#deep connectedness

[coven-of-genesis]

How to incorporate spirituality into your everyday life

Incorporating spirituality into everyday life can bring a sense of purpose, inner peace, and connectedness.

Here are some ways to do it:

1. **Mindfulness and Presence**: Practice being fully present in the moment. This can be through meditation, deep breathing exercises, or simply taking a moment to observe your surroundings.

2. **Gratitude Practice**: Reflect on and express gratitude for the blessings in your life. This can be done through journaling or simply taking a moment each day to acknowledge what you're thankful for.

3. **Acts of Kindness**: Perform acts of kindness towards others without expecting anything in return. This can be as simple as offering a kind word, helping someone in need, or volunteering your time.

4. **Reflective Practices**: Engage in activities like journaling, prayer, or contemplation to reflect on your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. This can help you gain insight and connect with your inner self.

5. **Connect with Nature**: Spend time in nature, appreciating its beauty and serenity. This can foster a sense of awe and wonder, helping you feel more connected to the universe.

6. **Engage in Spiritual Study**: Read books, attend lectures, or participate in discussions related to spirituality and personal growth. This can help deepen your understanding and provide new perspectives.

7. **Cultivate Compassion**: Practice compassion and empathy towards yourself and others. Understand that we all have our struggles and challenges.

8. **Set Intentions**: Begin your day with a clear intention, whether it's to be more patient, kind, or focused. This can guide your actions and help you stay aligned with your spiritual goals.

9. **Practice Forgiveness**: Let go of resentment and practice forgiveness, both towards others and yourself. This can free you from negative emotions and promote inner peace.

10. **Engage in Rituals**: Create personal rituals or routines that hold meaning for you. This could be a morning ritual, a bedtime routine, or any practice that helps you feel more grounded.

11. **Community and Connection**: Seek out like-minded individuals or groups who share your spiritual beliefs and values. Connecting with others can provide support and a sense of belonging.

12. **Live in Alignment with Your Values**: Strive to live in a way that aligns with your spiritual beliefs and values. This might involve making conscious choices about your actions, relationships, and lifestyle.

Remember that spirituality is a deeply personal journey, and what resonates with one person may be different for another. It's important to explore and find practices that feel authentic and meaningful to you.

[ronearoundblindly]

Kissing, lighting and sleepy sex for Hideout Steve and Reader?

I am not prepared. My feels...they shall be too deep and endless. I shall try anyway.

From this dirty ask game for this AU series where Nomad Steve lets motel-employee!Reader soothe his touch-starved body. Lawd, halp me, this is about to get crunk in a tooth-rotting, put-some-pillows-beneath-you you're-gonna-faint type o' way. [y'all can't tell I drank during the eclipse today, right? I'm subtle? Cool.] MINORS DNI.

K - Kissing

ACK My heart! Or rather, there is something deeply adoring for Steve when you kiss his chest, over his heart. It makes him feel just that much more like a person who lives in this world, who belongs in this world, who will return one day to this world...

His hands are also a big one--no, not just actually big hands, but important to show love to because he uses them for such violence. Each kiss is like a little touch of forgiveness for what he's done or had to do with those hands. He appreciates the trust it takes, too, to kiss his palms, when he could easily stop you breathing (sorry, that sounds dark, but Nomad was in a dark place, okay, bad things occur to him now).

Steve loves to kiss your stomach, and it might be somewhat taboo to say, but he has a touch of that crawl-back-home-for-safety comfort thing going on when he presses close and holds your center to him. It's not a mommy kink or roleplay, per se; he relishes the connectedness of being one and curling up against you is the only non-sexual way he knows how to achieve that--like in Chapter 3 when he falls asleep in that position.

As far as leaving marks though? Steve can emphatically say 'hell no,' not on purpose. Pain is a bit, meh, weird for him because he heals so quickly. He might not even notice if you did bite or bruise him. He certainly wouldn't see it in the morning. He does not in any way associate marks with love or affection since he only ever saw them on himself after fights or on women (including his Ma) after being abused.

That is not love to Steve.

It's control, it's dominance, it's inequality, and he fucking hates it.

L - Lighting

Steve entirely defers to you on whether there are actual lights on or off. He likes to use his senses to explore and enjoy you, so without light is fine. He's just here for you.

Steve does, however,--no spoilers for Chapter 5--like ambiance such as candles or something dim and colorful. He thinks you'd look unbelievably perfect beside a sparkling Christmas Tree. He hopes to celebrate (all holidays and birthdays and everything) openly with you some day. The sooner the better.

(Except, no audience for him making love to you under those twinkling lights, please. He's staunchly opposed to that sort of thing.)

S - Sleepy Sex

So, again, no spoilers for Chapter 5, but once Steve gets comfortable with oral sex he is comfortable with oral sex, if you catch my drift.

