#facebook is bad for my cognitive function

[marsixm]

been doing so good at not being on my phone too much but now tht im off work all week i gotta remember to not get stuck scrolling on my computer either

[nevermindirah]

I've been drafting and redrafting this meta post for weeks now. It's about to be 5781 and my country that was founded on settler colonial genocide and slavery and a deeply flawed but fierce attachment to democracy might go full dictatorship in about 6 weeks and it's time for me to post this thing.

All our immortals are warriors, all have been traumatized by war. But only three of them died their first deaths as soldiers in imperial armies. This fandom has already produced gallons of meta on Nicky dealing with his shit, because Joe would not fuck with an unapologetic Crusader. But there's very rich stuff in Booker and Nile's experiences and the parallels and distinctions between them.

Nile was 11 when her dad was killed in action - that was 2005, meaning she and her dad both died in the same war that George W Bush started in very tenuous response to 9/11. Sure, Nile's dad could have died in either Iraq or Afghanistan, or in a training accident or in an off-the-books mission we won't know about for a hundred more years, but he died in the War on Terror all the same. I had to look it up to be sure because Obama "drew down" the Afghanistan war in his second term, but nope, we're still in this fucking thing that never should've happened in the first place. The US war in Afghanistan just turned 19 years old. A lot of real-life Americans have experiences like the Freemans, parents and children both dying in the same war we shouldn't be in.

I know a lot of people like Nile who join the US military not just because it's the only realistic way for them to pay for college or afford decent healthcare, but also because they have a family history of military service that's a genuine source of pride. Military service has been a way for Americans of color to be accepted by white Americans as "true Americans" - from today's Dreamers who Obama promised would earn protection from deportation by enlisting, to Filipino veterans of WW2 earning US citizenship that Congress then denied them for several decades, to slaves "earning" their freedom through service in the Union Army and in the Continental Army before it. As if freedom is a thing one should have to earn. Lots of Black Americans have the last name Freeman for lots of different escaping-slavery reasons, but it's possible that this specific reason is how Nile got her last name.

Dying in a war you know your country chose to instigate unnecessarily and that maybe you believe it shouldn't be waging is a very particular kind of trauma. It is a much deeper trauma when your military service, and your father's, and maybe generations of your ancestors', is a source of pride and access to resources for you but your sacrifice is nearly meaningless to the white supremacist system that deploys you. That kind of cognitive dissonance encourages a person to ignore their own feelings just so they can function. How do you wake up in the morning, how do you risk your life every day, how do you *kill other people* in a war that shouldn't be happening and that you shouldn't have to serve in just so that your country sees you as human?

We see Nile do her best to be a kind and well-mannered invader. Depending on your experience with US imperialism, Nile giving candy to kids and reminding her squad to be respectful is either heartwarming or very disturbing propaganda. We also see Nile clutching her cross necklace and praying. From the second Christianity arrived on this land it's been a tool of white supremacist assimilation and control, but like military service, it's a fucked-up but genuine source of pride and access to resources for many Americans whose pre-Columbian ancestors were not Christian, and it's a powerful source of comfort and resilience. This Jew who's had a lot of Spanish Inquisition nightmares would like to say for the record that it's not Jesus's fault that his big name fans are such shitty people.

Nile is a good person trying to do her best in a fucked-up world. "Her best" just radically changed. Her access to information on just how fucked up the world is has also just radically changed, because everything's so fucked up a person needs a lot of time to learn about it all and not only does she have centuries but she won't have to spend that time worrying about rent and healthcare and taxes, and because she now has Joe and Nicky and Andy's stories, and because she now has Copley's inside scoop on just what the fuck the CIA has been up to. Like, I want a fic where Copley tells Nile what was really behind the brass's decisions that led to her experiences on the ground in Afghanistan, that led to her father's death, but also I Do Not Want That.

Nile was 19 when Alicia Garza posted on Facebook that Black Lives Matter. She grew up in Chicago well before white people on Twitter were saying maybe police violence against Black people is a problem. She knows this is a deeply fucked up country, and she put on her Marine uniform and deployed with her team of mostly fellow women of color, and maybe she and Dizzy and Jay marched in the streets between deployments, maybe they texted each other when a white manarchist at a protest sneered at one of them for being a Marine. Nile's been busy surviving, and she knows some shit and she's seen some shit but she hasn't had much time to think about what it all means. Now she's got time. And Joe, Nicky, and Andy are willing to listen. (Is Copley willing to listen? I could see that going either way.)

Booker might also be willing to listen. The brilliant idea of cleaning up the rat Frenchman so that Nile can have millennia of emotional support and orgasms sent me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, and holy shit do Booker and Nile have a lot of shared life experience as pawns of imperial wars. Obviously Booker is white and a man and that makes a very big difference. (Though G-d help me, Booker could be Jewish and France was knocking its Jews around like ping-pong balls in the 18th-19th centuries. Jewish Booker wouldn't make him any less white but it does add a shit ton of depth of common experience: military service as a way for your country to see you as a full member of society who matters, because who you are means that's not guaranteed.)

Booker was hanged for desertion from the army Napoleon sent to invade Russia as part of his quest to control all of Europe. We learn in the comics / this YouTube video that Booker was on his way to prison for forgery when he was offered military service instead of jail time. While we don't know how he felt about the choice beyond that he did choose soldier over inmate, it's unlikely he thought invading Russia was a great idea, given he tried to desert because Napoleon like a true imperialist dumbass didn't plan for how he was going to feed his army or keep them from freezing to death in fucking Russian winter.

I find it very interesting that the French Empire was at its largest right before invading Russia and fell apart completely within a few years. My country has been falling the fuck apart for a while now - see aforementioned War on Terror, growing extremes of economic stratification in the richest country in the world, abject refusal to meaningfully deal with climate change that US-based corporations hold the lion's share of blame for - but between Trump's abject refusal to meaningfully deal with the coronavirus and strong likelihood that he'll refuse to leave office even if a certain pathetic moderate I will hold my nose and vote for does manage to earn a majority of votes, ~y~i~k~e~s.

Our only immortals who have never known a world before modernity and nationalism happen to have been born of wars that were the beginning of the end for the imperialist democracies that raised them, and I think in the centuries to come that's going to give them some very interesting shit to talk about.

Nile's a Young Millennial, a digital native born in the United States after the collapse of the USSR left her country as the world's only superpower. She's used to a pace of technological change that human brains are not evolved to handle.

Napoleon trying to make all of Europe into the French Empire was a leading cause of the growth of European nationalism and the establishment of liberal democracies both in Europe and in many places that Europeans had colonized. Booker's first war produced the only geopolitical world order Nile has ever known and I just have so many feelings ok. Nile the art history nerd is probably not aware of this, and why would she be? This humble meta author is, like Nile, a product of US public schools, and all they taught me about world history was Ancient Greece/Rome/Egypt/Mesopotamia and then World War 2. Being raised in The World's Only Superpower is WEIRD.

Nile the Young Millennial is used to the devastating volume of bad news the internet makes possible. But she has absolutely no concept of a world where the United States of America is not The World's Only Superpower. In order to get up in the morning and put on her gear and point guns at civilians in Afghanistan, she can only let herself think so much about whether that American exceptionalism thing is a good idea.

She's about to spend many, many years where the only people who she can truly trust are people who are older than not only her country but the IDEA of countries.

She's got time, and she's got a lot of new information at her disposal. But there comes a point where my obsession with her friendship and eventual very hot sex life with Booker just isn't about sex at all. Nile needs someone to talk to about the United States who Gets It. Booker the rat Frenchman coerced into Napoleon's army, and Copley the Black dual citizen of the US and UK who's retired from a CIA career that he half understands as deeply problematic but half still believes in hence his mind-bogglingly stupid partnership with Merrick, are the only people on the planet Nile can talk to honestly about, and really be understood in, all the thoughts and feelings and fears and hopes of her experience as a US Marine.

And one more thing before I go get ready for Rosh Hashanah: Orientalism was a defining element of the Crusades and that legacy is painfully clear in current US-led Western military activity in Afghanistan, Syria, Israel/Palestine, you name it. Turns out memoirs by French veterans of the Napoleonic Wars are full of Orientalist language about Russia as well. I am maybe/definitely writing a fic where Booker spends his exile reading critical race theory and decolonial feminism and trauma studies monographs because he can't be honest with a therapist but maybe he can heal this way and become the team therapist his own damn self. I just really need him to read Edward Said and Gloria Anzaldúa and then go down on Nile, ok?

[arcticdementor]

When the idea that a woman could have a penis was no longer a privileged insight of the academic elite but had gone mainstream, I remarked to my friend, “How long before we have to affirm the furries?” At the time I was joking, but after reading Kathy Rudy’s article “LGBTQ…Z?” in Hypatia in which she claims to “draw the discourses around bestiality/zoophilia into the realm of queer theory” I’m starting to wonder if my joke isn’t that far off. After all, there was a time when the idea of a man becoming a woman was a joke—as in this clip from Monty Python’s comedy The Life of Brian.

What Duke University professor Kathy Rudy seems to realize by arguing we should add “Z” (zoophilia) to the queer alphabet soup is that a great way to have a successful career in academia is to bring postmodern gobbledygook into absurd combinations with anything and everything.

…

I will hand it to Rudy, her article is at least comprehensible, even if it’s just as insane. Rudy begins by noting that humans who “kill animals, force them to breed with each other, eat them, surround them, train them, hunt them, nail them down and cut them open for science” are considered “normal, functioning members of society. Yet having sex with animals remains an almost unspeakable anathema.”

…

While some might conclude that, since we wouldn’t shag a pig, we also shouldn’t confine one to a gestation crate, Rudy’s reasoning seems to be that if we already force terrible things on animals, then why not also screw them? If you’re a cow, having a human copulate with you can’t be as bad as going to the slaughterhouse, right? Besides, Fido already humps my leg so why don’t I hump him?

Technically, Rudy claims “my argument is not for or against humans having sex with animals, but is a meditation on both the elusive nature of sex itself and the subjectivities of human versus nonhuman animals.” She never explicitly promotes sex with animals, but considering that the entire point of the article is to call into question the taboo against having sex with animals, well…

It’s as if I said I’m not advocating for pedophilia but then proceed to undermine all the reasons for being against pedophilia. “Why not?” might not be as strong as “you must” but it leads to the same outcome, namely, radical permission.

As is often the case with academic postmodernism, the claims being made become less clear the more the author writes:

“Put differently, queer theory teaches us that it's not really a question of whether we have ‘sex’ with animals; rather it's about recognizing and honoring the affective bonds many of us share with other creatures. Those intense connections between humans and animals could be seen as revolutionary, in a queer frame. But instead, pet love is sanitized and rendered harmless by the presence of the interdict against bestiality. The discourses of bestiality and zoophilia form the identity boundary that we cannot pass through if we want our love of animals to be seen as acceptable.”

Rudy’s elusive, wishy-washy prose is a common rhetorical tactic. The goal is to avoid clearly committing to an argument so that one can simultaneously promote radical nuttiness while removing oneself from the burden of defending it. After all, if the claim really were as basic as “we love our pets but not in a sexual way” then the article wouldn’t be, as Rudy puts it, “revolutionary.”

The only way the article can be truly “transgressive” is for her to argue that our love for animals is already sexual or should become sexual. After all, Rudy seems uncertain as to whether she is sexually attracted to her own dogs:

“I know I love my dogs with all my heart, but I can’t figure out if that love is sexually motivated.”

For some reason, I’ve never grappled with this problem, but then again, I’m not versed in Queer theory.

…

Indeed, what is the difference between inserting a piece of bread into a toaster and penetrative sex? According to postmodernism, nothing at all! As Rudy explains:

“The widespread social ban on bestiality rests on a solid notion of what sex is, and queer theory persuasively argues we simply don't have such a thing. The interdict against bestiality can only be maintained if we think we always/already know what sex is. And, according to queer theory, we don’t.”

Despite earlier claiming that she is not advocating for sex with animals, Rudy has just provided us with an indirect argument for it. She states that we can only maintain a ban on sex with animals if we know what sex is. She next states that queer theory has proven that we don’t know what sex is. Therefore, we cannot ban sex with animals. She suggests her indirect argument again at the end of the article by masking it in the form of a question:

“But without a coherent and agreed upon definition of sex (which queer theory persuasively argues is impossible), the line between ‘animal lover’ and zoophile is not only thin, it is nonexistent. How do we know beforehand whether loving them constitutes ‘sex,’ and how can such sex be so dangerous if it so nebulous and undefined?”

Not only is it false that we have no idea what sex is, but it is also false to say that we require a taxonomy of every kind of sexual feeling before we can forbid certain acts (such as coitus) with animals (or children and the cognitively disabled, such as Chris Chan’s mother with dementia).

I may not be able to verbally capture the feeling of sexual desire or pleasure any more than I can define pain or joy or sadness. It’s something I know from experience. What I can say for sure is that what I felt kissing my grandma’s cheek is definitely not in the same category as what I felt kissing my boyfriend. Rudy may be unclear as to whether she is turned on by a slurp from her dog, but I personally have never felt confusion on the matter.

…

Yet, the true perversion, according to Rudy, is not to lust after camels, dogs, parakeets or naked mole rats but to set up the sexual boundary between humans and animals in the first place:

“Put differently, both animal rights (3) and psychosocial perspectives [which view desire for animals as mental illness] (4) do not believe that borders can be crossed. Queer theory, on the other hand, tells us that few of us have stable identities anymore, that borders are always crossed. We're all changing, shifting, splitting ourselves up this way and that. It labels these processes ‘hailing,’ ‘suturing,’ and ‘interpolation’; where once we saw ourselves affiliated in one way, a new interpretive community emerges to capture our passions and move us differently. I am asking the reader to entertain the possibility that the same kinds of shifts and disruptions happen with categories like ‘human,’ ‘rabbit,’ ‘ape,’ or ‘dog.’”

