcraft cycles through its “liturgical year,” many of its adherents honor a goddess who births a god believed to live, die, and rise again. Fraternization with apparently friendly preternatural spirits is encouraged and eagerly sought. The rituals of witchcraft call to mind Catholic liturgies, particularly the libation and blessing ritual alternately known as “Cakes and Wine” and “Cakes and Ale.” Like Catholics collecting rosaries, scapulars, statues, and prayer books, witches have their own “potions, notions, and tools” as Curott calls them —some of which include jewelry, statues and dolls, and spell books and journals.

But to say that witchcraft has uncanny similarities to Catholicism is to understate the matter. Witchcraft is an inversion of Catholicism: Catholicism emptied of Christ and stood on its head. This is most readily seen in witchcraft’s approach to authority.

In his book Rome Sweet Home, Scott Hahn compares authority in the Church to a hierarchical pyramid with the pope at the top, with all of the members, including the pope, reaching upward toward God (46–47). With its antipathy to authority and its reach inward to the self and downward to preternatural spirits, witchcraft could also be illustrated with a triangle—every adherent poised at the top as his own authority and pointed down in the sort of “Lower Command” structure envisioned by Lewis’s Screwtape.

Witchcraft is dangerous.

In my work as an apologist, I have read a number of introductory books to various non-Catholic and non-Christian religions. Never before my investigation into witchcraft had I seen introductory books on a religion that warn you about the dangers involved in practicing it. The dangers that witch apologists warn newcomers about are both corporal and spiritual.

In her book, Diane Smith includes a chapter titled “Ten Warning Signs of a Scam or Inappropriate Behavior” (Wicca & Witchcraft for Dummies, chapter 23). Her top-10 list includes “Inflicting Harm,” “Charging Inappropriate Fees or Demanding Undue Money,” “Engaging in Sexual Manipulation,” “Using Illicit Drugs or Excessive Amounts of Alcohol in Spiritual Practice,” and “Breeding Paranoia.” Smith claims that such a need to be wary is common to religion: “[U]nscrupulous or unstable people sometimes perpetrate scams or other manipulations under the guise of religion, and this situation is as true for Wicca as for other religious groups” (317).

However true it may be that there can be “unscrupulous or unstable people” involved in traditional religions, most practitioners—Christian or otherwise—do not experience problems with these behaviors to such an extent that religious apologists see the need to issue caveats to proselytes. That Smith does so suggests that these problems are far more widespread in witchcraft than in traditional religion.

We noted one paganism apologist who warned his readers to “practice safe spirituality.” McColman goes on to caution that the “advice” of spirits “must be in accordance with your own intuition for it to be truly useful.” He goes on to say, “You remain responsible for your own decisions. Remember that spirit guides make mistakes like everybody else!” (Paganism, 128).

Catholics concerned about loved ones involved with witchcraft may not be attracted to witchcraft themselves, but there is danger for them in pursuing dabblers down the road to the occult in hopes of drawing them back. In preparing themselves to answer the claims of witchcraft, they may feel the need to read books like those mentioned in this article. If they are not fully educated and firm in their own faith, such Catholics may find their own faith under attack. Three suggestions are in order.

Not all are called to be apologists. If you are not intellectually and spiritually prepared to answer the claims of witchcraft, leave such work to others. Search out knowledgeable Catholics with whom your loved one can speak.

Prepare yourself. Common sense indicates that if you are about to rappel down a cliff, you do so with safety ropes firmly attached and in the presence of someone you trust who can help you if you are in danger. Don’t even think of rappelling down a spiritual cliff without seeking to fortify yourself intellectually and spiritually—particularly spiritually. Inform your confessor or spiritual director of your plans to study and answer the claims of witchcraft. Ask trusted Catholic friends to pray for your work. Regularly receive the sacraments of confession and the Eucharist. If you need to stop or take a break from this area of apologetics, by all means do so. And, most importantly:

Pray. Whether or not you are called to personally minister to those involved in witchcraft, the most fundamental thing you can do to help witches and other dabblers in the occult is to pray.

Saints whose intercession you can seek include Bl. Bartholomew Longo, the repentant former satanic priest who returned to the Church and spent the rest of his life promoting the rosary; St. Benedict, who battled pagans and whose medal is often worn in protection against the devil; St. Michael the Archangel (Jude 1:9), invoked especially by the prayer for his intercession commonly attributed to Pope Leo XIII. And, of course, there’s St. Paul, who reminds us: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39).

SIDEBARS

The Catechism on Witchcraft

There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. The Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit: “Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.” (CCC 1852)

God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility. (CCC 2115)

All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone. (CCC 2116)

All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others—even if this were for the sake of restoring their health—are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity. (CCC 2117)

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Further Reading

Charlotte Allen, “The Scholars and the Goddess,” The Atlantic, January 2001 (Available online: www.theatlantic.com)

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (HarperCollins)

Sandra Miesel, “Who Burned the Witches?” Crisis, October 2001 (Available online: www.catholiceducation.org)

Sandra Miesel, “The Witches Next Door,” Crisis, June 2002

Catherine Edwards Sanders, Wicca’s Charm: Understanding the Spiritual Hunger Behind the Rise of Modern Witchcraft and Pagan Spirituality (Shaw Books, 2005)

Donna Steichen, Ungodly Rage: The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism (Ignatius, 1991)

Alois Wiesinger, O.C.S.O, Occult Phenomena in the Light of Theology (Roman Catholic Books)

#catholicanswers #catholic answers

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canonicallyanxious · 3 years

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hi, If you are still doing taking asks for the top 5 of whatever, I have one. Top 5 (or 10) scenes in the skamverse?

anon this is a really good ask and i’m unfortunately absolute trash for the skamverse so it’s gonna have to be my top 10 skjdnfskjdnfs in the interest of fairness though I’m going to try my best to limit myself to one scene/clip per season [also cut on this one bc it got long oops]

1. Minutt for minutt [og skam s3]

Words cannot express how much this scene still means to me four years after i first saw it. Like this is the scene that made Even and Isak’s relationship so special to me, this is probably the scene or at least one of them that tipped this show from “oh this is really good” to “i will fucking die on this hill for skam” for me. like, just the tenderness of Isak quietly watching Even as he sleeps. the soft physical affection a mentally ill character is allowed to have on screen. this beautiful yet grounded dialogue about coping with mental illness which cheesy as it might sound is also something i’ve very often taken to heart in my own struggle with coping with mental illness since. like god. truly groundbreaking, honestly.