If he wakes up first, he's on you in some way, arms and legs draped over you, kissing any place he can get to, man-handling you just enough to start something he 100% will finish. He's just...uh god, so attentive.

With the super senses and being a fugitive though, it's not often that you can wake up before him, truly, which limits or completely removes the ability to surprise him with a blowjob, but he will dreamily let you roam wherever your mouth and hands take you. As long as there's lots of contact. As much as possible really. Like lay your arms across his thighs and abs while playing with him. Maybe put your body over one of his legs and ride his foot if you need to. He must feel attached in some way. Cold, distant, or separated does not do it for him.

Here's my absolute, I-will-die, favorite thing about Hideout Steve though: when he's tired/fatigued/worn out/sleepy, he gets louder.

Much. Much. Louder, babes.

No cursing, mostly, but all the moans and groans and whining are totally dialed up. And I don't know about y'all, but I can't really think of anything fucking sexier than Nomad Steve screaming that he's gonna come.

🥵

Thank you for asking!

A/N: Here lies Ro in a puddle. She made up a man she wants and will never have.

[Main Masterlist; Hideout Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

[causenessus]

love notes suna and y/n moodboard

focus: "i love you i love you i love you." the intimacy of being understood, intimacy in psychology: n. "a state of emotional closeness and connectedness between people in a relationship. characterized by mutual trust, caring, and acceptance." late nights in drive-thrus, "do not let anyone ruin the safe place you have created for yourself. not even me." fighting over paying the check, stolen kisses, love locks in paris, lazy days spent in bed together, legs entangled under the sheets, not letting her go. "i need you and nothing else." healing together. late night "deep" talks, "you don't have to tell me everything. or anything at all. but i'm here for you. to listen, or for whatever you need." whispering inside jokes into the other's ear and giggling together, walking on the side closest to the road to keep the other safe, trying new things together, holding hands, stealing food off each others plates, feeding each other, wearing a jersey to his game, leaving her a bottle of green tea and a sandwhich, wrapped neatly in a plastic bag with a little love note, taking pictures of each other all the time, picking them over everyone and everything else. sending each other goodnight texts only to send each other videos later in the night, falling asleep on calls, "we're lovers in every universe. i've loved you for a very, very long time."

[plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows]

in fact I'm gonna put my tags here:

#ok ok so this hits on smth i put in the timetravel plo fic! #i called it temple service #its where Initiates get rotated thru the various practical fields that keep the Temple running #kitchens laundries quartermasters gardens maintenance etc. #to give them first-hand experience in all the work that goes into keeping the temple in the shape it's in #and to give them practical skills in case they ever need it #and also to introduce them to these fields in case they WANT to devote their lives to them #i hc that the temple takes in about twice as many kids as ever make a traditional knighthood #bc a lot of those kids decide that actually they want to be chefs and bakers and nurses and pilots and mechanics and teachers #and gardeners and scientists and logistics ppl and a million other things instead #and the jedi support those kids and make sure they get the best education in their chosen fields #bc the galaxy needs all sorts of people #and the temple is a microcosm of the galaxy #the traditional knights have basic skills in those areas so that they can work independently/adapt to the circumstances of their missions #but for more advanced problems... sometimes you need an expert #also the idea of a Maintenance Master turning up to fix your busted laundry chute with an adorable Initiate in tow is v v cute #im writing fic abt this as we speak

the reason I have these headcanons is because, when I think about what my classmates wanted to be when we were kids, like 95% of them wanted to be educators, scientists, medical professionals, tradies, farmers, to work with animals or machines or food, to be designers or artists, and so on. Even if you assume the Force guides Jedi toward kids that have the aptitudes to do the work of a traditional knight, you're still going to get kids who go "yeah that doesn't sound like the sort of life I want, thanks" and pick something a little less emotionally taxing to dream about.

and yeah, just on moral grounds I can't see the Order discarding or neglecting these kids, or forcing them into the path of a traditional knighthood - but there's solid practical reasons to embrace them too. Having support staff and contacts for your Order that understand you and your values and internal culture so fundamentally would be invaluable, even if they as individuals chose to leave and lead different lives.

The Jedi Order mainly being an institution about teaching makes me sad that we never see more "Jedi classes" outside of the popular ones like martial arts, healthcare and Force wackery.

Alongside basic language and science education etc there have to be at least some trade and college courses on offer, right? The Jedi need a bunch of their own people with law degrees. Proper pedagogy studies for future crèchemasters. Cooks. Managers. All types of engineers. Electricians. Accountants. Researchers. How many Jedi hold a doctorate or professorate? Because I think a large number of them do. Their databanks are filled with millennia of dissertations. You can still find Yoda's articles from 500 years ago and cite them in your history research paper.