And no woke paper would be complete without the accusation of violence:

“Both positions [animal rights activists and bestialists] oppose sex with animals, and in doing so they perform a kind of violence on animals by lumping them all together into one seamless identity.”

That’s right. Physically violating an animal does not constitute violence. Words do. Especially when those words reject postmodern queer theory.

…

Unlike the many women who have been cancelled for claiming that males aren’t women, Rudy’s August 2012 article (republished March 2020) for Hypatia did not result in her being fired, censored, or otherwise deplatformed.

It’s not as if no one came across her article either. According to Altmetric, Rudy’s article is in the “top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric” and is “One of the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#1 of 704)” and has an Altmetrics attention score in the 99th percentile.

When Rebecca Tuvel wrote a paper for Hypatia suggesting that the same assumptions that ground transgenderism could be used to support transracialism, scholars demanded Hypatia retract the article and the journal's Facebook page posted an apology on behalf of the associate editors. Rudy, on the other hand, was invited to deliver the commencement speech for North Carolina Service Dogs in December 2012.

We must remember that the word “transgressive” has relative, not absolute, meaning. What is considered “normal” defines what is considered “transgressive.” If queer theory articles on bestiality result in publication and validation, then is Rudy truly, in her words, “transgressive”? Or is Hypatia, rather, representative of a new establishment norm that is just as desirous of punishing transgressors—now in the form of TERFs and other enemies of the postmodern left—as the old establishment was eager to fire and ostracize homosexuals? As The Who sang, “Meet the new boss / Same as the old boss.”

[hillbillyoracle]

Dealing with Stress When You Live in a Rough Place

This isn't necessarily tarot or shadow work, but I wanted to write a little bit about strategies I've found useful for dealing with my neighborhood in it's current state. All of this can apply to managing stress generally but I'm focusing on folks in my boat. I'm incredibly sleep deprived so it's going to be rambly - I'm warning you now. But hopefully this helps someone.

I've shared a little bit about what's been going on in other posts; we hear shootings at least weekly, people will play loud music so loud the window rattle really late at night, all out brawls have broken out in the parking lot, our neighbors bang against the walls even in the middle of the night, most our neighbors have made it clear they don't like us because we're gay, we've had our car broken into at least 2 in the last month, kids have taken to beating our cars with sticks, climbing on and under them, screaming in front of our house, beating on our door and running off - like y'all it's a lot!

I talk about this so folks can know where I'm coming from. Some folks read this and they're horrified, some folks are going to read that and be like fuck that's tame. How hard a situation looks really does depend on what your normal is and how you were raised. For me, it's pretty intense. I was raised in out in the country so I didn't grow up living really close to people like I have to here in the city. And country neighborhoods have their own brand of rough, do not underestimate it, but most of what I've compiled here is going to be about living in close proximity with other people in areas with high crime rates.

Mindset Shifts

The Sooner You Accept Your Lack of Control - The Better

And I mean really accept it. Not just intellectually understanding that there's not anything you can do, but getting as okay with that as you can manage. For folks who are already traumatized that's a whole lot harder to do. Living in a space that traumatizes you daily will also make that harder as time goes on. But it's been some of the most important work I've done while living in a place that this. Sometimes I cope by being very public about what I'm going through, sometime I cope by

Sensory Management is Not a Luxury, It is a Necessity

This has become overwhelmingly clear to me that sensory overload in rough neighborhoods is a wildly underdiscussed health issue. There's measurable health differences in people who are exposed to a lot of noise versus those who aren't. I'm autistic so this is something I have to do just to function but I've seen a huge shift in my girlfriend's mental health since living here too. Take it seriously and try to attend to it just like you would any other health concern, making it a part of your routine. This is where adapting Polyvagal strategies has come in handy.

Good is Still Good Even If There's a Ton of Bad

There are very few moments of pure joy in a neighborhood like this. One of the reasons that a gratitude practice has been genuinely helpful is that it's shown me how much good can get swept away in the tidal wave of crap in a place like this. So that I don't feel helpless or internalize how worthless places like this are designed to make you feel, I try to resist by reflecting on the good. IT helps me feel like my life still has meaning while I'm living here and it's not a waste to be right where I am right now.

I Am Not Failing Myself For Not Getting Sleep, Food, Safe, Etc

I'm lucky that we've been good on food but sleep and safety have been in short supply. I realized I often felt like I was a bad person for being in this situation where I couldn't sleep, I criticized myself for not being able to sleep through all the noise and getting worked up. I have to remind myself daily that I'm not failing myself for what I can't really control. I'm not a bad person because of what people around me choose to do.

Polyvagal Strategies Adapted

Nature

Ideally, when you're trying to regulate your nervous system, you'd want to get out into nature more. It's just flat out not accessible or safe to do so here. I'm lucky that my room faces a nice tree and when I'm getting stressed, I take some time to just sit and really look at it. I try to notice the details. I also really enjoy feeding birds on my window sill. I invested in a big bag of bird seed with some Christmas money that's lasted me at least a year now but I used to get bags for about 5 dollars at Kroger. If you can't get close to nature, lure it to you.

Need something totally free? You can also pull up livefeeds of bird feeders on YouTube. I used to watch them when I couldn't walk to put out birdseed. Still very helpful. Nature cams in general are great. Put on a nature doc like Planet Earth. Change your computer and phone backgrounds to have natural landscapes. Even just sketching landscapes and having landscape are around your space can help.

If you can buy some soil, dig some up, or swipe some from a public garden bed, you can grow some small plants on your window sill. You can grow a lot of seeds from vegetables and some fruits you get at the store. You can also collect seeds from trees and try to grow them (it's difficult, plant several at a time). Take cuttings of plants you can identify as safe. Extension services will also sometimes send seeds for free. Taking care of a plant really helps us spend more time in the restorative part of our nervous system.

Sound

At the intersection of sound and nature is nature noises. If you're trying to block out your neighbors anyways, nature noises are the best option. I've had the best luck rain and storm sounds. Water noises in particular have a calming effect on our nervous system. If I really need to block something out I'll layer a rain generator over some music I like (rain sounds + Elliot Smith = a vibe).

Music in general can have different  activating and calming effects on our nervous system. Pay attention to what music activates you and makes you more likely to be in conflict with people when you listen to it and what music makes you more social. Physically relaxation is harder for me personally to gauge. As a person with trauma I can't always tell when my body is relaxing or not. So paying attention to how I treat others helps me check myself.

Temperature + Touch

When we're warmer, we tend to feel more socially connected than when we're cold. Put on some extra clothes, pile on the blankets, take a bath, or grab a space heater if you have one. It's worth increasing the temp a little if you're stressed. Too hot and we can begin to feel crowded out. So if you're feeling the need to flee, it's worth trying to cool off a little. I usually do this by splashing some cool water on my face.

While we crave touch from others, touch from ourselves also helps calm our nervous systems! Jin Shin Jyutsu has been super helpful for me. There are a few videos online. I recommend searching Facebook for a woman local to me - Jennifer Bradley. I took one of her in person classes before the pandemic and it's been very helpful especially around sleep. I think the only place she's got her recent videos up is on her Facebook page but they're worth tracking down. She's a very good teacher and just a very soothing presence in general.

There's some evidence that just imagining being hugged or held is calming on the nervous system. Some goes for imagining ourselves out walking in nature. Don't be afraid to spend time daydreaming!

Breath + Movement

A lot of unsafe neighborhoods make common advice like going for a walk completely out of the question. However, even just moving more around your space can help. Yoga has been very helpful to me. My partner finds bodyweight exercises really help her. Any movement you feel good doing counts. Including movement you imagine yourself doing as well.

Breathing is movement, or seems to have a similar effect at least. I really recommend checking out a few breath work strategies to use. You've always got your lungs on you so it's easy to use. I like the in for 4 counts, hold for 7, release for 8 pattern. Breath is a direct line to the nervous system and I try to do a breathing pattern several times a day just to regroup.

Cognitive Strategies

Journal Like Your Life Depends on It

I'm not joking. TMS journaling - journaling stream of consciousness very intensely for about 20-30 minutes and then destroying what you've written - has been key not only to me surviving this place but having fewer Fibro flares than when I was living in much calmer places. But honestly all journaling is helpful. I've been keeping a daily journal in Notion and that alone has been helpful. Making sure I've gotten as much as possible off of my mind throughout the day has helped so much. Find a journaling strategy that allows you to take the cognitive load of (or a few) and practice them as often as you can. Not into journaling? I used to take videos of myself talking into the camera and save or delete them depending on whether I wanted to come back to them. Are words rough? Draw your feelings or scenes as you saw them.

Find the Story That Works

There are a bunch of conflicting ideas about what the right view of trauma and the story of it is. I personally really hate any narrative that places me as a victim. For better or worse, I like to look at what I've learned in any giving situation. So in my current situation, when I'm overwhelmed, I remind myself that I'm only getting a glimpse of what some people in places like this go through. It's increasing my empathy and expanding my awareness which allows me to better serve others. It's made me more committed to keeping my materials accessible over profiting. There's been a lot of benefit when I frame it that way. And that works for me. If that story isn't helpful for you - work to find a frame to narrate your experiences - as they're happening - that help you feel more whole.

Conclusion

I'm not sure if these strategies will work for other people but I wanted to at least have something out there than people could hopefully find if they're struggling with the same thing. Basically, if you can't fix it - manage it. Find ways to make the experience less traumatic if you're able to. Manage your sensory input. Do what you can with what you have where you are. Too many folks will tell you that you absolutely have to change your material circumstances before you can address mental health but for many of us that's just not possible. Or in the words of one of my favorite Buddhist teachers, Robina Courtin, "If you can do something, do something, but if you can't, what are you going to do?"

[maddiviner]

Esoteric Empathy Rant

Probably a lot of you have seen @edhellenarn‘s post about esoteric empathy and the necessity of empaths staying in their own lane, so to speak.

I wanted to just make a separate post to add a bit of my own thoughts. Suffice to say, I agree with most of what the OP is saying, but there is more that can be said, as well, concerning the modern “empath” identity trend as it has developed over the years.

The main problem I have with a lot of folks who self-identify as empaths is, well... they seem to lack empathy, and will often minimize other people’s trauma and/or attempt to invalidate the perspectives and experiences of others. 

By “lack empathy,” I mean that they usually are very preoccupied by the alleged “suffering” their “gift” causes them, unwilling to listen to possible solutions, and generally turn things into a pity Olympics, especially on social media sites like Facebook.

I had one lady in a group go on at length about how her empathy was so strong that she couldn’t leave her house, even to take out the garbage, because the pain others caused her was so great, despite all the crystals she’d gotten to help her ground herself.

When I suggested maybe she should consider cognitive behavioral therapy in lieu (or in addition) to the crystals and try to get herself to a better place, she made a separate post implying that I was an “inauthentic” person and a “psychic vampire” trying to feed off of her by having the gall to suggest she might need someone to talk to like that.

It’s weird because I wasn’t sealioning or anything - I genuinely thought my comments might be helpful. I mean, I have certain empathic abilities myself and CBT really helped me cut through a lot of stuff in order to hone them and become a better friend to those I care about.

Oh yes, “psychic vampires,” the favorite topic of the empath world. That and “narcissists,” even though most of these people know fuck-all about psychology or what NPD even is. 

I was in one group on Facebook for a while, just for empaths, and almost every single post was someone going on about all the evil narcissists in their life.

Oh, their spouse is a narcissist! And it turns out their boss is, too, and the mailman, and oh, they need to buy six more crystals to counteract this horrible assault.

I never tried it, but I’m pretty sure if I’d brought up that NPD is an actual mental illness (not some magic energy suck woo thing, either), I’d have been banned and probably declared to be a narcissist/vampire myself.

That seems to be the favorite tactic of a lot of the more toxic in the New Age psychic/empath community - “Anyone who questions me is a narcissist and therefore evil.”

I’ll be honest, I don’t actually know that much about NPD, but I’m pretty damn sure a personality disorder doesn’t make someone a reprobate evil energy sucker or whatever. 

I mean, sure, if someone in your life is acting toxic, you can and shoot evade them, regardless of whether they have a mental illness or not but... c’mon. 

I don’t believe it when these folks claim every single person they disagree with, dislike, or interact with unfavorably is a “narcissist.” I mean, really, plenty of people with or without mental illness can be abusive; no reason to turn a personality disorder into some big bad woo bogeyman.

 If anyone reading this knows a bit more about NPD, I’d love to get a perspective on this, because, like I said, my experience with personality disorders is limited and I’m no psychologist.

And plus, the whole thing just reeks of “spectral evidence” in a witch trial.

It’s basically, “Some people are evil, but I can tell they’re evil and warn people! Even if nobody else knows!” It’s pretty easy for someone who’s set themselves up as psychic to target their enemies by claiming to “sense” something that nobody else can prove.

On that note, some of the most cringeworthy moments I’ve seen have involved the “empath” identity folks trying to talk about mental illness. As I said, they seem to see NPD (and sometimes, any personality disorder) as some kind of evil woo-woo thing. To me? That’s asinine, completely.

When it comes to mood disorders like I have, they tend to write them off as “misdiagnosed empathy.” In fact, a lot of sites and blogs around the internet (less so on Tumblr) will whine about the evils of psychiatry and how it’s just an attempt to suppress the magical empath gift.

The thing is, none of the people saying this seem to understand what (for example) bipolar disorder actually is. 

They seem to think it’s just moodiness or feeling sad sometimes. It’s kind of impossible to explain to them the realities of mania and depression because most people will never experience them.

And, if you use a bit of logic, you can easily see why (in most cases) bipolar disorder wouldn’t be “misdiagnosed empathy.” The mood states you see in bipolar are, by definition, neuroatypical.

They aren’t seen “in the wild,” in neurotypicals. It’d be impossible to experience a mania empathically from being around a bunch of regular people because regular people do not experience mania.