2. David’s coming out scene in druck s3 ep 8 - “i am a boy. i just have to try a little harder” [druck s3]

this scene came very, very close to beating minutt for minutt and honestly on a different day it might have done so, just today i decided to put minutt for minutt at the top simply because it’s been with me for longer. but i think this was probably the most emotionally moving clip for me in the entire season, and i had the privilege to watch it in real time which makes it even more special to me. it was everything i could have ever wanted from david’s coming out - soft, aching, quiet, devastating writing that broke my entire heart. and “i am a boy; i just have to try a little harder” is probably a line that’s going to stick with me for a very long time. i can’t think of another trans person’s coming out scene in mainstream media that has touched me as deeply as this one.

3. Fatou and Kieu My’s museum date in druck s6 ep 6 [druck s6]

this scene has everything. EVERYTHING. space imagery! soft and tender kisses! hands brushing in the dark! yearning looks! playful banter! serious conversations about feelings that move forward both their development! like it just reminds me so viscerally of falling in love for the first time as a teenager. druck in general i think does a very good job of portraying teen romance but the fact that this teen romance is about two wlwoc [one of whom is vietnamese like bitch!!!!] means EVERYTHING to me. like this more than anything else in the entire skamverse is something I wish my teen self had gotten to see. i’ve probably seen this clip about twenty times because part of me still can’t believe it exists.

4. The Carnival scene at the end of the last episode of skam austin s1 [skam austin s1]

honestly i think the entire last clip of skam austin s1 is just pure excellence [even if they made me watch Meg and Marlon have sex in a car wash smfh]. like one of my favorite things about og skam was how it really gave their characters room to breathe and take their time with their conversations and i think this clip is probably one of the ones that come the closest to capturing that energy for me [no wonder i guess since julie andem was so involved with this season]. but i love the carnival scene in particular because i love the energy it captures in meg’s dynamics with the other characters and it’s just such a nice opportunity for them all to finally breathe after a difficult season. also i will never ever forget the pure euphoria of watching Shay become a confirmed lesbian on screen in real time [even if i still think the way it was done was kinda meh]. i think i was giddy for the rest of the fucking night after i saw that.

5. Nora breaking up with Miquel for good in skamesp s3 ep 8 [skamesp s3]

i actually think skamesp s3 is one of the best remake seasons of the skamverse. An incredible feat for skamesp to make me rank a NOORHELL season near the top, but honestly skamesp s3 is much more than a noorhell season, like i think the story it tells is hard to watch but very important to tell. i especially love this clip because it’s just such a well thought out culmination of Nora’s arc throughout the season. and it’s so devastating in how understated it is. the acting is phenomenal, the lighting is gorgeous, my breath was taken away by the way Nora said “don’t touch me” with her hair blowing gently around her face. just very good.

6. Josh and Nora’s second break-up scene at the end of druck s5 ep 9 [druck s4]

what does it say about me that this is the THIRD BREAK UP CLIP on this list skdjdnfksdnfsdkn. i genuinely did have a really hard time picking one clip for s5 [other top contenders include the last clip of ep 8 and the cuddle clip at the beginning of ep 6] but i went with this one because a. i love to suffer and b. the way josh plays with nora’s jacket and then she gently pulls away and his hands still linger bc he can’t quite bring himself to let her go just yet fucking HAUNTS ME. watching this scene genuinely made me feel like i was going through a break up myself, maybe because it reminded me so much of my own first break up in a lot of ways. kudos to the strong writing and stellar performances from the actors here.

7. Best of Islam [og skam s4]

Yousana the true og m/f relationship i was overly invested in... i miss they... anyway this clip is really good just on its own and i think it’s a good encapsulation of everything i wanted this season to be. i love that Sana got to talk about her experiences and her relationship with her religion; i love that yousef listens to her carefully and talks about his own experiences and feelings; i love their playful energy; I LOVE YOUSEF GIVING SANA THE FLOWER. truly it doesn’t get better than this.

8. Amira and Mohammed get back together at the end of druck s4 ep 7 [druck s4]

i love this scene because i think it showcases the very best of Amira and Mohammed’s dynamic. the way they listen to each other, their playful manner with each other, how utterly taken they are with each other. i love also that Mohammed finally got to talk about his experiences as a refugee and how that connects to his religion. and the whole exchange about baklava still has me so ;-; ;-; the chemistry these two have is absolutely unreal. i will never get over Amira being cheated of the last few episodes of her season. the greatest injustice to experience after a clip like this, truly.

9. Life in Italics [skam austin s2]

aside from the first ep this might be the only clip i’ve actually seen from this season but i stand by this choice sorry not sorry shay dixon performing an absolute bop in a pink wig is just too iconic

10. Crisana cuddle scene in skamesp s2 episode 6 [skamesp s2]

I think I’ve loved basically every remake version of the iconic s3 ep 5 cuddle clip i’ve seen but this one has stuck with me in particular just because it was really special to me to be able to see two girls be so soft and gentle and loving with each other. no excessive make-up, no hypersexualization, nothing glossy or glamorized about it. i honestly often have a really hard time connecting to teen wlw romance but this was one of those times it actually felt real to me. also the song choice for this clip is simply chef’s kiss

Ask me my top 5/10 anything!