The Order just having its own micro-economy going on and every member getting their own regular job education next to all the lightsaber swinging adventures... pls

[frenchkisstheabyss]

♡ ｌｏｖｅｒ ｂｏｙ♡

Pairing: boyfriend!felix x chubby!fem!reader

Summary: Your new boyfriend comforts you during a depressive episode.

Genre: fluff/angst-ish

Word Count: 849

Warnings: mention of depression/some dark thoughts & feelings

A/N: Just wanted to write something for anyone out there who might struggle with depression and need some comfort ♡

This couldn’t have happened at a worse time...

But it was bound to happen at some point, you think, burying your face in your hands, a puddle of tears forming in your palms. Things have been going so well with Felix, better than they have with any other guy. From day one he’s been your Prince Charming.

Taking you on dates to botanical gardens blooming with flowers you thought could only exist in fairytales. Packing you lunch for work whenever he stays over with cute little notes tucked in the bag to brighten up your day.

Felix is a dream come true for you. You wanted, with everything inside of you, to be the same for him, but all of that’s over now. You’re sure of it. It’s the first night you’ve spent at his apartment, mere days after the two of you became official, and you’re curled up on his bathroom floor crying your heart out at 2 in the morning.

It’s nothing he did. He’s been a sweetheart, as always, cooking you dinner and making sure that you’re comfortable. Still, depression’s found a way to creep up on you, flooding your mind with thoughts that tear at the thin layer of confidence you’ve been pouring all of your energy into maintaining.

The pain is like a ton of bricks in your stomach. An invisible hand around your throat gripping tighter the more you struggle to twist away. The voice in your head, telling you that you aren’t good enough, mocks you for being silly enough to think you could hide this part of you from Felix forever.

He’ll see you, really see you, and he'll hate what he sees.

“Y/N, what’s going on?” Felix’s voice breaks through deep and scruffy from having just woken up, somehow remaining soothing in all of its power. Lifting your head up, you wipe your tears on the sleeves of your pajama shirt, positive you look a complete wreck. This is it. The end.

“I don’t…” you stutter, unsure of how to explain yourself, “I’m so sorry.” Based on the confusion that paints his face, you half expect him to back away only for him to do the exact opposite. He’s not running away, he’s grabbing handfuls of tissue, kneeling down beside you to tidy up your runny nose. 

“Talk to me. Did something happen? Did I do…” You sniffle, shaking your head, “It’s not you. It’s me. I’m just…fucked up I guess. Too depressed to keep my shit together.” Your head falls again, this time resting on your knees, and you close your eyes, wishing you could start this night over again.

For a brief moment, Felix shuffles around in a direction you can't pinpoint before two arms wrap around your body, hands clasped together where they meet your soft belly. He pulls you against his chest, strands of long hair brushing your cheek as his chin rests on your shoulder.

“You shouldn’t say that.”

There’s a sense of safety and connectedness within his arms that you haven’t felt in, well, ever. You're almost ashamed at how intensely his warmth shields you from the cold darkness closing in.

“You’re not fucked up. You’re just hurting and that’s okay. Well, it’s not okay but it’s…fuck I’m so bad at this.” Rolling your eyes, you reach a hand up to stroke his cheek, “Shut up. You’re not bad at this.” “Are we gonna sit here all night complimenting each other?” he teases, “Because we can. My butt will probably go numb though. I don’t have as much cushion as you. Don’t know what you see in me.”

The faintest giggle on your part has him kissing your neck, bear hugging you. “There’s my girl and that beautiful smile of hers.” “Don’t get used to it” you sigh, “It won’t last.” Felix just shrugs, “Doesn’t have to. I’ll still be here. I don’t care about you under the condition that you’re happy 24/7. You know that, right?” 

“I, well, I didn’t know…”

“Well, now you do.” 

His palm meets the back of your hand, fingers twining around yours to bring your arm down to your waist. “Let me be here for you. Give me a chance.” Hearing someone say that, hearing him say that, is more terrifying than you expect it to be. Trust is hard, trust is risky…

Felix leans forward to get a good look at you, a glimmer in his still sleepy eyes

…but if there’s anyone worth taking a risk on it’s the freckle faced boy staring back at you. 

“Uh…yeah…okay.” 

He smiles, “Yeah?”

 It’s impossible not to smile back, “Yeah.”  

“Good.”

Felix loosens his hold on you enough that he has room to lean his head on your back. “Want me to sing to you?” he yawns. You settle comfortably into the arms of your Felix, your safety blanket, letting your eyes fall closed from exhaustion. “Sing what?”

A stretch of silence lingers as he scans his brain for the perfect song to fit the moment.