I guess that maybe if you’re an extremely strong empath and constantly around someone with bipolar, you might deal with blowback from their moods, but I doubt it because I don’t think most people’s neurology is even conducive to having those experiences. I’m no neurologist, though, and I could be wrong.

So yeah, I get tired of people telling me I just need to “ground, center, and shield” like a good lil empath, and how my meds are “dampening” my “gift.” I usually just change the subject whenever it comes up because it’s easier than explaining how mania and depression actually work.

I mean, if anything, those experiences seem to make me (might not be true for everyone) less able to read other’s emotions, because the low self-esteem that came with my depression just caused me to assume the whole world hated me.

So yeah. I think the “empath identified” community is in dire need of cleaning itself out a bit and reformulating how it approaches this kind of thing.

On Tumblr, there are many genuine people and many genuine empaths, and you barely see any of this kind of thing on here. Still, I’ve seen enough of it out in the world that I thought it was worth posting/ranting about.

At this point, I rarely dare even call myself an empath (even though I definitely have an esoteric empathy “thing” going on, particularly with animals) just because I don’t want to be associated with this.

That doesn’t mean the concept is irredeemable, though - there’s been a lot of good books written recently about empathy, managing and honing it.

I recommend almost all the works of Raven Digitalis on the subject (Everyday Empath and Esoteric Empathy), and, heck, a lot of “mundane” books on CBT and even DBT can help with improving your functioning and best using your gifts.

I hope this post isn’t too offensive to everyone - I just wanted to get this off my chest, since I’d been pondering it for a while.

[dxmedstudent]

Hi dx, I'm starting med school this fall and moving to Ireland to do so! Ive got chronic fatigue though and Im worried about being able to manage the workload. Im on meds so I'm doing pretty well, working 10 hour days rn with a 2 hour commute, but im pretty drained at the end of it. Have you or any of your followers got any suggestions for handling med school when youre just so tired all the time?

And another ask:Hi, following on from the anon asking about studying, do you have any specific tips for studying medicine with chronic fatigue? I find sitting in lectures (and the journey to and from) drains me even more than I am usually. Thanks and have a great day!            Hey, peeps! So I have someone important in my life who has gone through a chronic fatigue condition in med school. I’ve seen a lot through what they went through, but I wanted to be able to give a more useful answer. I took a little time to think, and to ask them what advice they would give.  They gave me permission to share an edited version with you.

It is possible to get through medical school with chronic health problems. Don’t let other people tell you otherwise. You may encounter people who doubt you, but never let them get to you. Remember that many people with chronic illness have achieved great things and it doesn’t have to be a barrier to  success. 

There is usually a way to get through whatever obstacle comes up. The key is to take everything literally one day at a time, and do not get overwhelmed by thinking about all the demands for the year at once. Focus on what needs to be done right now. Next week is another     week. 

Let  yourself have setbacks, and don’t give up when you have worse periods of health. There will be times when you’re more tired and stressed, but you have to give yourself space to recover back from that. Remember that everyone, whatever their health status, has bad times, and that usually they will pass. If things aren’t getting better, talk to your family, friends, personal tutor at university.  Seek help with clincians.

Keep in touch with your fatigue clinicians and be open about new obstacles and your fears about things. They can help with a lot of problem-solving aspects and support you during times of difficulty. They are also useful to rant to when you are stressed out as they know a lot about the problems of people with CFS who they’ve seen in clinical practice. 

Consider reading books on CBT and acceptance commitment therapy (ACT) - these have really helped me through psychologically difficult situations and build resilience when medical school has thrown difficult things at me. In the hardest year of medical school it really helped to have written advice to look at when various situations came up. 

Tell the university (occupational health, senior tutor, personal tutor etc.) - I cannot stress this enough. It is confidential, and they have to   accommodate you because it is a disability. This can become really important if you have issues completing sign-offs/assignments on time, getting hospital placements closer to home, getting extra time in exams etc. It can also be useful if you have problems with exams (not being well enough to do a sitting) for the university to know what is going on and how best they can help you. If they do not know what is going on, then they cannot help you. This is one of the best things I did at medical school in terms of having a safety net for when things were more difficult. 

Do not feel you have to attend 100% of everything. If you are feeling very   fatigued and not gaining much by that point in the day, it is usually     better to go home and do some quality studying at home. So many students who have no health problems will go home early, so do not feel guilty for doing so when you feel fatigued and like you’re not having a good day. Just remember to catch up what you’ve missed. 

Talk to the students in the year above about what the demands of the coming year are like, what the exams are like, what textbooks/resources to use,  and other *off the record* tips which the university would never tell you. This will help you out in planning how to approach the work for that year. It is very important to know what you’re preparing for and the best way in which to do it. 

On placement, talk to the teaching fellow/head of the placement if you have any issues completing tasks or sign-offs etc. They can help you and give you advice about how to get things done. This has been of great comfort to me during placements where sign-offs have been very tricky and I’ve worried about whether or not I will complete everything. Also ask how previous students did it - you’re not the first cohort who’s gone through the system. 

Let yourself adjust the intensity of your concentration when attending     lectures/seminars. Some days you’ll be able to be at your highest level of     functioning, and other days you may feel less functional.  Your levels might look something like:

Highest  level: concentrate/listen, participate/answer questions, write down notes.

Medium: concentrate/listen, no writing or participating.

Low: zoning out some of the time (5 mins etc), prioritising more important slides or mentally checking in again when possible. 

Use breaks during lecture days to really give yourself a breather. It is best to physically leave the space where the lecture took place, ideally go to a canteen and have a snack (food and drink are very important for boosts), or go outside (fresh air is important). Let your brain truly wonder and do  something not related to university or teaching. Don’t hang around with peers unless they talk about things which are less brain intensive or   non-university topics. 

Take on a reasonable workload during group assignments, and don’t let other students foist extra work or their work on you. Be strict about your role and that you will not do their work for them. 

E-books (textbooks) - either download pdfs and upload on google drive etc. or buy on kindle etc. This is VERY useful for reading and studying whilst out and  about for medical school, and fitting in revision during parts of the day which are empty/less busy. There are often quite a few times where you will be waiting around between teaching/clinics/hospital activities and if you use your time wisely you can really get a lot done. You can also read on public transport when commuting which is a good use of that time too.This becomes especially important close to exams where time management is key. This is one of the best things I did. 

Pacing - plan for deadlines in advance. If you have sign offs/essays/histories to do, space them out and plan everything in advance. Make a plan and stick to it, but be flexible enough to change things around if you don’t feel up to doing a particular task on that day. Make sure it is realistic personal timetable, and has time for you to attend university, study and complete assignments/sign-offs, as well as relaxation/social time.

 If you feel you are doing too much, cut back and do the bare minimum of what you need to do. Whilst it is nice to aim high and everyone at medical school is crazy competitive, the aim is to pass and go into the next year, and complete the degree. Scraping passes = still a doctor. Many people forget this, but the priority is to get by and become a competent doctor. You are doing what you can do, and you don’t need to get a Distinction in all your exams to be a good doctor. 

Do  not feel guilty for not being able to work as hard necessarily as other   students can all the time. Be proud of yourself for being there and for     doing something so difficult as medical school in the first place. Medical     school is very hard even for people who do not have any problems with     their health. There is really nothing wrong with coasting along and doing    just what needs to be done. It can be frustrating to not be able to do     more, but tell yourself that you’ve done your 100% which is all you can     give at this current time. Sometimes you’ll be able to do more, and     sometimes you’ll be able to do less. But don’t feel guilty about it. Know     that you are doing your best and that’s all that you can do. 

Similarly, everyone feels they are not doing enough/like they don’t know enough. Doctors on placements will also occasionally have a go at you, not  realising that actually for your level you do know enough. You may feel you like you’re not enough, but the truth is that everyone feels like     that. Many people at med school act like everything’s fine but underneath  the surface, we’re all working very hard and tired. 

You     are not alone - many people at med school have either physical or mental     health problems. They are all also battling through the challenges and you     are not alone in your difficulties. Remind yourself of that and know that     everyone is on their own journey/battle. 

Believe in the work-life balance Pie chart - Everyone should ideally have equal time in their day dedicated to 1/3  cognitive, 1/3 self care and 1/3 social activity. In med school, the latter two may fall back a bit even for students with no health problems, but it is very important for these things to be done consistently during med school. “If you can’t look after yourself, you won’t be able to look after other people”. The only way you can achieve your goals and look after patients etc is by looking after yourself (with the pie chart) and keeping yourself in the best health possible. 

Cognitive:studying, reading, academic extracurriculars, any activity where the mind is actively involved. 

Self care: pampering yourself, hobbies, leisure activities, exercise/yoga,     playing with pets, praying/worship etc. 

Social: going out with family or friends. Relationships. Support groups.     Societies/clubs etc. 

Join  support groups either in real life or on Facebook - it is really useful to have somewhere to rant about issues which specifically affect people with  CFS/ME, and to have their support when you have a hard day. Family and friends will not always understand everything you’re going through, even with the best of intentions, so it’s important to have peers with CFS/ME on those occasions. 

Don’t be afraid to turn down going out or doing extra things in the day if     you’re really not up to it. Better to keep yourself at a functioning level     than overdoing it because you feel you *should* be doing something. It’s    best to be honest with yourself about what you can do today. 

Learn to say no - if other people ask you to do things and you are feeling   overwhelmed at the time from work/personal life, do not feel bad about     saying no if you have reached your limit of how much you can cope. Do not  feel guilty about this, and realise that it is crucial to not take on too     much at once, in looking after your health for your ability to get through     medical school. People can and will ask you to do things either not     realising that it’s over your coping limits or not caring. You have to learn to put yourself first and forward and know your limits - it is not worth the payback which can inevitably happen when we overdo our limits.     Medical school does not give you a lot of time to rest or recover, so you     really have to make sure you keep yourself functional and within your     limits. 

Work  steadily during the year - if you have fatigue then you cannot leave   things last minute and cope with the physical and mental stress of this.     Make sure you are making notes and keeping up during the year, and     increase your revision before exams to a comfortable level. Be careful not  to overdo it in terms of number it hours a day, as most likely you will     lose your concentration and not absorb the information anyway. Best to do revision in chunks, with breaks and other things to break up the day. If the next day you get payback, it’s a sign to dial back the number of hours of revision. Even if you’re doing less hours of revision than you planned, if you’re better focused and rested you will pick up more information.     “Quality not quantity”. 

I hope this helps! Good luck with your studies, and I hope that things go well for you in the coming year.

[sjogrenssurvey-blog]