#the way this is showing my entire ass as a druck stan ksjnfskdnfds #FOUR DRUCK CLIPS ON THIS LIST #I'M NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT SORRY #if i had let myself i probably would have put even more druck clips on here #probably from s3 or s5 #tbf if i had allowed myself more than one clip a season o helga natt would have absolutely made it on here too #it's just minutt for minutt means so much to me personally #but i think o helga natt is just gorgeously crafted #answers #Anonymous

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acti-veg · 4 years

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I'm vegetarian with an interest in going vegan bc it "feels right" to minimize my violence footprint, but I'm curious to havw your insight on ethics based veganism and its extensions. For context, my fam is Jain so they don't eat onions, garlic, root vegetables, figs etc. The idea is that some vegetables are inethical to consume because there may be insects inside and others because if you eat the root, the plant will die (as opposed to fruit igs). But technically this logical can be extended(1)

forever right? During our holy festival, we boil all our water so we don't accidentally ingest microbes and we don't pour hot water down the drain similarly so microbes and small insects are not hurt. But, boiling water will still kill insects, we will still inhale microbes--its impossible to be completely nonviolent, so where do we draw the line? At what point to we begin living again conveniently rather than ethically? Does our contribution "matter" if our peers are largely unchanging (2)

Intention, action and impact as if it doesnt have plural and reverberating consequences (4). Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this avatar of existentialism

I just want to preface this by saying that I am really interested in Jainism and I respect it’s ideology in many ways, I understand that religious issues can be sensitive but I hope that none of this will offend you, and if it does I hope you’ll know that it isn’t my intention. I also didn’t get ask number 3, so I can only answer the sections I did receive.

Jainism is probably the religion which is most compatible with veganism, alongside some forms of modern paganism. That said, I do find some of the lines drawn by modern practitioners to be pretty arbitrary. Boiling water to avoid microbes, but not applying the principle of ahisma to animals who clearly are harmed and killed in order to accquire a product like milk or eggs, is more than a little bit contradictory.

Whenever I ask Jains about veganism, the responses I get were pretty disappointingly similar to the ones I get from every other non-vegan. ‘Treated well,’ ‘we heed x and y vitamins,’ ‘ethical sourcing’, ‘it is permitted by Jainism’ etc. Some talk about ahisma dairies, but only getting dairy from these places would mean a completely plant-based diet 99% of the time. Yet harm understood as not killing but still exploiting is limited in my view, and I’ve never really heard a solid justification for that.

The problem is that any ideology based around non-violence or harm reduction will always have to draw a line somewhere, and you can always argue that where this line precisely is drawn is based on arbitrary criteria, because it always will be in some respects. It ends up being about what I can practically do as opposed to what I should do according to my own principles. If I believe in environmentalism I can stop buying single-use plastics but I may still have to drive to work, for example. I can’t stop people littering but I can stop individual contributions to it. Similarly, as a Jain you can boil your water but can’t avoid killing microbes as you wash and just move around in the world. There will always be some ‘what about x, what about y’ involved, because it’s not practically possible to avoid all harm.

I think that the concept of intention is an important one, at the time I think a lot of the rules of Jainism were the best attempt to not harm that was available at the time it was developed, but practitioners have ended up sticking with those ancient principles and turned them into normative rules, rather than adapting them to the modern world. Nowadays, I think a lot of the acts involved in practicing Jainism have become largely symbolic. Some of these acts do practically avoid causing harm, but as you said, this could be extended far further than it is in mainstream Jainism. I think that practitioners demonstrate their commitment to ahisma with these acts, while recognising that of course, they can’t live entirely non-violent lives free of causing any harm. Again, intention becomes the important factor.

As for whether or not this makes a difference or has an impact, I think at a micro level it definitely does, which is sort of the point. Jains aren’t trying to make everyone Jains, so there is no evangelical movement per ce, no attempt at some macro global change, but as an individual agent acting on individual beings in the universe, my actions do matter within the scope of the beings they affect. If I don’t go fishing then I have not stopped others from doing so, but my actions do make a difference to that fish. If I don’t remove that carrot and don’t displace those microbes or insect, my actions make a difference to those individual beings, even if the person next to me won’t do the same.

From what I gather, most Jains feel like the act of living out non-violence has an impact on the self and on the individuals concerned, and I can get behind that as a concept. The principle of ahisma is really about radical non-violence, and I think in living that way and demonstrating it to others you do make a real difference, even if that impact isn’t always tangible. I think that trying to live in such a way as to cause the least harm possible is a beautiful thing, it’s the same thing that vegans are doing, we just have different interpretations of what that means and why we are motivated to do it.

#ask #vegan #religion #jainism

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honestsycrets · 3 years

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[1/5] I'm the anon who was messaging Laketaj. If I might've offended other people, that wasn't my intention. I'm not good with social cues, any of the socials cues I have are worse on media because I don't know the ways a person could act or react to something (being autistic is really my way of not knowing cues). When creating original characters, I do prefer to make a diverse cast in some way - ethnicity, sexuality, disability - to the best of my ability. I know there were people of different

Comments below the cut.

[2/5] Ethnicities, cultures. Watching certain shows and movies could help to some extent for people. But depending on the era, I might not one who knows about specific eras away from shows. Like Vikings.. I know about the characters based on real people, but not really much else. Besides the occasional trivia. And in the show - and also history too - I've only seen certain cultures mentioned. We already know the European cultures, the Asian (Yidu), Middle Eastern. And I know that there was a lot

[3/5] Slaves, traders, merchants and many other occupations (for lack of another word) for people. For the Viking era.. I know there is most, if not all, cultures existed in that era. The only difference is that certain country, certain lands, didn't exist at the time (like America) so I would have to make sure to research countries that existed at those times before creating a character based on certain things about them though. The stories in historical eras would be completely different than

[4/5] more modern eras. I don't know why I keep repeating certain words. Anyway! So writing a modern verse would be different than writing a historical verse. But I wanted to write (at least) one Vikings story in their time. So I wanted to try being accurate to the best of my ability. But like I was mentioning before, I'm creating some characters based on people I know personally. One of those characters is based on someone I know who is half black, and the face claim for her is also half black.

[5/5] The face claim I'm using, her nationality is Swiss in real life so I might keep that. Wait.. Did Switzerland existed in that time? My brain is fried from overthinking at the moment. If I need to, I'll change those details for the character. We already know about the cultures that are apart of Asia, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures in Vikings. Maybe you could help me? Or maybe someone could help me? When it comes to ethnicities in historical eras, I'll still figuring things out.