“Oh! Got it! Fake eyes open…” 

“Felix!” you yell, slapping him on the knee.

“What? Bad timing?”

[lukolabrainrot]

What about Australia people always forget that stop 😂 They were looking so engaged in one of the events it looked like their engagement party. I loved the vibes there what is your opinion on it ?

Ah yes The Land Down Under. I'll say this:

I definitely picked up on some major flirty energy between them, but I wasn't really getting the same nonverbal cues between them that signaled to me emotional connectedness (like the heart eyes) that I got from Verona onwards. ESPECIALLY from N.

I will talk about this more when I analyze N's Polaroid pic, because I have a LOT of thoughts on what was going on between them in April, but essentially, I think L was so much more obvious in Australia about his feelings because he sensed there MIGHT have been a green light from N that they could be more than friends, and he was starting to test the water.

He didn't really get any confirmation from N that those feelings were reciprocated (which I think they actually were), so he goes back to A, the InStyle stunt happens, and then we get the disconnected nonverbal cues from L/N in Milan.

L, being a people pleaser and probably VERY upset that N was upset at him, was (I believe) the one that initiated that he and N needed to talk in Milan. Which I think lead to some BIG conversations about their deep feelings for each other that I think they had needed to have for a while (AND some fun in the sheets 😉)

And that is why I think there was a positive shift in their emotional energy between each other for the rest of the tour (except for the premieres, but I have already talked about my thoughts on that here and here)...

But weren't they so hot here?! 🔥🔥 I loved this dress of hers!! 😍

What were some of your favorite parts of the Australian leg of the tour?

[altocat]

You've talked about Sephiroth's mommy issues but what about his daddy issues?

His daddy issues are a completely separate thing from his mommy issues. The latter is a sad, desperate, incredibly fragile fragment hidden deep inside him, always agonized, full of longing.

Daddy issues are a different matter. Sephiroth has had three strong older male role models in his life (Gast, Hojo, and Glenn). And one by one they have all managed to both shape his identity as a man and also wound him in unquantifiable ways, whether it's through abandonment, abuse, or guilt. They were each present enough to impose some actual sense of personal selfhood. Gast influenced Sephiroth's sense of attachment, his curiosity, and a need for recognition. Hojo influenced Sephiroth's coldness, distrust, and ruthlessness. Glenn influenced Sephiroth's compassion, loyalty, and connectedness. Altogether, they managed to form core pieces of who Sephiroth eventually becomes.

...but they all end in ruin one way or another. And Sephiroth clings to them all in different ways, only to get burned for it. Thus, his perspective on fathers is more cynical, further glorifying the idea of a warm, perfect mother figure in his eyes.

[planet-gay-comic]

The Minoan Civilization: A Surprisingly Modern Society

The Minoan civilization, which flourished on the island of Crete, is renowned for its advanced and, for its time, unusually liberal society. Although our knowledge of the Minoans is incomplete due to limited written sources and primarily based on archaeological finds, a picture emerges of a culture that, from around 2700 to 1450 BC, exhibited remarkable openness, equality, and joie de vivre.

Equality and Tolerance

Current archaeological and anthropological studies often highlight the Minoans' liberal attitude. Researchers like Nanno Marinatos have examined the religious and social structures of the Minoans and found that this society exhibited an unusually high level of gender equality for its time. Women actively participated in public life, possibly held leadership positions such as priestesses, and enjoyed similar rights to men in the private sphere.

Regarding sexuality, the Minoans also appear to have adopted a tolerant attitude. Artistic depictions of intimate relationships between same-sex individuals suggest that such relationships were accepted in Minoan society. Although the interpretation of these depictions is debated among scholars, there are numerous indications that the Minoans had a more open stance towards various forms of love and romance, including same-sex relationships. The portrayal of homoerotic scenes in art and a relaxed attitude towards sexuality indicate that such relationships were accepted and respected in Minoan society.

Katherine A. Schwab: Her work on Minoan frescoes and the analysis of the scenes depicted provide insights into the social dynamics and possible homoerotic aspects of Minoan culture. Current archaeological and anthropological studies often emphasize the Minoans' liberal attitude. Researchers like Nanno Marinatos have examined the religious and social structures of the Minoans and found that this society exhibited remarkable openness and tolerance towards various lifestyles.

Cultural and Social Freedom

Minoan culture was characterized by its artistic flourishing and a preference for the beautiful and pleasurable. The Minoans were masters in the art of fresco painting, ceramics, and architecture. Their palaces, such as the famous Palace of Knossos, were not only political and economic centers but also places of art and culture.

The Minoans lived in close contact with nature, as reflected in their frescoes, which often depicted dolphins, lilies, and other natural motifs. This deep connection with the natural environment is also evident in their appreciation of water, which likely played a significant role in ritual purification and bathing practices.