What You Need To Know

Sjogren’s is an autoimmune disease that can cause a wide variety of symptoms and result in a wide spectrum of severity. It has an overwhelming fondness for women, affecting eight times as many women as men. The average age of diagnosis for women is the early 50s; the average age for men is the late ‘50s, but Sjogren’s can occur at any age. The portion of the general population who have Sjogren’s syndrome is not known; studies vary widely in their findings, from a fraction of 1% to 7% of the elderly population. Better research on prevalence is needed, as is a standardized set of diagnostic criteria. It’s important to note that elderly folks have Sjogren’s 7-8 times as often as do people in their twenties. Sjogren’s can leave patients bedridden, but many patients are very active with only bothersome dryness of their eyes and/or mouth that doesn’t affect their lives significantly. 84% of Sjogren’s syndrome patients are women. One-third of us (including me) have small fiber nerve damage that causes complications in their autonomic body functions. Some I’ve spoken to have damage to organ valves, some even die of the resultant heart or kidney disease. The folks whom I’ve met who bother to talk to other patients online are often very ill, and have become desperate to learn more about their complicated conditions. Please don’t visit a support group and assume you’re going to be just as bad off as the folks online. We are home and online because we’re too sick to do much else. Many complain that their family doctors are ill-informed or that they aren’t giving them enough information. The recent influx of studies on Sjogren’s syndrome and our related conditions make keeping up with the current literature a must for the doctors who care for us. All About Moisture and the Lack of It People with the disorder experience Sjogren’s in various ways. Some are barely inconvenienced, some lives are altered drastically by the profound fatigue that is a major hallmark of the disease (we’ll be talking a lot about fatigue later on). Some of us are in constant pain due to small and large fiber nerve damage, others suffer sporadically with gland inflammation. Some Sjogren’s patients are merely bothered by dry eyes and take a prescription that keeps that issue in check. They may always be able to manage their illness with little difficulty. These people may live and die with barely a hitch in the course of their lives. Others must use artificial tears regularly throughout the day and suck on hard candies or chew gum to keep their mouths moist. There are prescription pharmaceutical remedies for both these issues when over-the-counter remedies are no longer enough. Women with Sjogren’s can experience vaginal dryness that makes it too painful to have male/female sexual intercourse. Pain during intercourse is often described. A lack of ability to perspire can interfere with body temperature regulation. Some of us produce so little saliva that we are unable to keep our teeth from rotting out of our heads no matter how diligently we brush, rinse and floss. Many middle-aged folks in my Facebook support groups already have dentures or tooth implants. Some of us lose their voices due to lack of mouth moisture to lubricate their throats. Singers with Sjogren’s syndrome often notice a raspiness due to laryngeal tissue damage from drying out. Some singers have to give up singing altogether. A few SS patients even completely lose their ability to speak due to throat tissue damage. Wide Spectrum of Central Nervous System Complications As of this post, some small studies suggest that about 30% of Sjogren’s patients have small-fiber nerve disease as found by skin punch biopsy. There is some speculation that small-fiber damage can progress to large-fiber nerve damage; a small, but significant percentage of patients show damage to myelinated large-fiber nerves. Small-fiber nerve damage is common in SS; this kind of nerve regulates the function of autonomic systems; damage to these nerves leads to a wide variety of dysfunction to body processes that occur without our conscious effort. This condition is called dysautonomia. We don’t have to think about each breath, or each heartbeat for them to keep going, or about pushing our blood or food through our digestive tracts or accessing oxygen or glucose or the uptake of trace minerals. It’s worth noting that recent studies show that up to 62% of fibromyalgia patients actually have small-fiber neuropathy to blame for their muscle pain and spasms. Dysautonomia is a health problem caused by our central nervous system’s inability to properly carry out our autonomic functions, which is everything our bodies do unconsciously, that is, without our consciously directed effort. Some autonomic functions include: 1.  Breathing 2.  Sleeping 3.  Digestion 4.  Heartbeat 5.  Hormone release 6.  Body temperature regulation 7.  Sweating 8.  Balance 9.  Sensory feedback 10. Storing memories - that memory loss is an autonomic function is speculative on my part. Emerging research has us closer than ever to a solid understanding of the memory storage process and the physical existence of engrams, the place where our long-term memories are thought to be. Many Sjogren’s patients report memory and cognitive issues (often called “brain fog” by patients). Many patients report losing jobs because of not being able to keep a train of thought or get enough done in a timely manner. Indeed, this was my chief complaint. I could have kept on with school, I could have withstood the muscle pain, dizziness and fatigue if only I was able to think like I used to. But, no, all of me was tired straight through, especially my brain. Even now, I try to do all intellectually challenging things in the morning when I am sharpest. Many Sjogren’s patients also have dysautonomia. We can’t always depend on a regular heartbeat, the ability to swallow smoothly, to be able to sleep well, to properly digest our food, or even to regulate our body temperature. Heatstroke is always a possibility in hot weather and can come on suddenly after even a short exposure to hot, humid conditions. Dysautonomia is related to small-fiber neuropathy, but it’s not clear exactly how.   Even taking a shower can be challenging if we try to shower in the warm temperatures we used before we got sick. One woman in my Facebook support group reports that her doctor advised that she not even go outside when the temperature (in Fahrenheit) and humidity together add up to 150 or more. I have heard over and over people say that just the effort of taking a shower tires them out so much that they have to go back to bed. I have been there many times! Talking to Your Doctor If you’re really lucky, you have a GP who is familiar with Sjogren’s syndrome. Unfortunately, there is so much new info coming into medicine, our family doctors may not familiar with recent research on the disease and may still think it’s a rare condition or a condition that only affects salivary and lacrimal glands. For this reason, we may need for our rheumatologists to behave as the doctor who coordinates our various medical specialty needs. Please encourage your rheumatologists and family doctors to become more familiar with this condition as it is still under-diagnosed. Ask whether they would appreciate being updated by you; offer to bring in new research papers. You may not be able to bring in the full studies due to paywalls, but you can bring in the abstract; it will give your doctor enough info to look up the full study if s/he has an account with his university library, Medline or Pub Med, etc. Spreading awareness is important: Early detection can lead to disease-modifying treatment. That is, there are drugs that can prevent further damage in Sjogren’s patients who tolerate it. There is research going on right now that may result in a vaccine for us in just a few years. I encourage everyone to join The Sjogren’s Foundation (www.Sjogrens.org) to receive ongoing updates on the state of our condition. Patients are best-served when they are being looked after by a good rheumatologist. A good rheumy will know that your Sjogren’s can cause widespread pain from nerve damage as well as deep fatigue. Check the rheumatology staff of your local teaching hospital if you’re having a hard time finding a knowledgable doctor. I’ve found good specialists by seeing who, locally, was publishing research on my condition. I realize that not everyone lives near teaching hospitals, but it can be worth the trek to the nearest big city if you’re only seeing your rheumatologist every 6 months or so, as most of us do once all the diagnostic interaction between you and your doctor’s office is done. Unless a physician has a particular interest in Sjogren’s syndrome, they may not even be aware that it is as widespread as it is now known to be. Recently thought to be a rare disease, Sjogren’s is now thought to occur in 3-5% of the population. That makes it one of the most common autoimmune diseases, only lagging after rheumatoid arthritis. Even less-understood is the complication of small-fiber neuropathy (SFN). Approximately 30% of Sjogren’s patients suffer with it. Patients report that even their neurologists aren’t up on the fact that SFN can cause pain and spasms as this is relatively new information that they didn’t get in medical school. Have a detailed conversation with your general physician about the many aspects of Sjogren’s syndrome and make sure that the two of you are a good fit. Small-fiber neuropathy is painful and can be debillitating; it can impede all physical function because of the wide-spread muscle and connective tissue pain it can cause. SFN is a factor in the disruption in autonomic dysfunction that can lead to serious complications. It’s worth knowing that up to 1/3 of us have SS-A and SS-B negative blood tests. Remember, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. You are welcome to tell us about your journey to diagnosis or your dissatisfaction with not getting a prompt one. Was it hard for you to get a diagnosis? Please tell us your experience! Sources - I’ve done a whole lot of reading since my diagnosis in February of 2018, but the studies and articles I consulted for this particular blog, are listed below.   From Engrams to Pathologies of the Brain - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5383718/ Small Fiber Neuropathy: Disease Classification Beyond Pain and Burning - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5912271/ Sex differences in Sjögren’s syndrome - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4630965/ Small-fiber neuropathy: Expanding the clinical pain universe - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30569495 Primary Sjogren’s syndrome with central nervous system involvement: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f2ee/a33c57f84283a4cd882294ad75fcc73e8232.pdf Sjogren’s syndrome disease info - https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/sjogrens-syndrome Sjogren’s Center at Johns Hopkins - https://www.hopkinssjogrens.org/ Varied prevalence reported in large epidemiological survey - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4122257/ The Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation - https://www.sjogrens.org #Sjogren's diagnosis#Sjogren's#Sjogren's symptoms#fatigue#deep fatigue#autoimmune#spoonie#chronic#profound fatigue#fatique#small fiber neuropathy#autonomic disorder#autonomic#dry eyes#dry mouth

[ill-be-istj-if-no-one-else-is]

hi! can you pls explain the shadow functions or whatever they're called (those functions that come after your 4 first) and how functional they are and their roles etc... thanks!

Hi anon,

I don’t personally hold by shadow function theory, and I’m not a huge fan of socionics, and those are two different 8-function theories, so I am probably the wrong person to ask regarding the level of functionality and roles but I can provide some background.

Socionics is a separate theory that like MBTI draws from Carl Jung’s original proposal of human cognition being broken down into 8 cognitive functions. MBTI was developed in the United States in the late 1940s whereas socionics was developed in the then-Soviet Union in the 1970s. They are not interchangeable for a couple reasons but most notably while they both have a basis in Jung’s work, neither adhere exactly to his original structure. Notably:

Neither use his exact stacking system, which was less evenly balanced between introverted/extroverted functions.

Jung’s system defined 8 functions but stated that people have stacks of 4, which is also true of MBTI. It was created to explain differences in people, and to translate how those differences can color our interactions, but has always had an undercurrent of individualism (unsurprising given its US early Cold War origins)

Socionics states that people have 8-function stacks, and combines Jung’s work with that of Polish psychiatrist Antoni Kępiński (who focused on information processing), both major deviations, but arguably is truer to the Jungian definitions of the functions. Also unsurprisingly it takes a more Soviet approach in that originally it was meant to describe people’s places in society.

Shadow functions are part of John Beebe’s 8 function model and are also derived from Jung’s model. I haven’t looked into this nearly as much, and I find most people sort of treat this as either an expansion pack of MBTI, or alternately an westernized version of socionics, or if they’re really fucking things up, they already kind of treat MBTI and socionics interchangeably and just throw this in as well. Don’t do this. Anyway, the idea of the Beebe 8 function model is that you have both your top four function self and a shadow self - the hero and the animus. This seems very much in the spirit of Carl Jung if you ever had to read about his more collective unconscious/archetype stuff, but personally speaking I find it poetic but impractical.

So: MBTI doesn’t have these functions. Anyone who says it does is mixing up MBTI with either socionics or the Beebe 8 function model.

The stacking, for either socionics or the Beebe 8 function model, is as follows:

First four functions have the MBTI logic.

Your 5th function is the introverted/extroverted flip of your dominant function. So to use me as an example, my dom function is Si so the 5th function would be Se.

Your 6th is the introverted extroverted flip of your aux function (my 6th is therefore Ti since my aux is Te)

And so on (so my 7th Fe as the flip of my tert Fi; my 8th is Ni as the flip of my inferior Ne).

In socionics, as I understand it:

5th function: you’re not good at it but you like it; however you can easily be manipulated with it.

6th: you’re sort of unconsciously good at it on a regular basis, which, you’d think at that point you’d notice, right?

7th: this is where I get fed up with socionics because Wikipedia says it’s complex but unconscious but the socionics websites, all of which kind of look like if someone put a 2006-era Facebook theme over The Drudge Report as it was recovering from a Russian DoS attack, say this is the point of least resistance and you’re very bad at it (and this is like, the one socionics thing that I agree with and like). So...one of those two options.

8th: You’re totally unaware of it but it’s strong? I have no clue.

John Beebe, meanwhile, sort of just pits your 5th function vs. your 1st, your 6th vs. your 2nd, and so on although maybe your 8th is also just trying to destroy you overall? Again, not entirely sure.

So the takeaway here is if you want to read up on either socionics or the John Beebe 8-function model, have at it. I do not.

Now, as a side note, I do think that one can observe behaviors that look sort of like the shadow functions but they’re actually just your other functions working together, ie, my Si and Te working in concert can come up with similar results as someone with Se and Ti would, but the cognitive process was still different.

[mdomroe-blog1]

TecKed Out

OUTLOOK

Everyone has their own personal favorite social media influencers, whether that be Youtubers like, Keaton Milburn, Fitness Bloggers like Tammy Hembrow, or top models like Hailey Bieber. These three famous influencers have three main characteristics in common. They are tall, skinny, and blonde. Growing up I had a great childhood, I was carefree and never had a second thought about the way I looked. In later middle school when I became a part of the social media world these things changed.  I started to see the differences that I had from other girls my age and noticed I never could compete with some girls.

[Keaton Milburn is a 21-year-old social media influencer, courtesy of AZ Foothills.]

I’m not here to tell you that skinny blonde girls need to be exterminated from society or to tell you to stop using social media. I’m writing this blog to raise awareness of future implications extreme social media and technology usage could bring to the next generation of young adults. Compared with other developed nations, Americans are more likely to have a higher amount of screen-time than almost any other western society. According to Common Sense Media,  American youth, ages 8-18 spend an average of nine hours using any source of media. Instead of living an active lifestyle and learning lifelong skills, we are training  our youth to live behind the screen while emphasizing the importance of technical literacy in the workplace. Brianna Crowley compared the older generation to be more of “digital immigrants’” rather than “digital natives”. However, we are not preparing the “digital natives” for the real world, we are teaching them to live like lifeless computer-oriented zombies. Employers are more inclined to hire someone with both computer and communication skills, however CLIMB professional Development and Training ranked strong communication as the top answer. As a society we need to be conscientious of the negative impact’s technology can bring, so we can work toward a well-rounded lifestyle.

[This illustration shows this woman’s struggle to detach herself from social media. (Thrillist)]

MENTAL HEALTH

In 2014 Nielson performed a study to show the negative effects technology has on the developing teen brain, this study showed how technology has negative effects on sleep patterns, self-confidence, social skills, emotions, and personality in teens. Nielson highlights the negatives of social media as a whole, rather than demonstrate what a person goes through on a more intimate level, which is so important to acknowledge. As technology has risen, personal hatred towards one’s own body became extremely prominent. Girls and boys saw true differences between their bodies and ones of famous influencers, which then made teens try and work towards a more “likeable” image. Teens will do anything to fit in, going anywhere from posting scandalous photos to starving themselves, because that is what their favorite celebrity does.  The Girl Scouts Research Institute found that ½ of every teen women wish they were as skinny as fashion models. I think it is horrible to see how many girls are affected by social media, if they weren’t subjected to mass amounts of edited content then maybe it would be easy to differentiate between what is real and what is fake.

Body image is something that usually has a negative connotation. When you’re a teen you have so many different things to worry about. Teens stress about the craziest things, personally I have stressed about how my new perfume smelled for hours. I think with just simple posts a teen can completely misconstrue the meaning behind the initial post and work-up their emotions in response. Our brain has been rewired since I was a kid. According to Stephanie Hertzenberg; from Beliefnet, there is a direct connection between your brains ability to process a large influx of information, and the ability to retain information. This recent catastrophe is referred to as “popcorn brain”, and if the brain is subjected to a large amount of stimuli for long periods of time, then the brain will no longer retain large portions of information.

Not only does over indulgence of social media lead to poor cognitive function it also is a main trigger of anxiety and depression. It is so easy to see posts on your feed and compare the amount of likes you receive to another young teen, but while some of us just see that like as a number others take that number to heart. In 2017 the Child Mind Institute conducted a study that shows 92% of teens use or own a smartphone. The Child Mind Institute also found that in half a million high-schoolers depressive symptoms have increased 33% in a five-year span. In that same time teen girls experienced a 65% increase in suicide rates. Technology is a great thing and allows for millions of people to connect from all over the world, but when people feel bad about themselves after going online then why should we promote its use. We should not let cyberbullying be something in this world that could trigger someone to take their own life.  Jennifer Mills; a renowned Canadian Psychologist speaks on body image and says teens "… felt worse about their own appearance after looking at social media pages of someone that they perceived to be more attractive than them...". Many are quick to see negatives within this quotation; however, I believe we need to not see it as a negative but see it as an opportunity to change young tech users outlook when on social media. Instead of viewing it as a competition, we need to teach developing youth that it is a form of finding information on others.

[This photo symbolizes how she sees herself based upon others words, and how they stick on her (Social Media Effecting Body Image).]

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS

We have seen our society move up the ladder with new innovations, with large technology companies constantly working towards releasing the newest update. Apple is the leading tech company in the world and is a great example of a company with a fast turnover rate. Within the last decade, we have moved into the realm of smartphones. With technology at our fingertips our citizens live a very efficient lifestyle. You can completely live a paperless lifestyles if truly necessary, but that may lead to a dependence on any given device. Women and men are constantly on popular modes of social media like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. If our society is on average spending nine hours on a device, then a large amount of that time is spent on social media. Constant time spent on social media updates teens on the newest tech trends being released, this inclines people to buy more and more products that have very little differences. Zac Hall exemplifies the fast technology turnover rate, by showing how every September Apple releases a completely new model, then just makes small adjustments and rebrands throughout the year. This marketing scheme is what makes Apple and other companies so successful, however they do not show how the consumer is constantly updating to stay hip to cultural trends.