Don’t worry about offending anyone. My commentary was mostly on the Viking fiction in mainstream media and gross ass supremacists. In addition to looking up things on say, ancient encyclopedia: check out archaeology.org for their newest findings. They really have a lot of interesting new finds that might give you perspective on the fluidity of interaction and cultural contact.

So black, half-black, whatever: you can swing this easily as the Moors that took over Spain in about the 8th century on through the Viking age. There were raids early in the 9th century as well, so there is a good basis there for your characters.

Switzerland did not become a country until 1848. Before then it was apart of the German legacy. I’m going to respectfully say that I’m not sure what all your questions are but I’m sure there are people to help if you ask around. @youbloodymadgenius can probably clue you into some Swtiz history if that’s what you need.

I wouldn’t think too deeply about ethnicity. From what I’ve learned about the Medieval time, it was more contingent on sects of religion and who tolerated who. If you’re looking into how Vikings would encounter other people; they were raiders and traders. They had contact with tons of different people from different backgrounds. It’s just a matter of considering what you want in your characters.

Don’t get too wrapped up in historical accuracy. It kills a writer’s soul. This past month I received an email for an author who has been trying to publish a book longer than I’ve been alive and looking to me for guidance. I’m sure anything you write will be great. Just put yourself out there. We learn by doing.

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fire-fira · 4 years

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Nonbinary Awareness Week Day 5: Misconceptions

What’s something people most commonly get wrong about my gender?:

That I’m ‘in between’ woman and man.

That by saying I’m third-gender that somehow means I’m ‘both’ a woman and a man (and no shade to anyone who’s bigender or genderfluid/flux and those are their gender(s), but that is NOT what I am).

That I say I am what I am for ‘attention’. (Seriously, wtf.)

That I’m ‘confused’. (And my grandmother can piss off entirely in that regard tbh.)

That by not having a gender that has anything to do with being a woman or a man that it automatically means I’m agender. (Again, no shade to people who are agender, but that’s just not what I am.)

That all nonbinary people have the same gender and therefore my gender will match another enby’s or theirs will match mine. (Especially since in my experience I’m very frequently the first-- out --enby that people in my area who aren’t nonbinary encounter.)

What do I think are the most dangerous misconceptions about nonbinary people?:

That we’re all faking who we are for attention and therefore ‘should’ be brushed off and ignored instead of being ‘humored’ in our ‘delusions’. (Yes that attitude pisses me the hell off. Immensely.)

That all enbies are skinny white AFAB teens who thrive on drama-- and therefore ‘should’ be ignored, etc, etc.

That we’re ‘trans-lite™️’ and therefore our concerns aren’t as important as binary trans people’s.

That being nonbinary is a ‘fad’, which serves to erase the fact that people who don’t fit in rigidly defined and gendered boxes have existed as long as humanity has. In the worst cases this can be so damn isolating that it can have serious negative mental (and physical) health consequences.

I could keep going, particularly in regards to what little information is out there regarding our social outcomes (I highly recommend checking out [this report by the National Transgender Discrimination Survey]-- focused only on the US, sorry-- if you’re curious), but tbh it’s upsetting enough that I don’t care to get into the specifics atm.

Among what groups do I encounter misconceptions most commonly?:

That’s a good question.

I guess I can say mostly from those who are ignorant and unwilling to learn that there are life experiences beyond their own understanding of how the world works. Some are that way because they’re convinced their way is the only way; others are that way because they’re convinced if they ask any questions they’ll immediately be torn into and attacked because they think enbies are so ‘unreasonable’.

White christians or white people of christian-branched religions are pretty well prone to not getting it. I’m sorry, but a lot of you have a REALLY hard time wrapping your heads around the idea that the gender binary isn’t the be-all and end-all of gender. (Not saying this is true of all of you by any means-- I actually know and am friends with some white christians who have zero difficulty with the idea and letting people be who they are-- but it’s still pretty damn pervasive.)

Cis people who (to their knowledge) don’t interact with trans or nonbinary people all that much, if at all. If this describes you, please educate yourself. There are loads of resources out there and tons of information.

What’s one thing binary people need to understand about my gender?:

I am what I’ve always been. I’m not a woman, I’m not a man, and I’m not genderless-- my gender just has zero relation to womanhood or manhood-- and this isn’t some recent development. The only difference between now and the past is that in the past I was lying about my gender and trying to piece together what it was without any real points of reference. No, this doesn’t mean I’m ‘lost’ or ‘confused’ or ‘delusional’ or ‘lying for attention’; it means that I had to figure out who I am without social scripts set in place to tell me what I ‘should’ have been, and therefore I know myself better than a lot of people can say about themselves. And above all else, my gender shouldn’t be any more a radical ‘personal’ statement than it is for a woman or man to assert what they are.

What should binary people never say to or ask me?:

“You’re so pretty. Why would you do that to yourself?/Why would you hate yourself that much?” FFS, being nonbinary is not a ‘condition’ and me being ‘pretty’ doesn’t even fucking enter into it because I HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THE GD BONE-STRUCTURE OF MY FACE. So please, for the love of everything, do NOT ever use my looks to call my gender into question or act like my gender is somehow an expression of self-hate.

“Are you sure you’re nonbinary?” I. Am 34. Goddamn. Years old. I get that I’m like a freaking elf and look younger than I am, but I think I freaking know myself by now. Plus? Anyone who’s willing to say outright in public that they’re nonbinary has already put a lot of thought into their gender and identity. If they’re saying it to you, you’d damn well better believe that they’re sure about who they are. (And btw, it’s condescending and arrogant AF to think you know someone’s gender(s) better than they do.)

“Your hair’s so long and feminine! Why would you not want to be a woman?” 1) I. AM. NOT. A. WOMAN. Do not fucking call me one or imply I’m one. 2) There is nothing inherently feminine about long hair. There are more cultures than mainstream US culture, and I’m freaking Native-- so knock it tf off with that ‘long hair is always girly’ crap. (Apologies to people in general for how snarly that is, but when you’ve been called something you’re not your entire life it can get infuriating as hell.)

“At least you’re consistent. Not like some people who can’t make up their minds.” Seriously, do not. Just do not throw genderfluid/genderflux enbies under the bus because you have a harder time grasping someone’s gender shifting than the idea of someone like me whose gender is static.