Festivals, dances, and athletic competitions were integral parts of social life. These events provided not only entertainment but also strengthened the Minoan community and identity through shared experiences.

Religion and Spirituality

Religion played a central role in the lives of the Minoans, and their spiritual practices reflected their liberal values. The Minoan religion was matriarchal, with goddesses such as the Snake Goddess being central figures. The worship of goddesses is often associated with the high status of women in society, as they symbolized aspects such as female fertility and the power of nature.

Rituals and religious ceremonies were opportunities for the community to gather, celebrate, and express their connection with nature and the divine. These rituals, often accompanied by music and dance, emphasized harmony and unity with the environment.

The Minoan civilization was, in many ways, a fascinating and progressive culture, whose societal structure differed from many other ancient cultures. Their values of equality, cultural freedom, and spiritual connectedness remain relevant and inspiring today. The Minoans show us that progressive societal forms were not only a phenomenon of modernity but also existed in antiquity.

Text supported by GPT-4o, Gemini AI

Base images generated with DALL-E, overworked with SD-1.5/SDXL inpainting and composing.

[talonabraxas]

The Flower of Life

There really is some deep rooted symbolism behind this captivating image. Some say it’s representative of the union of the sacred Masculine and the Divine Feminine, the connectedness of all living things, and others see it as the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Let’s explore the depths of the topic.

Origins & Symbolism The origins of the Flower of Life trace back to the dawn of civilisation, where it is believed to have emerged as a symbol of cosmic order and divine harmony. Its precise origins are shrouded in mystery, with some attributing its creation to ancient cultures such as the Egyptians, where it was found in the temple of Osiris and said to contain a ‘secret code’ (underpinning the basic building blocks of the universe), and also the Sumerians, and the Greeks.

At its core, the Flower of Life is composed of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles, forming a mesmerising geometric pattern reminiscent of a flower in full bloom. Within this pattern lies a myriad of geometric shapes, including triangles, hexagons, and pentagons, each imbued with its own symbolic significance.

The Flower of Life is often associated with sacred geometry, a branch of mathematics concerned with the study of geometric forms and their spiritual, philosophical, and symbolic meanings. It is believed to represent the interconnectedness of all living beings, the fundamental unity of existence, and the underlying order of the universe.

Spiritual Significance In spiritual traditions around the world, the Flower of Life holds profound significance as a symbol of creation and interconnectedness. It is often regarded as a visual representation of the divine blueprint of the cosmos, with each circle representing a stage in the process of creation.

Within the Flower of Life, one can find various sacred symbols, including the Seed of Life, the Tree of Life, all 7 Chakra systems, and the Metatron's Cube, each carrying its own symbolic meaning and spiritual power. These symbols are believed to hold the keys to unlocking higher states of consciousness, facilitating spiritual growth, and connecting with the universal source of energy and wisdom.

Healing & Transformation Beyond its spiritual significance, the Flower of Life is also associated with healing and transformation. It is believed that meditating upon the pattern of the Flower of Life can help to harmonise the mind, body, and spirit, promoting health, balance, and inner peace.

In recent years, the Flower of Life has experienced a resurgence in popularity, with many people incorporating its imagery into their spiritual practices, artwork, and jewellery. Its intricate beauty and profound symbolism continue to inspire awe and fascination, serving as a potent reminder of the interconnectedness of all things and the infinite possibilities that lie within the universe.

Modern Interpretations In the modern era, scientists, mathematicians, and artists have continued to explore the mysteries of the Flower of Life, uncovering new insights into its geometric properties and mathematical significance. Through computer simulations and mathematical algorithms, researchers have gained a deeper understanding of the complex patterns and symmetries inherent in the Flower of Life, shedding light on its underlying principles of order and harmony.

Furthermore, the Flower of Life has found its way into various fields beyond spirituality and art, including architecture, design, and technology. Its geometric principles have been applied in the construction of sacred buildings, the development of advanced engineering techniques, and the design of innovative products and structures.

The Flower of Life: Mysteries of Sacred Geometry:

[robfinancialtip]

🌟🙏Gabrielle Walsh inspires us to recognize the value of being completely present in the moment, acknowledging that our time is short and valuable. She emphasizes the importance of living in the present moment and experiencing love, pleasure, and appreciation. While Gabrielle acknowledges that not every day will feel this way, she motivates us to root ourselves in this understanding to feel genuinely alive and present. This implies a philosophy of attention and appreciation for the present moment, despite its difficulties or flaws.

🌱🌈She considers the variety of each day, acknowledging that no day will be the same. She believes accepting and understanding fluctuation might help inspire people to create a stronger feeling of presence and gratitude. This perspective indicates the ability to negotiate life's oscillations and find purpose amidst the ups and downs. Re-grounding oneself in this awareness allows one to preserve energy and connectedness to the current moment.