[This is a chart that shows the large increase of price on Apple products (Phillipine Peso.]

PERSONAL REFLECTION

When I was a freshmen in high school, I was completely naïve to all the mean girls in school and what their words could do. I was a pretty shy girl and did not really get into deep conversations with “the cool kids”. One day I had class with this beautiful popular girl named Rachel and she was seated in my table group. I was pretty excited to be in a cool table group, and for her to even know my name. A few weeks went by and I thought Rachel and I had really hit it off on multiple occasions. Little did I know that she was purposefully manipulating me for pure enjoyment. I had found out that she posted a photo on her Snapchat story of me wearing shorts with white paint on the butt. This white stain led to many sexual jokes that I was not expecting nor wanting.

In conclusion, although Rachel and I do not talk anymore her words still linger with me to this day. I feel that without the monumental tear to my self-confidence I would not have grown to be a strong independent leader. I am currently writing this from my hotel room where I am staying in Nashville. I was selected to attend a Leadership Conference here and I truly think back to that time where social media destroyed me, and how I have grown from that experience. Overall, I believe technology has allowed us to transform society and grow into what we are today, but without proper guidance it can go extremely bad.

[These are unfortunately the very old shorts that I got made fun of for when I was so young. Ironically, I brought them to wear to bed.]

[This is me and Jacquelyn Kelly pictured above at the Leadership Conference this past weekend.]

[bxkrug]

Copyright - The “Real” Death of Vaporwave

Vaporwave has been called dead more times than Stan Lee, and yet still it is a popular music genre and aesthetic. Vaporwave, to someone not very heavily immersed in the culture, makes almost no sense. Vaporwave as a music and design genre is hard to define. Nonetheless it is an aesthetic style and musical movement that I adore. In simple terms vaporwave is a subgenre of chillwave, that is easy to listen to (darkvapor excepted), easy to relax to, while also being oddly nostalgic. The genre generally utilises heavy sampling and when it doesn’t it uses stylistic pastiche. These two techniques are ways that vaporwave recontextualizes older musical styles, motifs and tracks. Vaporwave is hard to describe due to many factors contributing to its aesthetic and artistic success, such as its background in internet forums and culture, the cultural impact of the tracks and styles the sampling and pastiche is taken from and the way in which the various samples are manipulated.

Vaporwave as a genre is unendingly fascinating, partly because it couldn’t exist without the internet, and because it couldn’t exist without the ability to take existing works and manipulate and re-release them. The influences vaporwave takes from plunderphonics is well documented, but I would argue is a hypothesis born mostly out of reading too far into a very simple history. While the founders of the musical style many today would call vaporwave, namely James Ferraro and his contemporaries, definitely took some kind of inspiration or at least were creating in the footsteps of plunderphonics, the subsequently popularised vaporwave genre and its corresponding design aesthetic, has more roots in internet memes and culture then any obscure experimental music genre. The use of post-ironic capitalism, post-ironic marxism, and post-ironic japanophilia is evidence enough of this relationship.

Post-irony being a very common characteristic of both mainstream and underground meme culture in which a joke or statement is made ironically, but the essence of the joke or statement still has some essence of truth or sincerity. The abundance of post-irony in the vaporwave community has led the genre to be called a meme in its own right, and its design aesthetic to be called a meme format. Memewave, and vapormeme are sub-genres of vaporwave with more layers of irony than anyone with an IQ below 400 could possibly understand.  

Vaporwave simultaneously mocks and embraces free-market capitalism. It takes songs made for capitalistic gain and essentially steals them and subsequently uses them for the basis of an entire track. The essence of remix is used, but the amount to which the new works are transformative is controversial. I will refrain from inputting my opinion until later, but it is an important  issue of debate. The idea here being that they are themselves utilising a free market ideology in order to create their works, while also mocking the system that both allows them to do this, and had created the work they are commandeering. This may sound like cognitive dissonance, but in online terms this is a very good example of post-irony, but there is another layer to this. The essence of this cognitive dissonance and post-irony, vaporwave fans find quite funny, hence why they partake of the culture and genre. They also, however, tend to unironically enjoy the music and the various image edits. The cognitive dissonance of finding the self-contradictory ideological motivations ridiculous and laughable, while also unironically loving it for those same aspects, is the very nature of internet age post-irony. The vaporwave community similarly makes fun of, while it embraces marxist criticisms of capitalism and japanophilia.

I hope this has conveyed how vaporwave and memes are heavily related, and how the culture of remix, sampling and pastiche is necessary for the genre to exist by definition. Vaporwave without the ability to take existing music and recontextualise it is just odd sounding chillwave. 

Vaporwave’s use of sampling is undoubtedly transformative, in my opinion. The act of recontextualizing someone else’s work, and changing the feeling, sound, and intention for the music to such a degree as vaporwave artists do is an artistic one. I would argue the same thing about taking someone else’s piece of art and altering it to convey a new meaning and tone, or taking a film and making an edit which alters the meaning in a different way. Memes exist solely on this one assumption, meme edits could not exist in a system that does not allow this kind of remix.

As far as I am concerned, the current state of copyright could potentially get bad enough that vaporwave could become impossible to make and distribute, even for free. EU copyright law already sets precedent for certain memes to be illegal under certain interpretations of the law. Certain vaporwave artists have had to distribute music on underground forums, bandcamp, and other free distribution services where copyright is less strictly upheld. Some artists who could plead the defense that their work is transformative have made homes of lucrative platforms such as spotify and itunes, that being artists such as 2814 and Blank Banshee, but other vaporwave artists have not made such a move. This is due to a number of reasons, some of which involve the fear for litigation.

When costly lawsuits can be filed for things as minor as similar chord progressions or even a similar function those chords play within a progression (even if no such lawsuits are successful) it is understandable that certain artists are too careful to end up with their music being too well advertised.

This fear for the loss of one’s wealth and work due to the overstepping of government regulation is, in my honest opinion, already in a shameful state. With YouTube, the EU and the US copyright regulations being too restrictive to creative freedom. An artist should not fear for any legal repercussion for any work that utilises another in any way, as long as some creative input is exerted by the second artist in order to express something new. With the tightening of copyright regulations as has recently been made by the EU parliament we could see the death of vaporwave in the future. This would be a future not devoid of creative potential, but one where the ability to express that creative potential is severely limited. It is a future I wish to avoid in entirety. Government regulation of a free market is necessary to ensure the stability of the market, but such regulation must be much looser on the creative industries, if we wish for new and innovative works to be created. 

References & Further Reading

Copyright Trolls. (2018). Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://www.eff.org/issues/copyright-trolls

What is a Copyright Troll? - Plagiarism Today. (2018). Plagiarism Today. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2018/04/12/what-is-a-copyright-troll/

(2018). Andrewtholl.com. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from http://www.andrewtholl.com/uploads/9/0/8/6/9086633/plunderphonics_literature_review.pdf

The History of Avantgarde Music. (2018). Scaruffi.com. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://www.scaruffi.com/avant/cpt15.html

Vaporwave: A Brief History. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdpP0mXOlWM

Vaporwave: Genre Redefined. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJwqp0IByto

The music theory of V A P O R W A V E. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdVEez20X_s

Vaporwave — Down the Rabbit Hole. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_T1nkER3vA

Urban Dictionary: post-ironic. (2018). Urban Dictionary. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=post-ironic

Post-Irony Is the Only Thing Left in the World That Gets a Reaction. (2014). Noisey. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://noisey.vice.com/da/article/6vm4md/the-past-explains-our-present-wave-of-post-irony

What Is Post-Irony?. (2012). Postirony.com. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from http://postirony.com/blog/?p=2371

Why the incoming EU copyright law will undermine the free internet. (2018). The Conversation. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from http://theconversation.com/why-the-incoming-eu-copyright-law-will-undermine-the-free-internet-99247

Article 13 Passed. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISyiTcA6RIw

EU approves controversial Copyright Directive, including internet ‘link tax’ and ‘upload filter’. (2018). The Verge. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/12/17849868/eu-internet-copyright-reform-article-11-13-approved

Sweney, M. (2018). EU copyright law may force tech giants to pay billions to publishers. the Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/law/2018/sep/12/eu-copyright-law-may-force-tech-giants-to-pay-billions-to-publishers-facebook-google

Everything is a Remix Remastered (2015 HD). (2015). Vimeo. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from https://vimeo.com/139094998

[raindropsofhope92]

Gracefully Broken: Beautifully Made Whole

Hi there, my name is Victoria. I would like to share my life testimony with you.

Since birth I have had several health issues and difficulties. I have a neuromuscular disease where I have severe muscle weakness.

Over the recent years I have developed mental health problems and take medication to stabilise it.  

I had always believed in God and never saw my disabilities as a hinderance. I had somewhat of a happy childhood.

In 2004, my dad passed away from cancer. I didn’t really understand or really know Jesus but I knew that my dad received his last rites and would go to Heaven.

From that time, my life changed dramatically.

It was me, my mum and sister now. We had many struggles but God placed so many instrumental people in our lives.

June 2010 was the end of sixth form and transition into to university.

At this time I didn’t do well in my A Level exams.

In the final 2 weeks, I had to recreate 1 year’s worth of A Level I.T coursework that corrupted/deleted.

I literally felt like I screwed up my life. I was desperate for meaning and purpose.

I hadn’t prayed in a month because I was confused, stressed and angry with life.

Then one night, I called my friend and he pointed me back to God.

Then on that night or a few nights later I prayed and I literally heard God say that He had a purpose from Him.

The good news is that I passed my A Levels and instead of doing a degree in I.T (after my horrific experience) I decided to study Business Management.

In October 2010, I started my degree and was excelling, life was sweet. I started to grow in my faith.

A dear friend and her husband (a dear friend too) came into our lives.

At this point, her and her husband were starting to rebuild a future for their family. Despite hardship, my friend was always very positive, joyful to be around, kind, patient and compassionate.

This even made me curious about her joy.

Her joy and strength was Jesus.

She told me that, Jesus loves me and you so much that He died in our place so we that we can have eternal life, go to Heaven and have a relationship with God.

That no matter how bad we mess up, Jesus' love for us will never die or grow cold. He gives us beauty from ashes. He is close to the broken hearted and is in the business of transforming lives.

In June 2012, being in final semesters at university, I was hospitalised for 2 months with the life threatening illness, Limbic Encephalitis.

This is where the lining of the limbic part of the brain gets swollen (limbic being part of the brain the controls and regulates emotions) impairing my cognitive function, memory, mental health and as well as epileptic seizures.

It took 3 weeks for the actual diagnosis.

For most part of my stay in hospital I was catatonic and it was one of the scary things being trapped in my own mind and body unable to communicate and process things with a few seizures.

I also developed psychotic depression, anxiety and paranoia. I was given steroids to reduce inflammation in my brain and anti psychotic medication to help my symptoms.

Every day I would ask my mum the question ‘How many days have I been here in hospital’? She often and most always answered me ’10 days’. I think she wanted to comfort me but made me feel worse. Despite this, I was never truly alone.

I knew Jesus was with me. That was my comfort in my hardest days and nights.  He never left me, He was always by my side comforting and encouraging me not to give up.

By God’s love, mercy and grace the steroids given to me kicked in and the swelling eventually went down, which led to somewhat of a recovery.

I was left with a slight scarring in my brain. I was initially prescribed anti psychotic medication for 6 months after hospital discharge.

However, a few weeks later my doctor stopped the anti psychotic medication as I was suffering from unwanted side effects.

My mental health was fairly stable at that point.

However, in the first week of December that year I suffered with a seizure and an episode of psychosis.

I was hospitalised for the seizure and then discharged in time for Christmas with supervision from the home treatment team to monitor my mental health.

Unfortunately, my mental health was not stabilising. I was admitted into a psychiatric hospital just after new year and discharged in early February 2013.

The good news is that since then-with medication my mental health and overall health has been relatively stable and had no seizures since. From time to time I do get anxiety but I am always reminded that Jesus is with me.

Also, I am so thankful for the love and support of my family, friends and brothers and sister’s in Christ who prayed, spent time, encouraging me, being patient with me, even staying while I feel asleep randomly in the day at the hospital, as well the medical team who cared and look after me.  

I am very thankful especially to my late mother for her dedication of love, care, support and comfort.

My mum passed away from cancer in 2018. This made me step up in my role an older sister.

From these experiences, I have become more independent and this has given me more zest and motivation and drive to move forward in life.

Before pandemic, I would to go to the gym regularly, socialise with friends and I am still in the process learning Lebanese Arabic, which in the past proved very difficult, with the impairments from my illnesses.

By the grace of God, I have learned to adapt and have a positive outlook in life.

In the end, I didn’t graduate with a full degree but my university still awarded me with a Diploma of Higher Education in Business Management in 2016.

One the beautiful things about this I was fortunate enough to attend a graduation ceremony with my mum by side.

In February 2019, I wrote a piece about my life with neuromuscular disease in a book published for health care professionals.

I also applied and got to the final round of interviews for a cloud software engineer apprenticeship with Amazon.

Nearing the end of 2020, I since I started Raindrops of Hope on Tumblr, Facebook and instagram. I write the blog and create graphic images with quotes to go along with it.

This March, I am in the midst of creating and building a prayer ministry called Words of Hope on Facebook where all are welcome to send their prayer requests.

With this in mind, nothing is impossible in life; I have proved you can live a full life despite challenges and difficulties.

Jesus is the reason I can smile today. Without Him, I don't think I would live a life worth living or achieve all these things.

Life may be hard but life with Jesus is a life worth living.