Just... stop with the equating things beyond people’s control to femininity or masculinity.

“All nonbinary people are AFAB.” It’s ignorant af. Do not.

I’m calling it good here. This is grumpy enough without extending it further.

---

[Day 1]

[Day 2]

[Day 3]

[Day 4]

#NBWeek #Nonbinary Awareness Week #NonbinaryAwarenessWeek #nonbinary #non-binary #my life #long post

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johannesviii · 4 years

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Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2005

16 to 17 years old. Finished public highschool, started public university in September. Looking back at 2003-2005 feels like looking at ten years of my life condensed in three. Exhausting.

Also we’re now past the halfway point of these lists! And this is another exceptionally good year for hits.

Disclaimers:

Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.

Of course there will be stuff in French. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.

My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.

I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.

So I finished highschool that year. I met my best friend ever in late 2004 and we even had some sort of small crew back then! I had a bit of a crush on her but alas it wasn’t meant to be. I don’t know who invented the term ‘friendzone’ but they got its meaning completely wrong because staying friends basically forever with someone you love can be a fantastic thing. Things weren’t rosy nor perfect that year, of course, and I still was miserable at home, but I’m not sure where I’ll be today without her. She's amazing and she still lives nearby nowadays. Shoutout: if you read this, E., you pretty much saved my life.

I was still making tapes and burning CDs, still using my trusty portable cd player, and always listening to stuff while drawing during recess, sitting in a corner and doodling stuff in my sketchbook on the floor like a weird gangly goblin.

I had already started to buy Rock Mag in August 2004 but it really became my monthly ritual in 2005, and it lasted until autumn 2007. A reliable source of posters to cover my walls. At that point they were almost completely covered with paintings, drawings, torn pages from magazines and posters of Linkin Park, Mylène Farmer, Placebo and Indochine.

I also had a better access to the family computer and was a bit more involved online. Might explain why the number of singles I was buying plummeted.

It’s time once again for some (ok, many) honorable mentions!

Beverly Hills (Weezer) - I don’t even know why I like this but I do.

Bouger Bouger (Magic System) - I never understood why it was cool to make fun of these guys in my country. Their music is so happy and fun.

Holiday (Green Day) - My brother loved that band and listened to it a lot, and I was 100% fine with that.

Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day) - See above.

Gabriel (Najoua Belyzel) - That is so-bad-it’s-good at its finest right here.

Candy Shop (50 Cents) - As a sucker for terrible puns (HA, get it?? I’m sorry I’ll get out immediately) I can’t help it, I love this.

Love Generation (Bob Sinclar) - Stay tuned for more of this guy on another list.

Listen to Your Heart (DHT) - The original is better, but it was really nice to hear that again on the radio.

We Be Burnin’ (Sean Paul) - Not my favorite but still damn good.

Bad Day (Daniel Powter) - I even bought the single. What can I say except “relatable”.

All About Us (Tatu) - I bought that single as well. Almost made the list.

Le Bateau Blanc (Karol) - The last cut from the list. Not even kidding at all. I’m still not sure if Keane deserves to be on the list more than this to be honest.

Like it happened previously with Placebo not being elligible at all, it is a complete outrage that Precious by Depeche Mode isn’t elligible for this list. Like, what the f█ck. Playing the Angel was one of the defining albums of the year to me. I’m not even sure it would have topped the list, maybe #2, but it still feels wrong.

There’s another band who’s complete absence from this top feels kinda painful to me, considering how much I loved their new album at the time. Indeed, no single from Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance is elligible for this list, and it feels wrooooong, man. I love I’m not okay and especially Thank You For the Venom, but even Helena would have been nice. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

For some unfathomable reason, Get The Party Started (Pink) and, even more unexplainable, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me (Culture Club) recharted in France in 2005 and both made the year-end top 100. The fact they are both elligible but all the stuff mentioned above this paragraph isn’t makes no sense whatsoever.

And now, the actual list!

10 - Everybody’s Changing (Keane)

US: Not on the list / FR: #48

Pretty great even though it’s not my favorite Keane song. That would be Crystal Ball. It’s fantastic and as a person who is scared, above all, by existential horror, the music video is terrifying. Sadly, it’s not elligible for my 2006 list, so Everybody’s Changing will have to be its slightly less good proxy for 2005.

9 - Et Si En Plus Ya Personne (Alain Souchon)

US: Not on the list / FR: #100

This has to be the most borderline non-elligible song ever put on one of my lists. But I’m glad it is still elligible. Remember the song on the 1993 list that I called an “anticapitalist ballad”? Well that’s the same guy. And this time it’s a song about how religion can cause both beautiful things and war, and how “the sky might be empty” because of us. It’s great. Here’s a translation. You’re welcome.

8 - F█ck Them All (Mylène Farmer)

US: Not on the list / FR: #62

Aaaaaaaaand unfortunately for everyone including myself, she’s back. Not her best song by a mile (told you it was all downhill after C’est Une Belle Journée didn’t I), but still pretty damn good, and that music video where she’s destroying bird-like scarecrows is amazing so here’s a bonus gif.

7 - Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day)

US: #7 / FR: Not on the list

My brother LOVED this band and listened to it SO MUCH. And yeah, they were very good and that song might just be my favorite one from them. I don’t have much more to say about it, you all know it already. Let’s move on.

6 - Sugar We’re Going Down (Fall Out Boy)

US: #40 / FR: Not on the list

Again, it feels wrong that both Fall Out Boy AND Panic! at the Disco were elligible for this list but not My Chemical Romance. I was never a fan of these two acts, at all, and their supposed rivalry was kinda hilarious to watch from afar. With a bucket of popcorn. While listening to Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and nodding sadly, of course.

This is still a great song, mind you.

5 - Feel Good Inc (Gorillaz)

US: #37 / FR: Not on the list (really? wtf happened)

Again, I live with someone who loves Gorillaz, so I claim overexposure.

It’s still #5 on a list based on a very, very good year.

That’s quality for you.