💖😊Gabrielle is an inspirational single mom grateful for what she has now and acknowledges the joys and relationships that enhance her life. She underlines that financial goods and conditioned situations are not required for happiness. Instead, she finds fulfillment in deep relationships and prefers genuine connections and experiences over outward indicators of success or recognition.

🌻✨Gabrielle's motivational message emphasizes the significance of living in the present moment with love, appreciation, and presence. It inspires a perspective that recognizes the fleeting nature of life while seeking joy and fulfillment in the people and experiences that matter most. Individuals who cultivate this awareness and appreciation may face life's problems with fortitude while finding more meaningful significance and satisfaction in the present moment.

[primordialsoundmeditation]

DAILY ANGEL MESSAGE!

Take a deep breath, let it out slowly, say this prayer and then keep reading: “Thank you angels for revealing to me what I need to know!”

MESSAGE

Heed the messages coming directly from your soul.

ABOUT

‘The star ancestors’ is a term for extraterrestrial light beings who are dedicated to the healing and growth of the world. These incredible beings are divine embodiments of love who bring wisdom from the higher realms. Often people feel a sense of connectedness when they look up into the night sky and see the stars. I believe that’s because they are remembering their starry connections, and those are what this card represents. The Star Ancestor is reminding you that you have otherworldly support and that your friends from the stars can help you if you are willing to be helped. They can support you in connecting with and following your soul’s deepest calling.

EXTENDED MESSAGE

There is a deeper purpose to your human journey. Not only were you born on purpose, you were born for a purpose. You were born to be a bright light in the world and there are supporters out there in the universe sending waves of energy to guide you at this time. Information – and inspiration – that has been coming your way recently is not new information, but memories. Your feelings of being drawn in a particular direction are the awakening of an aspect of your soul. You are being drawn towards a road that will not only light you up, but also help you light up your corner of the world. Continue following the cosmic guidance that is coming your way.

DECK: Angels and Ancestors Oracle

ARTIST: Lily Moses

Thank you for sharing this card if it relates to you!

Kyle Gray

[bagalois]

in defense of real analysis, the applied math of pure math

i used to hate real analysis because it's really hard. lately however i am seeing redeeming factors.

sometimes topology and even algebraic concepts are too abstract for me. but analysis never makes me think "why do we need to know this?"

in analysis, problems/definitions being the way they are is a means to an end, which is usually pretty straightforward because its grounded in some notion like density, compactness, connectedness, measure, etc for the real numbers specifically. its the process of proof and problem solving that can be hard to build in real analysis. practical problems with practical solutions.

unlike in algebra where, if you encounter a badly behaving object (subjective), your solution is just to define a "better" behaving object (subjective). seeing these abstractions grounded in reality makes me happy, because they often express deep truths about certain processes or puzzles that i would not have uncovered otherwise. but more and more often my experience is like this: why does the product topology exist? why are homology groups defined the way they are? clearly these two chains look different from each other, so why does this guy suddenly want to decide they're equal? why should i care? why is this useful?

unfortunately, motivation is not something you can learn from other mathematics students. i just get the same definitions repeated to me in different words. you need to go to researchers and history for motivation, because the path humanity has travelled in these fields depends on what caught those people's attention.

all this to say: i don't hate real analysis anymore. unfortunately i still suck at it.

[chaoticbuggybitchboy]

Narratively speaking, having Gerry be goth makes so much sense. Individualism, self expression, going against the accepted norms. Most importantly, the acceptance and appreciation of the dark, mystical, and the scary. Having Gerry be the sort of person who not only accepts the existence of the Fears, but who finds beauty in them.

This leads, of course, to how did Gerry become so identifiably goth? Did Gerry stumble upon it as a child and, once learning about the idea of finding beauty in pain, relate it to his own life, so full of fears and hurt? Did he find it and find it hard at first to find beauty in it all? Did he initially reject goth culture? Or did he fling himself into it, having found a word for something he’s always felt, a word that connects him to others who feel the same? And which came first: his alignment with goth ideas or his love for goth aesthetics and music? Were goth music and clothing the first things that Gerry found beautiful, so he decided to investigate and find that it fits him? Or did he find goth as a way to describe his habit of loving the things other people feared, and later used goth fashion to express those ideas and find a sense of community?

Gerry using goth culture, both the connectedness and the ideology, as an anchor and coping mechanism against the fears. Gerry having always found beauty in scary things because it was the only place he could look for beauty, so he found it. Or Gerry forcing himself to learn to find it beautiful, because he knows that if he can’t find the beauty in the fear, he’ll never be able to experience beauty at all. Gerry spending time at goth clubs and shops as an escape from everything. Gerry using goth culture to have an identity of his own, one his mother couldn’t control.