I am, 'Gracefully Broken: Beautifully Made Whole.'

To God be the glory!

[nithyanandahk]

1 MARCH 2021, MONDAY (IST) 8:03 AM - SPH APPEARANCE

1 MARCH 2021, MONDAY (IST)8:03 AM - SPH APPEARANCE SHAKTI PADA AND SHAKTINI PADA WITH THE LIVE DARSHAN OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM (SPH), JAGATGURU MAHASANNIDHANAM (JGM), HIS DIVINE HOLINESS (HDH) BHAGAVAN NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. *08:07 AM TO 09:52 AM IST - NITHYANANDA SATSANGTHE SPH BLESSED HUMANITY WITH THIS FOLLOWING MESSAGE ON HIS PERSONAL FACEBOOK PROFILE, SEVERAL HOURS BEFORE DELIVERING THIS BREAKTHROUGH SATSANG, AS A PREPARATION FOR THEM TO RECEIVE THE TRUTHS IN THE SATSANG:*KARMA IS NOT WHAT YOU COMMITTED OR OMITTED. IT IS THE UNATTENDED PART OF YOUR INNER SPACE SOFTWARE - THE BLINDSPOT OF YOUR INNER SOFTWARE'S FUNCTIONING.*THE HORMONES AND CHEMICALS INSIDE YOUR BODY MAKES THE WOMB FOR PARASITES AND MICROBES TO HAPPEN. YOUR ACTION FOLLOWING THE PATTERNS, HORMONES AND CHEMICALS INFUSES THE MALE COMPONENT INTO THE WOMB AND GIVES BIRTH TO MICROBES AND PARASITES WHICH IN TURN TRIGGERS YOU CONSTANTLY TO DO WHAT IT WANTS AND KEEPS YOU AS SLAVE OF ITS EXISTENCE.IN COURSE OF TIME, MICROBES AND PARASITES CONVINCE YOU THEY ARE VERY MUCH PART OF YOUR EXISTENCE AND IDENTITY AND YOU LOSE YOUR WHOLE LIFE DEFENDING THE PATTERNS AND LIFESTYLE TRIGGERED BY YOUR PARASITES AND MICROBES.DEFINITION OF PARASITES:A PARASITE IS AN ORGANISM THAT LIVES ON OR IN A HOST ORGANISM AND GETS ITS FOOD FROM OR AT THE EXPENSE OF ITS HOST.DEFINITION OF MICROBES:A MICROORGANISM ESPECIALLY A BACTERIUM CAUSING DISEASE OR FERMENTATION.MEDITATE ON THESE AND COME TO SATSANGHTHERE ARE 4 METHODOLOGY FOR LIBERATION / SOLUTION FOR ANY PROBLEM :1. AANAVOPAYAM,2. SAKTHOPAYAM,3. SAMPAVOPAYAM,4. ANUPAYAMTHROUGH ALL THESE 4 METHODS WE WILL FIND SOLUTION FOR OUR KARMAS AND PARASITES AND MICROBES RELATED PROBLEMS.ORIGINAL LINK TO THE POST: HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/PARAMAHAMSANITHYANANDA/POSTS/4945893518831792*PARAMASHIVA’S MESSAGE DIRECTLY FROM KAILASA:*KARMA IS NOT SOMETHING WHICH YOU COMMITTED OR OMITTED. IT IS NOT THE DOSHA WHICH YOU COMMITTED OR OMITTED. IT IS THE UNATTENDED BLIND SPOTS OR DELUDED UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT THE DHARMA / THE SOFTWARE BASED ON WHICH YOU FUNCTION, THE SOURCE CODE.*BLIND SPOTS ABOUT THAT SOFTWARE, DELUSIONS ABOUT THAT SOFTWARE’S RESULT IS KARMA.*PEOPLE PLAN AND WORK FOR POVERTY BUT BLAME POVERTY ON KARMA.*WHEN YOU POSTPONE WHAT YOU NEED TO DO FOR MONEY, YOU ARE DOING WHAT IS NEEDED FOR POVERTY.*WHEN YOU ARE POSTPONING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE FOR WEALTH, YOU ARE PREPONING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE FOR POVERTY.*IT IS LIKE YOU DON'T WANT TO BE EXPOSING YOUR BLIND SPOTS TO YOURSELF; YOU WANT TO BE IN DELUSION, LIKE HOW THE INDIAN HINDUS ARE THINKING THAT THEY ARE MAJORITY AND SANATANA HINDU DHARMA IS NEVER GOING TO BE DESTROYED.*LEARN TO OPEN YOUR EYES TO THE SOFTWARE BASED ON WHICH YOU ARE FUNCTIONING.*WHETHER IN THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL TOWARDS ENLIGHTENMENT, OR IN THE SOCIAL LEVEL, MEANS, YOUR SURVIVAL AS THE SOCIETY (GROUP OF PEOPLE), OR POLITICAL LEVEL (YOUR POLITICAL EXISTENCE) OR ECONOMICAL LEVEL (SURVIVAL OF YOUR GROUP ECONOMICALLY), IN ANY LEVEL, UNDERSTAND THE SOURCE CODE SOFTWARE.*I UNDERSTOOD THE SOURCE CODE SOFTWARE OF MYSELF, MY BODY, HOW THE VARIOUS ORGANS OF MY BODY ARE COORDINATED, HOW THEY ARE ALL INSPIRED, EXCITED, WHAT INSPIRES THEM, WHAT MAKES THEM ACTIVE, ALIVE, ENERGETIC... I HAVE UNDERSTOOD THAT SOURCE CODE. BECAUSE OF THAT, EVEN POISON COULD NOT KILL ME. *WHEN THE ANTI-HINDU GANG TRIED TO POISON ME, IT ONLY DISTURBED MY HEALTH BUT IT COULD NOT KILL ME. BEFORE THAT, I WOKE UP AND DID ALL THE DETOXING NEEDED TO BE DONE. *NOW I AM NOT ONLY BACK WITH HEALTH, I HAVE DONE ANTI-AGEING, THE KAYAKALPA PROCESS.*WITH ALL MY KNOWLEDGE, RESEARCH, EVERYTHING I RECEIVED FROM MY GURUS AND WITH MY OWN EXPERIENCE, AND WHEN I TAUGHT MY DISCIPLES, FROM THEIR EXPERIENCE, EVERYTHING PUT TOGETHER, NOW THE WHOLE KAYAKALPA SCIENCE IS READY, TESTED ON MY BODY AND FOOLPROOF.*I UNDERSTOOD THE DHARMA OF MY BODY, HOW MY INTRA ORGANS AND INTERNAL ORGANS AND EXTERNAL BODY (PHYSICAL BODY), ARE INTERCONNECTED / ORGANIZED / COORDINATED, HOW MY FIVE STRUCTURES - PHYSICAL / BREATHING / MENTAL / COGNITION / CONSCIOUS STRUCTURES - RELATE WITH EACH OTHER, HOW THEY EITHER INSPIRE OR PERSPIRE EACH OTHER...THIS WHOLE COORDINATION... THE SOURCE CODE OF THE SOFTWARE OF THIS HAPPENING, THIS WHOLE THING I UNDERSTOOD.*BECAUSE I UNDERSTOOD WHAT IS HAPPENING INSIDE ME, I CAN UNDERSTAND VERY CLEARLY WHAT IS HAPPENING OUTSIDE ME.*THE PERSON WHO UNCLUTCHES AND UNDERSTANDS HIS SOURCE CODE -  THE SOURCE CODE OF HIS INTERNAL SOFTWARE, BECOMES THE BEST PERSON TO STRATEGISE EVEN FOR SOCIAL / ECONOMICAL / POLITICAL SUCCESS.*THAT IS WHY IN THOSE DAYS, THE RAJA GURUS, ENLIGHTENED BEINGS, FORMED THE FOUNDATION OF THE HINDU THINK TANK ON WHICH THE HINDU CIVILIZATION STOOD.*IT IS ONLY WHEN THE ENLIGHTENED BEINGS AND THEIR GUIDANCE STARTED REDUCING, THAT THE HINDU CIVILIZATION COLLAPSED, NOT OTHERWISE.*THE FUNDAMENTAL EDUCATION THAT NEEDS TO BE GIVEN FOR A CHILD IS, THE CHILD SHOULD DISCOVER ITS DHARMA, THE SOURCE CODE OF ITS SOFTWARE.*A CHILD SHOULD BE GIVEN THIS EDUCATION ABOUT WHAT ARE THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES BASED ON WHICH THE CHILD HAS PRINTED ITS BODY? WHAT KIND OF FOOD EXCITES IT? WHAT KIND OF ROUTINE INSPIRES IT? WHAT KIND OF THOUGHT CURRENT GIVES FULFILLMENT? WHAT KIND OF ACTIONS AND REACTIONS HAPPEN IN ITS INTERNAL ORGANS.*THE GREATEST GIFT I RECEIVED FROM MY GURUS IS THIS EDUCATION.*ONCE I UNDERSTOOD THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF ME, I JUST KNOW EVERYTHING. I BECOME SARVAJNA. I CAN KNOW ANYTHING!*I AM NOT TALKING OUT OF ARROGANCE. I AM TELLING YOU THE TRUTH AS IT IS.*IF THERE IS A CRISIS IN SOCIAL / NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL LEVEL, I CAN LOOK INTO IT AND UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE PLAN AND HOW IT IS GOING TO MANIFEST. SOMETIMES I WILL TELL FEW THINGS AND SOMETIMES I WONT TELL. BUT IF YOU SEE THE STRATEGIES I DO FOR MY LIFE AND MY SANGHA, YOU CAN UNDERSTAND. I KNOW THE CRISIS THAT IS GOING TO COME, HOW IT WILL OPEN UP AND ITS IMPACT ON NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL LEVEL.*YOU WILL KNOW HOW I ACT AND REACT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE MY DEVOTEE FOR LAST TEN YEARS OR ASSOCIATED WITH THE SANGHA AT LEAST LAST 5-6 YEARS. JUST SIT AND THINK THROUGH WHAT ALL KINDS OF DECISIONS I TOOK ABOUT MYSELF OR ABOUT KAILASA, SANGHA, IN EVERY LEVEL. *DON’T BOTHER ABOUT WHAT I CONVEYED OR DID NOT CONVEY TO PEOPLE. MANY TIMES I WON'T CONVEY BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE NOT READY TO LISTEN, NOT INTERESTED IN THE REAL SOLUTION. NOT ONLY THEY ARE DELUDED, THEY GET ANGRY IF THEIR DELUDED FEEDBACK IS NOT CONSIDERED FOR MY DECISION MAKING.*I HAVE SEEN FOOLS: IN THE NAME OF FEEDBACK, THEY TRY TO PUSH THEIR DECISIONS ON MY HEAD. NOT ONLY THEY DON'T GET OUT OF THEIR DELUSION, THEY WANT TO SINK ALONG WITH SINKING THE WHOLE SHIP. I WILL SAY, ‘NOTHING DOING, NO. IF YOU WANT TO SINK, MAXIMUM YOU CAN SINK. THAT IS YOUR FREEDOM. BUT YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO SINK THE WHOLE KAILSA AND YOU CAN'T!’*THIS IS WHAT KRISHNA MEANS WHEN HE SAYS BEAUTIFULLY: IF YOU UNDERSTAND ME, YOU WILL UNDERSTAND YOU AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE UNIVERSE. *IN THE YOUNG AGE ITSELF, MY GURUS TAUGHT ME ONE THING: THE SOURCE CODE OF THE SOFTWARE BASED ON WHICH I AM FUNCTIONING, THE FIRST PRINCIPLE BASED ON WHICH I 3-D PRINTED MYSELF. ONCE I KNOW THAT, I KNOW EVERYTHING.*IF I CAN PRODUCE 10,000 KIDS LIKE ME, CONSCIOUSLY (I AM NOT GOING TO GIVE PHYSICAL BIRTH TO ANY KID.I AM TALKING ABOUT CONSCIOUSLY REPRODUCING), REPRODUCE THE GURU PARAMPARA, REPRODUCE THE SAME SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS ON 10,000 KIDS, I KNOW THIS SCIENCE CAN'T BE DESTROYED ON PLANET EARTH! *PLANET EARTH NEEDS THIS SCIENCE - THE SUPREME RAJA VIDYA AND RAJA GUHYA - ROYAL SECRET AND ROYAL SACRED SCIENCE.*IF YOU WANT JOY, FULFILLMENT, SUCCESS, KNOWLEDGE, POWERS, TURN TOWARDS YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE ALL THESE ARE GENERATED.*LEARN THE SCIENCE OF THE SOUL, THE SOURCE CODE OF THE SOFTWARE BASED ON WHICH YOU ARE FUNCTIONING, OPERATING, GIVING COMMANDS, GENERATING COMMANDS.*UNFORTUNATELY, HINDUS THOUGHT, BY BECOMING ENGINEERS, MAKING A HOME AND A HAPPY FAMILY, YOU ACHIEVED THE PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE. NO!*THAT CAN BE A VERY GOOD STABLE BASE, FOUNDATION, BUT NOT THE ULTIMATE.*STOP DELUDING YOURSELF OR STOP TORTURING YOURSELF BY CONSTANTLY GENERATING THE COMMANDS WHICH BRING LIFE-NEGATIVITY, BUT WHEN THE RESULTS COME, CRYING VICTIM, PLAYING VICTIM CARD.