4 - Speed of Sound (Coldplay)

US: #57 / FR: Not on the list

A new chapter in the ascension of Coldplay from “Johannes hates this band” to “this is one of the best mainstream bands we have”. An epic saga, years in the making, and Speed of Sound was basically the last scene of Act One. Not my favorite song from X&Y (that would be Talk), but still really good. Hell, I even bought the single, and goodness knows I wasn’t buying a lot of singles anymore in 2005.

Holy shit, half of these are Benassi Bros garbage. None of them are elligible, though! Dodged a bullet there, didn’t I.

3 - Numb/Encore (JayZ + Linkin Park)

US: #93 / FR: #75

What a blessed mashup. For a few magical months in 2005, all the punk goth kids and the hiphop kids were united under this song’s banner and it felt like world peace had been achieved. It could have pissed off everybody but no! Everyone loved it instead!

“But Johannes, this is just Numb all over again with different lyrics. You can’t keep putting Linkin Park at the top of your lists forever.” Sadly no, I can’t. I know. It’s only #3. Don’t yell at me. Also, the next two songs are genuinely better, at least in my opinion!

2 - Lift Me Up (Moby)

US: Not on the list / FR: #31

I heard this on the radio and bought the album, Hotel, on the grounds that Natural Blues from 2000 was one of my favorite songs ever and than it wouldn’t hurt to actually own an album of that guy after all that time (”all that time” being only five years, but please keep in mind the past three years had felt like ten, and in my mind, they still do ; trauma is one hell of a thing). And a couple of days later that year, we went to Disneyland for my brother’s birthday, and I only had a small bag that could contain my cd player, and the earphones and nothing else. So I could only put one cd in it and that was it.

So I picked Hotel, and I basically retreated inside of it whenever my mother was starting to talk aggressively, which happened a lot in the various queues. So in the end, I listened to that cd a LOT that day and every single time, it would calm me while still being energetic enough to keep me enthusiastic for the various Disneyland rides.

Lift Me Up is energetic but cold, aerial but distant, uplifting but sinister. It was the perfect song for someone who was, at the time, trying to tone down their aggressivity and anger and trying to be masculine but in a softer way, while still staying themselves and not giving up the fight. I absolutely adore this song. It’s perfect.

It instantly joined my list of favorite songs ever that year.

1 - Mr Brightside (The Killers)

US: #16 / FR: Not on the list (this feels so wrong)

If I had to make a top ten of the hits of that entire decade, this would be #2. No debate whatsoever.

Because holy shit.

I was already sold on that band after hearing Somebody Told Me on the radio, which sadly isn’t elligible for this list (I instantly loved it, first because it was catchy as hell, but also because I love the chorus “Well somebody told me you had a boyfriend / Who looked like a girlfriend / That I had in February of last year", because as you already know I tend to be extremely literal minded and my immediate conclusion was “wow you two dated the same trans guy before and after he was out of the closet” and that was highkey relatable and no you can’t change my mind). So I bought the album about two weeks after, mostly blind, because the cd store was playing it and also because Rock Mag said it was great.

That was an understatement. Hot Fuss is one of the best albums of the entire decade and you probably know that already. The first song, Jenny Was a Friend of Mine, floored me right after putting the cd in the player and it felt like the album already reached its peak and there were still 12 tracks after that.

The very next track was Mr. Brightside. And. How do I put this.

There’s like a dozen interpretations possible for this song, and most of them are something like “this guy is so anxious and paranoid he’s gonna break up with this girl because he keeps imagining her cheating with another guy and it might not even be real.”

Now might be a good moment to remind you that at the time, I had a crush on my best friend, and was still firmly in the closet. And this song starts, as everyone knows, with “Coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine“.

So... yeah. This is the song that accidentally convinced me the closet sucked and did nothing to deter bullies anyway, and that after more than three years of feeling mostly miserable, I should try to be myself and screw the consequences. I know it wasn’t the original intention behind that song. But still.

Godspeed, The Killers. I owe you one, guys.

Next up: Still not able to put Indochine nor Placebo on a list, OP is this close to punching a wall

#Johannes’ bad not good pretty terrible music lists #music #long post #eye contact tw

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thanatosat9to5 · 4 years

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Some Thoughts On Laveyan Satanism

I’m currently reading a book about Goetia, Qabalah, and the Qliphoth, and it has me reminiscing on how back in high school I was really interested in Laveyan Satanism (LS). I was raised heavily Catholic growing up and LS was refreshing to me in that it seemed to attract those who wanted to operate with a purity of intent and action that I say was occluded in the Christians I knew. I’ve read part of the Satanic Bible back in the day, but didn’t finish it (I’m notorious for not finishing books). Considering that it was published in 1969, it was paradoxically a product and reflection of its time, revolutionary, and part of a long-standing occultic tradition.

The Satanic Bible/LS was very much born out of the spirit of the anti-establishment sentiment of the 60s in a similar but different vein of the hippie movement, anti Vietnam War protests, and the Black Civil Rights movement. Philosophically, LS has roots in Epicureanism, Nietzsche, Ayn Rand, materialism, secularism, and Western occultism. But unlike the rest of these anti-establishment movements, it had strong Social Darwinist and Randian (like I mentioned before) elements. If I had to place it on the political spectrum it would lean towards right-wing libertarianism with its strong emphasis on individualism and individual liberty, nobility in strength, and the natural principle of the strong overcoming the weak. With its anti-transcendentalism and materialism, it’s very much the spirituality of the capitalist spirit.

With that said, I do want to go into some detail into the differences between left hand path and right hand path traditions. Wikipedia distinguishes these two by this,

Right-Hand Path The Right-Hand Path is commonly thought to refer to magical or religious groups which adhere to a certain set of characteristics: 1.They divide the concepts of mind, body and spirit into three separate, albeit interrelated, entities.

2. They adhere to a specific moral code and a belief in some form of judgement, such as karma or the Threefold Law.

The occultist Dion Fortune considered Abrahamic religions to be RHP.