All of this, and his actions, lends itself to the idea that he’s not someone the fears can truly claim. Sure, he might be aligned with the Beholding, he might feed the fears and be fed by them to some extent, but he is not beholden to any of them the way we see other avatars being connected to their fears. Gerry is not the sort of person that any of the fears could ever fully own, not when he finds beauty in place of fear.

Just. Gerry being goth is brilliant because it’s something that most people would recognize and it’s something that grants a fairly deep insight into the character and it fits him so well.

[this is not to say that all goths feel this way or anything like that. This is a character analysis that dives into something that was probably meant as a mostly superficial description, but really does fit the character very well on a deeper level]

[I do, however, think that if you’re goth you’re much more resistant to the fears than the average person]

[echofromtheabyss]

Medium talk is worse than small talk and probably what we're all most afraid of

We all know Small Talk:

hi, how are you, nice weather, how about them (insert sports team here).

Small talk follows algorithms and a kind of ritual pattern. It's the kind of appropriate conversation level for interacting with retail workers in public, and total strangers.

We also all know Big Talk. (I'm only calling it that as the logical inverse implied by Small Talk.) Which is basically where a high degree of familiarity is assumed. A common ND fuckup is conversing in conversational modes that, to many of the general population, are reserved for high familiarity. Either in terms of talking at length about a topic (which I feel is something that was actually more socially acceptable in the past, but has become broadly unacceptable over time; this was NOT really part of a diagnostic category in the 70s) or in terms of overfamiliarity/not being at the right level of social distance from the person for the thing you're talking about.

Most people rely on lots of context cues that inform how they will hear what the other person is saying, and those context cues may not be there for a near-stranger. All they're left with is the most uncharitable possible assumption about your intentions.

So with this in mind, this leaves me with the WORST conversation category, that nobody acknowledges, because we're stuck on Small Talk and Big Talk:

Medium Talk.

You actually need something in common with the other person or something you relate to, to really successfully do Medium Talk. Small talk can be done with total strangers you're never going to see again, and Big Talk can cut past a lot of stuff; I don't need every social belongingness or ideological thing or hobby in common with my family members, or other people in a high-trust relationship with me, to have a meaningful conversation with them.

Medium Talk is actually where a lot of the tripwires and landmines are.

People are making decisions to escalate or de-escalate here, and listening for loyalty indicators. You run the risk of keeping things superficial while missing an actual connectedness bid, or of being overly familiar - or getting too comfortable and offending/scaring the other person before they have any context for processing what you're saying to them.

Medium Talk is when you're moving from the Social Niceties, along the continuum toward Big Talk. You're dipping your toe in the water, moving toward the deep end.

Average to high social skills people will often throw out feelers about escalating the conversation. In the 90s, LGBT people would sometimes drop hints about some or other thing that only other LGBT people would know about, based upon some kind of context cue. There is ultimately some of this same dynamic going on with some forms of nerdy gatekeeping ("name one star war") albeit in a clumsy way.

But people do it all the time.

I think there is a tendency for some people to assume talk is 100% verbal while habitually ignoring the visual and relational context cues that are processed as communication. It's especially hard for people who *can't* process that information, but I think that there are lots of reasons some people end up just not learning to do it.

People often escalate small talk based upon presence of some kind of marker such as a nerdy enamel pin, or a sports jersey. This is what wearing tons of geek swag is actually all about. 70s-80s social skills guides and advice for single people, often advised having/carrying/wearing some kind of "conversation starter."

Once I learned about 70s/80s/90s gay hanky code, I realized that there was a lot of this going on in all kinds of ways and that people scan other people visually for various kinds of context cues for the escalation of small talk.

A big problem is getting too "real" too fast, and people in the Medium Talk Zone will commonly use celebrities, low-stakes fandom stuff, and the like as socially acceptable proxies for discussing their viewpoints while saving face. If you are still in a low trust space, then the problem with just blurting stuff out to another person is that they don't know you well enough to have any context for what you are saying.

Most people are processing a ton of context cues while you are speaking, besides the words you are saying. When still in a low trust zone, you are likely to be taken in bad faith. You saying the same thing that their friend said, is not being heard by their brains as actually the same thing.

Nor is your presentation of the project being heard by the boss as being the same presentation that is being given by the shinier co-worker who steals it from you.

Most people don't just process the information, they process *who is saying it* as a *necessary part* of that information.

And this is where Medium Talk is so dicey.

Small Talk? No problem. Most of us can do it on a good day and most of us do it without realizing how much we do it.