*YOU CAN'T PROSECUTE LIFE. PEOPLE TRY TO TELL ME CONSTANTLY, GOD IS UNJUST. YOU CAN'T PROSECUTE GOD! IF YOU THINK GOD IS UNJUST, YOU ARE A FOOL! YOU ARE TRYING TO VERBALISE YOUR DELUSION!*I HAVE ALWAYS SEEN THESE TRAITORS, CRIMINALS. THEY USE THIS WORD: ‘MY FEEDBACK IS NOT TAKEN.’*YOUR FEEDBACK IS THROWN BACK AT YOU. YOU EAT IT! IN THE NAME OF FEEDBACK THEY TRY TO RUN THE SANGHA, MAKE DECISIONS.*FIRST OF ALL, THESE TRAITORS DON'T HAVE STRAIGHTFORWARD AGENDA. THEY MAY KNOW HOW TO CUNNINGLY, CLEVERLY SPEAK / ACT AND DELUDE PEOPLE THAT THEY ARE EXTREMELY LOVING / CARING. *THEY ARE LIKE DRUGS. DRUGS MAY GIVE THE FEELING OF EXALTED MOODS BUT IT WILL DESTROY YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS ONCE AND FOR ALL IRREPARABLY YOU.*IF YOU ARE NEW TO MY SANGHA, TO MY SATSANGS, I SINCERELY REQUEST AND HIGHLY RECOMMEND, YOU WATCH SOME OF MY SATSANGS ON UNCLUTCHING AND START PRACTISING UNCLUTCHING BECAUSE WHEN YOU UNCLUTCH, YOU WILL KNOW THE SOURCE CODE OF THE SOFTWARE BASED ON WHICH YOU GENERATE COMMANDS / ACT IN YOUR LIFE, THE WAY YOU COGNISE INFORMATION, THE WAY YOU RESPOND TO LIFE, THE WAY YOU DEFINE WHAT IS GOOD / BAD / RIGHT / WRONG, THE WAY YOU DEFINE YOUR PURPOSE, GOAL; EVERYTHING WILL BECOME CLEAR. *I WANT ALL THE DEVOTEES / DISCIPLES TO MEDITATE ON THIS POWERFUL COGNITION:KARMA IS NOT SOMETHING YOU COMMITTED OR OMITTED. IT IS THE BLIND SPOTS, UNATTENDED PARTS OF YOU, BLIND SPOTS OF YOU, THE UNATTENDED / DELUDED PARTS OF THE CONSCIOUS BLUEPRINT YOU CARRY ABOUT YOU, INSIDE YOU.*CONTINUOUSLY YOU GENERATE COMMANDS TO EAT THIS, THAT AND THEN WHEN YOUR HEALTH IS COMPLETELY DESTROYED, YOU BLAME KARMA, ‘MY KARMA! MY HEALTH IS GONE!’ AND PEOPLE BLAME GOD: ‘I PRAYED TO THIS GOD, WORSHIPPED THAT GOD, SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HEALTH….!’*MULTIPLE TIMES GOD APPEARED IN YOUR SCREEN AND TOLD YOU TO DO PACCHAI PATTINI VRATAM, FASTING, LANGANAM PARAMA AUSHADAM... IF YOU DON'T INTERNALISE ALL THESE GREAT TRUTHS AND GENERATE COMMANDS, AND GO ON POSTPONING, THEN WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?!*DO NOT ALLOW THE PARASITES SITTING IN YOUR MUSCLE MEMORY TO SIGN ON BEHALF OF YOU. WHEN THEY GENERATE COMMANDS ON BEHALF OF YOU, THEY STRENGTHEN THEIR EXISTENCE, NOT YOU. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE TRAITORS HAVE DONE IN MY SANGHA.*WHEN THEY TRY TO TAKE DECISIONS ON MY BEHALF, THEY STRENGTHEN THEIR INTEREST, NOT THE REAL INTEREST FOR WHICH SANGHA WAS CREATED.*I WILL GIVE YOU THE SCIENCE OF PARASITES: WHENEVER YOU GO THROUGH THE INTENSE FLOOD OF HORMONES AND CHEMICALS, FOR EXAMPLE, HUNGER OR FEELING VERY HORNY / LUSTY / SEXUALLY DRIVEN, OR FEELING FRIGHTENED / TERRORISED, ALL THESE THREE ARE JUST A FLOOD OF HORMONES / CHEMICALS INSIDE YOU...*WHENEVER THE HORMONES / CHEMICALS ARE FLOODED INSIDE YOU, THE WOMB, MOTHER COMPONENT FOR THE PARASITES TO BE BORN IS CREATED. THE EGG, GARBHA FOR THE PARASITES TO BE BORN IS CREATED.*THE GOOD NEWS IS, YOU CAN LIVE WITHOUT LETTING THE PARASITES HAPPEN IN YOU.*BUT, IF YOU DECIDE TO DUMP FOOD THE MOMENT YOU FEEL HUNGRY, YOUR ACTION IS THE MALE COMPONENT, THE SPERM INSERTED INTO THAT EGG.*YOUR ACTION OF GOING WITH THE FLOW, WITH THE PATTERN OF THE HORMONES AND CHEMICALS IN YOU, ARE THE MALE COMPONENT ADDED TO THE FEMALE COMPONENT, AND THE PARASITE IS BORN.*THE CHEMICALS AND HORMONES MAKE THE WOMB, EGG, FEMALE COMPONENT FOR PARASITES AND YOUR DELUDED ACTIONS, GOING WITH THE FLOW OF THE HORMONES AND CHEMICALS, ARE THE MALE COMPONENT FOR THE PARASITES TO BE BORN. WHEN THEY BOTH MEET, PARASITES ARE BORN IN YOU.*NEVER EAT THE MOMENT YOU ARE HUNGRY. BRING EATING TO A VERY CLEAR CONSCIOUS FLOW.*I GIVE YOU THE BEST PRACTICE: EAT ONLY ONCE A DAY.*LISTEN TO EVERY LINE:*AT LEAST FOR NEXT SIX MONTHS, COME TO THIS PRACTICE: EAT ONLY ONCE A DAY.*KEEP EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO EAT BEFORE THE PUJA. OFFER EVERYTHING TO PARAMASHIVA AND GURU IN THE PUJA. ALL THIS HAS A REASON. WHEN YOU EAT ONLY ONCE, YOUR WHOLE BODY WILL FEEL THE HUNGER. AND EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE FEELING HUNGRY AND FOOD IS IN FRONT OF YOU, YOU CANNOT EAT BECAUSE THE WHOLE THING HAS TO BE OFFERED TO PARAMASHIVA! SO THE DELAYED GRATIFICATION WILL HAPPEN.*THE WHOLE BOILING WILL HAPPEN AND SETTLE DOWN. SO THE AGITATED PARASITES WILL NOT GET STRENGTHENED BY THE REPEATED ACTIONS OF FULFILLING THEM WHEREVER THEY TRIGGER YOU.*WHEN PARASITES ARE BORN, THEY GET STRENGTHENED BY TRIGGERING YOU AND MAKING YOU ACT ON THE SAME PATTERN.*I TOLD ONE OF MY DAUGHTERS: WHEN YOU ARE FRUSTRATED AND WANT TO  BREAK EVERYTHING AROUND YOU, JUST LOCK YOURSELF AND SIT. DON’T COOPERATE WITH THAT PARASITE. DON'T TAKE DECISION OR ACT WHEN THE PARASITE TRIGGERS. *HUNGER AND ANGER ARE ONE AND THE SAME.*HUNGER TRIGGERS THE PARASITE WHICH TRIGGERS THE ANGER.*THE PERSON WHO DOES DELAYED GRATIFICATION LIVES A HEALTHY, LONG LIFE BECAUSE THE PARASITES IN HIM CAN'T TRIGGER PATTERNS IN HIM. *DELAYED GRATIFICATION WILL KILL THE PARASITES AND THE PATTERNS TRIGGERED BY THE PARASITES.*DON'T THINK HUNGER ONLY TRIGGERS THE COMMANDS TO GET FOOD AND EAT. NO!*IT TRIGGERS A KIND OF IRRITATION WHICH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALMOST EVERY BAD THING HAPPENING IN SOCIETY.*99% OF THE TIME, THE PEOPLE WHO ARE FIGHTING ARE HUNGRY - TRIGGERED BY HUNGER PATTERN.*ANNA DAANA IS THE BEST STRATEGY. *WHENEVER PEOPLE COME TO VISIT ME, I TELL, ‘FIRST FEED THEM. THEN I WILL MEET.’ THEN THE MEETING WILL ALWAYS BE PLEASANT! THEY WILL BE IN THE MOOD TO LISTEN TO WHAT I AM SAYING. THERE WILL BE BEAUTIFUL COMMUNICATION!*I AM GIVING YOU MULTIPLE UNDERSTANDINGS.*I DON'T FEEL BAD ABOUT REPEATING AND BORING YOU. EVEN IF YOU FEEL BORED IT IS OK TO LISTEN AGAIN AND AGAIN THAN TO MISS THE GREAT TRUTHS.*WHEN HORMONES AND CHEMICALS ARE FLOODED INSIDE THE BODY, THEY CREATE THE FEMALE COMPONENT FOR THE MICROBES / PARASITES TO BE BORN.*WHEN YOU ACT DUE TO THE FLOODING OF THE HORMONE AND CHEMICAL, ACTION IS LIKE A MALE COMPONENT / SPERM TO GIVE BIRTH TO THE PARASITE.*WHEN THE FLOOD OF THE CHEMICAL / HORMONES AND ACTIONS JOIN, THE PARASITES AND MICROBES ARE BORN.*WHEN THE PARASITES SITTING INSIDE YOUR MUSCLE MEMORY START TRIGGERING YOU, AND YOU EXACTLY OBEY AND DO WHAT THE PARASITES ARE TELLING YOU, THAT BECOMES A STRONG PATTERN AND THE PARASITES GET STRENGTHENED.*LIFE IS A BEAUTIFUL GAMBLING. EITHER IT CAN MAKE YOU GOD OR IT CAN JUST DESTROY YOU. IT IS HOW YOU PLAY. LIFE IS NEITHER GOOD NOR BAD, IT IS HOW YOU PLAY.*IF YOU ALLOW THE PARASITES TO TAKE DECISIONS FOR YOU, THEN YOU ARE PLANNING FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE PARASITES, NOT YOU.*PARASITES DO NOT TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL THE HAPPENINGS OF YOUR LIFE EXTERNALLY - GOOD /BAD / RIGHT / WRONG. IT IS ONLY YOU WHO NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL THAT.*IT IS YOU WHO ARE GOING TO ENJOY OR SUFFER, NOT THE PARASITES THAT ARE HIDING INSIDE YOUR MUSCLE MEMORY.*THEY JUST CONTINUE TO SUCK YOU AND MAKE YOU BELIEVE THAT THE PARASITES AND PATTERNS GENERATED BY PARASITES ARE ‘YOU’. THEY LITERALLY TAKE OVER YOUR IDENTITY.*WHEN I OPEN MY THIRD EYE, I BURN YOUR PARASITES, NOT YOU. BUT YOU ALWAYS SAY, ‘SWAMIJI IS SO FEROCIOUS’.*I AM FEROCIOUS ABOUT YOUR ‘PARASITES’. I LOVE ‘YOU’.*WHEN I SHOW MY FEROCIOUSNESS, I MAKE A LOUD STATEMENT: ‘I LOVE YOU AND I AM BURNING TO YOUR PARASITE,’*IF YOU TRY TO BURN IT, IT WILL TAKE BIRTHS. IF YOU ALLOW ME TO BURN IT, I WILL FINISH IT IN FEW DAYS.*MAKE ONE MEAL A DAY AS LIFE. THAT ALSO, KEEP EVERYTHING READY. HOT FRESH FOOD...NATURALLY ALL THE PATTERNS, PARASITES, EVERYTHING WILL TRIGGER. BUT YOU CAN'T EAT BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO DO PUJA! THE DELAYED GRATIFICATION...AFTER PUJA WHEN YOU EAT, YOU WILL EAT EXACTLY HOW MUCH YOU NEED AND THE PROCESS OF EATING WILL NOT TIRE YOU, IT WILL EMPOWER YOU.*THE HEALTHIEST PEOPLE WHO LIVED FOR A LONG TIME I HAVE SEEN IN MY LIFE. ALL OF THEM, 100%, WHETHER MY GRANDMOTHER (103) OR KANCHI PARAMACHARYA (FEW MONTHS LESS THAN 100 YEARS), OR GRANDFATHER LIVED MORE THAN 90, ALL OF THEM WHO LIVED LONG, HAD ONE LIFESTYLE: LESS FOOD OR NO FOOD; VERY LESS EATING.*THEY BUILT THE BODY SYSTEMATICALLY FROM YOUNG AGE ITSELF TO LIVE WITH MINIMUM FOOD.*THEIR FOOD WAS VERY SUBTLE LIKE BREATHING OR LIQUID. *PARAMACHARYA WILL FAST FOR DAYS CONTINUOUSLY.*IN MY FAMILY, OTHER THAN MY FATHER, EVERYONE LIVED QUITE A LONG TIME.*ALL OF THEM HAD THIS HABIT OF FASTING FOR PARAMASHIVA.*THIS IS ALSO ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THERE ARE SCULPTURES ABOUT SEX BEFORE YOU ENTER THE TEMPLE IN KHUJRAHO OR ANY TEMPLE. THERE ARE MULTIPLE REASONS FOR IT. FIRST:  THAT IS THE WAY SEX EDUCATION WAS PRESERVED AND TRANSMITTED OVER GENERATIONS. SECOND: YOU ARE SEXUALLY TRIGGERED, BUT YOU CAN'T ACT OUT BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE TEMPLE AND DO PUJA. EVEN IF YOU ARE IN A HURRY, IT WILL TAKE HOURS. YOU HAVE TO DO PUJA, COME BACK HOME, FIND YOUR PARTNER, OR WHATEVER…! IT IS LIKE DELAYED GRATIFICATION.