Left-Hand Path

The historian Dave Evans studied self-professed followers of the Left-Hand Path in the early 21st century, making several observations about their practices:

1. They often reject societal convention and the status quo, which some suggest is in a search for spiritual freedom. As a part of this, LHP followers embrace magical techniques that would traditionally be viewed as taboo, for instance using sex magic or embracing Satanic imagery. As Mogg Morgan wrote, the "breaking of taboos makes magic more potent and can lead to reintegration and liberation, [for example] the eating of meat in a vegetarian community can have the same liberating effect as anal intercourse in a sexually inhibited straight society."

2. They often question religious or moral dogma, instead adhering to forms of personal anarchism.

3. They often embrace sexuality and incorporate it into magical ritual.

Of course this is a very broad strokes view of the two, but this is generally how it goes. Philosophically, right hand path religions like Christianity and mainstream strands of Buddhism and Hinduism tend toward the metaphysic of the One, the One and the All, “we are all One" and live under the providence of a higher power or principle. Universal consciousness precedes matter and embodiment. We are embodiments or representations of this universal consciousness or spirit. However, since the world is filled with sin and illusion, our relationship to this universal principle is occluded, and we must transcend the ways of the world in order to reconnect with it. The separation and interrelationship between the mind, body, and soul mirrors the many layers of reality that obscures us from this first principle.

On the other hand, left hand path philosophies typically operate under this principle,

[..]solve et coagula ("dissolve and precipitate"), confronting the negative in order to transmute it into desirable qualities. Left-handed path practitioners descend towards union with the divine to obtain Godhood status, with God-like powers of their own, having reunited with the ultimate divine source-energy; then once there, taking one more step separating from that divinity, out of this creation into a new creation of their own making, with themselves as the sole divinity of the new universe, apart from the previous creation." (Wikipedia)

If RHP traditions emphasize ultimate cosmic union, then LHP traditions emphasize separation and dissolution with the Divine in order to establish and exercise personal power. In the book I’m reading, the 10 sephiroth of the Tree of Life operate in equal unity, none overcomes the other, and it’s when the one of the sephira (Geburah in particular in Lurianic Qabbalah) over exerts its influence is how evil enters creation and the emergence of the ten parallel emanations of the Tree of Life from this fissure is called Schebirath ha-Kelim (Hebrew for “breaking of the vessels”). Thus the Tree of Death, Qliphoth, was born. Another key distinction between the LHP and RHP traditions is how they treat evil. Evil, for the most part, can be divided into 4 categories:

1. Natural Evil - Disease, natural disasters, the cruelty of nature

2. Moral Evil - How we conceptualize and prescribe our thoughts and behaviors

3. Metaphysical Evil - The imperfection of creation which can be backboned by,

4. Primordial Evil - A cosmological account of evil and how it proceeds human and material existence.

Different religions will have differing accounts on 1, 3, and 4, but for the most part have similar accounts on 2 (speaking of RHP traditions). At least according to the Satanic Bible, the existence of God and Satan is a thing (there’s the common misconception that it’s entirely atheistic). But they view God as a primordial, cosmic force that’s indifferent to the affairs of humans. Rather than an anthropomorphic deity whose relatively concerned with what we do, God is treated as an abstract property of the universe similar to atoms, electrons, etc but with more symbolic impact. Symbolically, God and Satan represent certain mentalities and aspects of consciousness. If God represents blind allegiance to authority, resentiment, order, and slave morality, then Satan represents freedom, creativity, chaos, and master morality. From that follows an ethical system that doesn’t rest upon God and on appeasing him, but rather a more humanistic one based on science, some variation of the social contract, and honoring your self-interests while respecting others’ right to follow theirs. There’s no transcendence from this world and our base instincts but rather a disciplined honing of those instincts to help us be more self-aware and find the power that’s immanent within the self.

#musings #laveyan satanism #satanism #left hand path #right hand path

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mrsq8geek · 4 years

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Advice for an aspiring author hoping to write lgbt muslim characters?

Hi, thanks for your question! This is quite the rabbit hole, so I can't cover everything, but I did my best. Some general guidelines and then my own view:

1. Do not write this story unless it is from personal experience or with the direct express written permission from the person it’s based on, and I hesitate with that second one. Like many other experiences, this story hasn’t been told all that often, so unless you’re one of the above, you don’t have many points of reference and will probably get it wrong and, I suspect, as ‘exotic’.

That said:

2. Start by examining yourself. One of my favourite resources is @writingwithcolor, which has many great references for this. At this point, we're asking questions such as "Why do you not want to represent us?" and "Why do you need to tell this story right now?" among others. Do check it out.

3. Please, please don't write an apologetic acceptably assimilated model minority. I don't know where you're from, or where you intend to set the story, but we're all influenced by American media, so I feel it's important to mention. We generally don't have positive feelings towards those characters, let alone relating to them, at least not to the aspects where they're supposed to represent us.

(My personal pet peeve example is Abed Nadir from Community, a Muslim enamoured with Christmas and is an all-around Acceptable Arab... played by an Indian actor. It's extra irking because the show was touted as being Better Than Big Bang Theory, and it seemed okay addressing many other nuances, but when it came to this? Think of it this way: why didn't they cast an Asian actress to play Britta or Annie and called her white? Or, indeed, an Indian actress to play Shirley and called her black? Because clearly they believe the audience can't tell the difference? Arabs are black or white but not brown, guys. Not all Arabs are Muslims and vice versa. Some Muslims are (gasp!) white.)

Anyway, the point is Abed, and others like him, are non-threatening. They reject their own identity and are desperate to be Just Like Us Default White People. While this is definitely the case for some people, 1. it's not the case for most people, 2. it's just a really tired trope especially in current times, and 3. the other side of this trope’s coin is that in order to be acceptable for The West, they have to rebel against their character’s original identity, which is just as tired.

But I digress. You already know by asking this question that it’s controversial. Why not play it straight instead? Pun unintended. Do your research, whatever way you choose to go.