[ndbookstudy]

the power of now, eckhart tolle.

note: i was going to make a q&a type of post, but i just decided to copy paste the chapter questions instead!

chapter one, you are not your mind - the greatest obstacle to enlightenment.

The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some super-human accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and form. The inability to feel this connectedness gives rise to the illusion of separation, from yourself and from the world around you. You then perceive yourself, consciously or unconsciously, as an isolated fragment. Fear arises, and conflict within and without becomes the norm.

I love the Buddha's simple definition of enlightenment as "the end of suffering." There is nothing superhuman in that, is there? Of course, as a definition, it is incomplete. It only tells you what enlightenment is not: no suffering. But what's left when there is no more suffering? The Buddha is silent on that, and his silence implies that you'll have to find out for yourself. He uses a negative definition so that the mind cannot make it into something to believe in or into a superhuman accomplishment, a goal that is impossible for you to attain. Despite this precaution, the majority of Buddhists still believe that enlightenment is for the Buddha, not for them, at least not in this lifetime.

You used the word Being. Can you explain what you mean by that?

Being is the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death. However, Being is not only beyond but also deep within every form as its innermost invisible and indestructible essence. This means that it is accessible to you now as your own deepest self, your true nature. But don't seek to grasp it with your mind. Don't try to understand it. You can know it only when the mind is still. When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the Now, Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally. To regain awareness of Being and to abide in that state of "feeling-realization" is enlightenment.

What is the greatest obstacle to experiencing this reality?

Identification with your mind, which causes thought to become compulsive. Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don't realize this because almost everybody is suffering from it, so it is considered normal. This incessant mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from Being. It also creates a false mind-made self that casts a shadow of fear and suffering. We will look at all that in more detail later.

The philosopher Descartes believed that he had found the most fundamental truth when he made his famous statement: "I think, therefore I am." He had, in fact, given expression to the most basic error: to equate thinking with Being and identity with thinking. The compulsive thinker, which means almost everyone, lives in a state of apparent separateness, in an insanely complex world of continuous problems and conflict, a world that reflects the ever-increasing fragmentation of the mind. Enlightenment is a state of wholeness, of being "at one" and therefore at peace. At one with life in its manifested aspect, the world, as well as with your deepest self and life unmanifested - at one with Being. Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering and of continuous conflict within and without, but also the end of the dreadful enslavement to incessant thinking. What an incredible liberation this is!

Identification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgments, and definitions that blocks all true relationship. It comes between you and yourself, between you and your fellow man and woman, between you and nature, between you and God. It is this screen of thought that creates the illusion of separateness, the illusion that there is you and a totally separate "other." You then forget the essential fact that, underneath the level of physical appearances and separate forms, you are one with all that is. By "forget," I mean that you can no longer feel this oneness as self-evident reality. You may believe it to be true, but you no longer know it to be true. A belief may be comforting. Only through your own experience, however, does it become liberating. Thinking has become a disease. Disease happens when things get out of balance.

For example, there is nothing wrong with cells dividing and multiplying in the body, but when this process continues in disregard of the total organism, cells proliferate and we have disease.

Note: The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly - you usually don't use it at all. It uses you. This is the disease. You believe that you are your mind. This is the delusion. The instrument has taken you over.

I don't quite agree. It is true that I do a lot of aimless thinking, like most people, but I can still choose to use my mind to get and accomplish things, and I do that all the time.

Just because you can solve a crossword puzzle or build an atom bomb doesn't mean that you use your mind. Just as dogs love to chew bones, the mind loves to get its teeth into problems. That's why it does crossword puzzles and builds atom bombs. You have no interest in either. Let me ask you this: can you be free of your mind whenever you want to? Have you found the "off" button?

You mean stop thinking altogether? No, I can't, except maybe for a moment or two.

Then the mind is using you. You are unconsciously identified with it, so you don't even know that you are its slave. It's almost as if you were possessed without knowing it, and so you take the possessing entity to be yourself. The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the possessing entity -- the thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe the entity. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated.

You then begin to realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize that all the things that truly matter - beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace - arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken.

[misanthropiccatboy]

I think that in this case, the inter-connectedness of the world economy is working very much in favor of anti-fascist forces. one thing about genocide on a small scale is that it is, often, extremely clear that one state is going completely bonkers! fascists are not very good at pretending not to be fascists, running countries, or hiding their crimes. in Germany (typical example here) it was very clear that they were all going off the deep end*, to the point that even the international Catholic church was pushing back against their antisemitism. in a world where everyone can see everything, this becomes even more pronounced. this is particularly notable because it's a case where the current dominating power is supporting and propagandizing in favor of a genocide that is still being substantially punished.

i don't want to seem optimistic because this is very much not a good or even acceptable outcome, but it's much better than what we've gotten in the past.

*to some extent, they only found the camps at the end of the war