4. Speaking of doing your research, do. your. research! Muslims are a diverse group of about 2 billion people*. There are two major sects and many smaller ones. In the major ones, homosexuality (etc) is a sin, haram, full stop, end of sentence. Any level of presenting like the opposite gender is not only haram, it’s cursed. Yes, there are many people coming up with exceptions and loopholes, or just doing what they want regardless, and if you want to write about them, that's your prerogative, but:

* so Kamala Khan, for example, is completely unrelatable to me. (See: 9)

5. You know what else is considered haram in majority Islam? Extra-marital sex. Pork. Alcohol. Drugs, yes including cannabis, in fact even nutmeg. People do all that anyway! Especially in non-Muslim-majority countries where the laws don’t make it harder for them, or in poorer Muslim-majority countries where people don’t get educated in religious matters, or indeed all over everywhere because not all people of any religion actively practice that religion. It's a non-issue by this point.

5A. The only reason LGBT Muslims is An Issue, and it’s An Issue Now, is because America’s making it one. It’s no different than, say, modern white feminism. They stir the pot, we deal with the mess.

5B. Muslims are people, and people aren't perfect. We know this, and we've addressed it as nauseam… and that’s just it, we’re allowed* to talk about these things because we know ourselves and our experiences. It’s more acceptable coming from us to us because we have a common ground to start discussing things.

* I wrote allowed, but it really depends on the situation. Sometimes you’re not allowed simply because you don’t want to make it an issue, and that’s okay too.

5C. Since you’re asking, I’m assuming you’re not a Muslim yourself, and that puts a layer on scrutiny on you. We don’t know where to begin to talk to you, and it’s worse if you represent us in any controversial way or in any way less than perfect. Less than perfect by whose standards? It depends. Nobody knows! (See: 3)

5D. Examine yourself, research the topic, and know just what you’re trying to say.

6. That said, here’s my personal take on it that I’d love to see someone do, but haven’t so far. I don’t know how people arrive at their sexuality, whether it’s by nature or nurture, but they do end up there one way or another. When it comes to Islam, you’re highly encouraged to (heterosexually, to be clear) marry and reproduce. You’re discouraged from sex outside that framework. If you are unable to marry for whatever reason, you’re supposed to find a way to deal with it. Fasting is often recommended.

And the way I see it, finding yourself not being attracted to the opposite gender is just one reason to not marry. “So I NEVER get to have sex?” Yes, just like your straight brothers and sisters who realize they can never marry for their own reasons. Maybe their health prevents them. Maybe they have family depending on them, especially financially, and they realize can’t add a husband or wife into the mix. Maybe they’re incompatible with the person they wanted.

The West worships Romantic Love (also money, but that’s another thing), but it really isn’t everything in life*. Just see any post here on tumblr dot com discussing the different kinds of love the Romans acknowledged and wrote about extensively. Yes, it’s a powerful drive, but again, it’s not the only thing in life, and coming to that realization is its own journey.

* (Something something Harry Potter)

I am so, so sick and tired of characters who don’t practice their religion (“hi, I’m Muslim/Jewish/Christian/Hindu/Buddhist/whatever, but I will have that pork, that beef cheeseburger, whatever”*), and equally tired of characters who are the personification of their religion (“hi, I’m religious, hear me act out my stereotypes”). Don’t get me started on characters who exist just so the authors can bash that religion.

* a recent disappointing example was the show Crazy Ex Girlfriend. When Rebecca is first introduced, I was excited to learn the show was about a Jewish character, finally a religious character portrayed as practicing! But it was quickly revealed they were focusing on the cultural aspects, and not only is she non-practicing, she doesn’t even believe any god exists. Snore. In contrast, see: Shepherd Book from the show Firefly. Not just a practicing Christian, an actually interesting character in his own right. Not a perfect person by far, but someone who’s doing his utmost to live his life and still maintain his faith.

I want a Muslim character who finds themselves attracted to whomever, someone from the same gender or whatever you want, or feeling like they want to present as not their birth gender, and then proceeds to do what so many of us real-life Muslims do: find ways to deal with it and come to terms with it. Acknowledge it and make peace with it. Make the choice, the conscious decision, to remain faithful to their beliefs and maybe not pursue a romantic relationship with the other person… and instead interact with them like a human being they care about. Help them reach a goal or achieve a dream, keep them safe from harm, something. Maybe focus on the traits of the other gender that are accessible, or fight the toxic effects of the patriarchy, something. Writing like “a happy ending == they end up together”, and any and all other outcomes are Bad and Tragic and Void, is boring and unrealistic.

Just as a black woman being soft and feminine is a rebellion against the mainstream, a religious character sticking to their faith above all else is way more interesting than yet another character breaking the rules.

Addendums:

7. “But Islam is homophobic?” No, Islam has rules against intentionally engaging in specific behaviors. You’re not faulted for having low alcohol tolerance, you’re faulted for the act of consumption. You’re not faulted for being addicted to drugs, you’re faulted for making the decision to try it the first time, or if you were tricked into it, for not trying to get clean once you’re there. However! People, all people, hashtag not just Muslims, often try to enforce rules by creating fear and hatred around them. It’s a convenient societal shorthand, even if the consequences can be different than intended. It’s the same mechanism that leads to “abstinence = zero sex ed” in the US. Abstinence isn’t the issue, people trying to enforce it by making information around sex opaque are the ones causing problems.

So some Muslim people end up homophobic, and some Muslim people go all in the other direction, because the balance is delicate and difficult to find.

8. “LGBT stories aren’t just about sex, what about asexuals, transsexuals, etc?” True, but most LGBT stories tend to go in that direction, and I’m keeping it as broad as I can here.

9. Even if your character is Muslim but not Arab, it’s probably going to come up, in your research if not in your story. Although the most populous Muslim nation is Indonesia and the most famous “Muslim” terrorists are Afghani, the most prominent Muslim sites are in Saudi Arabia and Palestine. The branding is there. With that in mind, required reading is the film Reel Bad Arabs, and any primers you can find on Orientalism, Colonialism, and Imperialism.

***

Honourable mentions:

Check out the Saudi series Masameer by Myrkott on YouTube, many episodes have subtitles. They recently made a movie and it's on Netflix internationally! You can't escape American Imperialism any more than you can escape British Colonialism*, but we're all way past being enamoured by them. The Emirati series Freej is also in Youtube, sans subtitles, though the DVDs have them, and I’ll leave it at that. Hashtag quarantine let us catch up on shows? Stay safe, stay home.

* she said, in English.

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