*BY THAT TIME, THE DELAYED GRATIFICATION WILL HAPPEN. YOUR PARASITES CANNOT BECOME POWERFUL DUE TO YOUR ACTIONS.*IF YOU LISTEN TO MY INSTRUCTION AND PRACTISE:ONLY ONE MEAL A DAY. KEEP THE FOOD YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO EAT READY. START THE PUJA. BY THE TIME YOU START THE PUJA, PARASITES / MICROBES WILL BE TRIGGERED AND PASSING COMMANDS INSIDE YOU, BUT YOU ARE SILENTLY SUPPOSED TO SIT AND DO PUJA: ‘PADYAM SAMARPAYAMI…!’ BY THE TIME YOU FINISH THE PUJA AND START EATING, ALL THE PATTERNS WILL SETTLE DOWN AND YOUR EATING WILL NOT STRENGTHEN THE PARASITES / MICROBES AND PATTERNS TRIGGERED BY THEM.*IF YOU UNDERSTAND THIS, YOU WILL ALSO UNDERSTAND WHY THE SEXUALLY EXPLICIT SCULPTURES ARE THERE BEFORE ENTERING THE TEMPLE.*THE PARASITES, AND PATTERNS TRIGGERED BY THE PARASITES, WILL JUST MELT DOWN.*THIS WILL EMPOWER YOU.*TODAY I AM GOING TO INTRODUCE FOUR IMPORTANT WORDS.*THERE ARE SOME UNIVERSAL DHARMA, IYAMA LIKE FOR EXAMPLE, AHIMSA (NONVIOLENCE), SATYA (INTEGRITY), APARIGRAHA (LIVING WITH MINIMALISTIC LIFESTYLE), ASTEYA (NON-STEALING), BRAHMACHARYA (CELIBACY). THESE 5 ARE SARVABHAUMYA VRATA, UNIVERSAL VIRTUES. *WHETHER SHAIVITE, SMARTHA, VAISHNAVA, SHAKTA, TANTRA, AGHORA TRADITION, YOU MIGHT HAVE DIFFERENT INTERPRETATION OF THESE VALUES BY THE VALUE ITSELF IS SARVABHAUMYA - UNIVERSAL. *THESE 5 VOWS - AHIMSA (NONVIOLENCE), SATYA (INTEGRITY), APARIGRAHA (LIVING WITH MINIMALISTIC LIFESTYLE), ASTEYA (NON-STEALING), BRAHMACHARYA (CELIBACY) WERE POPULARISED BY PATANJALI’S YOGA SUTRAS BUT IT DOES NOT MEAN THEY BELONG TO YOGA SAMPRADAYA. IN AGAMA OR TANTRA OR VEDANTA ALSO THIS SAME IYAMA IS THERE, BUT WITH LITTLE DIFFERENT WORDINGS, THAT’S ALL.*SAME WAY, SHRAVANA, MANANA, NIDIDHYASANA - INTENSE LISTENING, COGNISING, COMING TO POWERFUL CONCLUSIONS AND LIVING, ARE A TEMPLATE INTRODUCED BY VEDANTA SAMPRADAYA, BUT IT IS UNIVERSAL AND CAN BE APPLIED IN ALL SAMPRADAYAS. *TODAY I AM GOING TO INTRODUCE FOUR WORDS WHICH ARE THE BASIC TEMPLATE FOR WHOLE HINDUISM, ALL DHARMA BASED TRADITIONS, INCLUDING BUDDHISM, JAINISM.*FOUR WORDS: ANAVOPAYA, SHAKTOPAYA, SHAMBAVOPAYA, ANUPAYA.*THESE FOUR ARE INDEPENDENT METHODOLOGIES FOR LIBERATION, ENLIGHTENMENT, SOLUTIONS FOR ANY PROBLEM. THEY ARE NOT ONE LEADING TO ANOTHER, THEY ARE INDEPENDENT.*EACH OF THESE FOUR CAN LEAD YOU INDEPENDENTLY TO ENLIGHTENMENT FROM BEGINNING TO END.*ANAVOPAYA MEANS WORKING ON YOUR BODY. THE DEFINITION OF ANAVOPAYA FROM MALINI VIJAYA TANTRA:THE INDIVIDUAL CONTROLS HIS HEART AND PULSE BY REDUCING IT SIGNIFICANTLY. THE FINAL STAGE IS RENOUNCING CONSUMPTION OF FOOD AND WATER. *WORKING ON YOUR BODY AND ACHIEVING THE STATE / SPACE / POWERS / BEING / SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS OF PARAMASHIVA.*IT IS FUNDAMENTALLY CLEANING ALL THE PARASITES / MICROBES AND THE PATTERNS TRIGGERED BY THE PARASITES AND MICROBES. *THIS WHOLE SCIENCE OF ANAVOPAYA IS ALL ABOUT DETOXING YOURSELF FROM ALL THE PARASITES.*THIS SCIENCE OF ANAVOPAYA IS ALWAYS THE EASIEST. IT CAN SHOW YOU THE RESULTS IMMEDIATELY.*FOR EXAMPLE: IF YOU START TAKING HARITAKI POWDER, DON'T THINK IT WILL ONLY CLEANSE YOUR INTESTINE AND WORK ONLY AS A LAXATIVE AND YOU WILL BECOME HEALTHY. THAT IS ONLY A SMALL EFFECT OF HARITAKI. EVERY NIGHT IF YOU TAKE HARITAKI POWDER, NOT JUST IT WILL BRING YOU HEALTH, IT WILL REMOVE ALL THE  PARASITES FROM YOUR MUSCLE MEMORY AND INTESTINE.*WHEN THE PARASITES ARE REMOVED, SUDDENLY MANY OF THE ADDICTIVE PATTERNS WILL LOSE POWER OVER YOU.*JUST BY HARITAKI POWDER, I HAVE DEADDICTED PEOPLE FROM ALCOHOL, SMOKING, MULTIPLE DRUG ADDICTIONS.*JUST BY TRIPHALA CHOORNAM, I HAVE DEADDICTED MANY PEOPLE FROM HUNGER / ANGER PATTERNS, THE CRAVING FOR JUNK FOOD. *CRAVING FOR JUNK FOOD IS NOTHING BUT CRAVING FOR POISON KNOWING IT IS A POISON AND THAT IT WILL DISTURB YOUR HEALTH.*I WILL EXPLAIN ELABORATELY THESE 4 WORDS IN MULTIPLE SATSANGS BECAUSE THEY ARE ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS OF DHARMIC TRADITIONS.*I STAND FOR ALL DHARMIC TRADITIONS OF HINDUISM: ADI SHAIVA, SHAKTA, VEDANTA, SAURA, GANAPADYA, KAUMARA, KASHMIRI SHAIVA, PASHUPATA, SMARTA, BAUDDHA, JAINA. *FROM MY EXPERIENCE I CAN SAY THERE ARE STILL 10,000 LIVING STREAMS OF HINDUISM / DHARMA.*I AM GOING TO REVIVE ALL 10,000. I STAND FOR ALL 10,000.*ANAVOPAYA MEANS WORKING ON YOUR BODY. THE DEFINITION OF ANAVOPAYA FROM MALINI VIJAYA TANTRA:THE INDIVIDUAL CONTROLS HIS HEART AND PULSE BY REDUCING IT SIGNIFICANTLY. THE FINAL STAGE IS RENOUNCING CONSUMPTION OF FOOD AND WATER. *IT IS LIKE A STEP BY STEP EVOLVING AND LIVING IN THE LIBERATED SPACE - ONE WITH THE STATE/ SPACE / POWERS / BEING / SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS AND KAILSA OF PARAMASHIVA.*PEOPLE WHO TRAVEL IN THIS PATH, EVEN THEIR BODY DOES NOT DISINTEGRATE AFTER THEY LEAVE THEIR BODY.*IN THAILAND, STILL THERE IS A TRADITION WHERE 100S OF MONKS, THEIR BODY DOES NOT DISINTEGRATE. IT JUST STAYS LIKE PARAMAHAMSA YOGANANDA'S BODY. I AM GOING TO REVIVE THAT. *MANY OF MY GURUKUL KIDS WILL NEVER DIE. THEY WILL SIT IN JEEVA SAMADHI AROUND ME. MY JEEVA SAMADHI WILL BE IN THE CENTER AND ALL OF THEM AROUND ME, LIVING WITH ME FOREVER, RADIATING.*WHEN PEOPLE COME, THEY WILL GO AROUND AND SEE, ‘WOW! THIS IS THE JEEVA SAMADHI OF THIS KID WHO WAS WITH SWAMIJI FROM THAT TIME.’ IT IS LIKE ETERNAL KAILASA! DIVYA SHAREERIS!*I AM PLANNING FOR 10,000 ENLIGHTENED BEINGS TO BE IN JEEVA SAMADHI ALONG WITH ME. THEIR BODY WILL NOT GO THROUGH ANY OF THE DEAD BODY’S DISINTEGRATION OR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO A DEAD BODY.*EVEN THOUGH THIS ANTIHINDU GANG IS ATTACKING ME SO MUCH, AND THERE ARE SO MANY ENEMIES AND TRAITORS, THE DAY I ANNOUNCED PACHAI PATTINI VRATAM - 28 DAYS OF FASTING WITH ME, WE SAW 1000S OF PEOPLE REGISTERING IN FEW HOURS!*EVEN NOW, 1000S ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE FOLLOWING THIS ‘ONE MEAL A DAY’ SCHEME! ONE MEAL AFTER PUJA!*IT IS NOT THAT THE PEOPLE WHO ARE FOLLOWING ARE POOR OR MIDDLE CLASS. THEY ARE NOT JUST MILLIONAIRES, SOME OF THEM ARE BILLIONAIRES AND MULTI MILLIONAIRES.*NOW I AM ONLY 43. I AM ALREADY SEEING 1000S OF PEOPLE PRACTISING THIS ANAVOPAYA METHODS ALONG WITH ME.*I AM GOING TO BE IN THE BODY - ACTIVE, HEALTHY AT LEAST FOR THE NEXT 150 YEARS!*THE HINDU ENEMIES, TRAITORS, WASTED A LOT OF MY TIME. I AM A NONVIOLENT PERSON. I DON'T REACT TO THEM OR FIGHT WITH THEM. I JUST DECIDE TO LIVE LONGER!*IF YOU HAD KEPT QUIET, I WAS PLANNING ONLY FOR 126 YEARS! *I HAVE TO BRING UP MY KIDS AND MAKE THEM PRINCES AND PRINCESSES AND SEE THAT AND ENJOY IT!*IF YOU CONTINUE ATTACKING, I WILL MAKE IT 1000 YEARS!*I CAN COMFORTABLY TAKE PADMASANA CHALLENGE WITH ANYONE IN THE WORLD; LONGEST TIME SITTING IN PADMASANA!*SITTING IN PADMASANA IS ONE OF THE IMPORTANT SCALES TO SEE IF ANYONE IS HEALTHY OR NOT. I DON'T HAVE ANY BACK SUPPORT. I CAN TAKE A CHALLENGE WITH ANYONE IN THE WORLD FOR SITTING ON THIS SEAT, WITHOUT BACK SUPPORT, IN PADMASANA, AND KEEPING THE MERU DANDA (BACKBONE) STRAIGHT.*ANYONE WANTS TO CHALLENGE CAN MESSAGE! NOT FOR COMPETITION, BUT TO TELL THE GLORY OF YOGA, NOTHING ELSE.*I CAN SEE THIS HABIT BUILDING IN MANY OF MY KIDS ALL OVER THE WORLD.*I CAN SEE THE SUCCESS OF MY TEACHING ALL OVER THE WORLD. *NOW ITSELF 1000S ARE PRACTISING LANGANAM PARAMA AUSHADAM.*I AM GIVING ANAVOPAYA METHODS AND I AM GOING TO LIVE AND TEACH THIS AT LEAST FOR 150 YEARS MORE. SO I CAN EASILY MAKE MINIMUM 10,000 FULLY ENLIGHTENED THROUGH THIS ANAVOPAYA AND THEIR BODY WILL NOT GO THROUGH DISINTEGRATION EVEN AFTER LEAVING THE BODY.*IT IS LIKE RAMANUJA’S DEITY IN SRIRANGAM. IF YOU CAN SCAN THROUGH THE THIRD EYE, YOU CAN SEE HIS BONES ARE INSIDE! THE DEITY IS NOT CARVED, IT IS TRADITIONALLY EMBALMED AS PER HINDU TRADITION. IN HINDU TRADITION, EMBALMING IS DONE WHEN YOU ARE STILL ALIVE. WHEN YOU ARE ALIVE ITSELF YOUR DIET AND PRANAYAMA IS DONE PROPERLY IN SUCH A WAY YOUR BODY IS EMBALMED AND AFTER YOU LEAVE THE BODY, NO ONE TOUCHES IT AND IT BECOMES A DEITY. *RAMANUJACHARYA IN SRIRANGAM IS JUST THE BODY HE USED. TIRUPATI TIRUMALA VENKATESHWARA IS THE BODY OF SRINIVASA, THE BODY HE USED. HE JUST STOOD AND BECAME A DEITY. IT IS NOT A STONE DEITY.*IF YOU HAVE THE THIRD EYE POWER MANIFESTED, STAND IN FRONT OF VENKATESHWARA AND REQUEST HIM TO SHOW HIMSELF. HE WILL SHOW. HIS BONES ARE THERE AS IT IS. HE JUST BECAME A DEITY.*IN BRINDAVAN, RAGAVENDRA SWAMY IS SITTING JUST AS A DEITY INSIDE HIS JEEVA SAMADHI.*IN NERUR, SADASIVA BRAHMENDRAL IS SITTING AS A DEITY.*SAME WITH TRAILINGA SWAMI IN KASHI.*I CAN GO ON GIVING YOU THE LIST!*SO NOW WE HAVE THE SCIENCE. WE WILL REVIVE IT. AT LEAST 10,000 PEOPLE WILL ACHIEVE FULL ENLIGHTENMENT THROUGH ANAVOPAYA SO THEY CAN SIT IN JEEVA SAMADHI AROUND ME. THAT WILL BE THE MOST POWERFUL ENERGY CENTER IN THE WORLD. LITERALLY KAILASA ON PLANET EARTH!*THE SECOND METHODOLOGY IS SĀKTOPĀYA, MEANS THE METHOD OF THE MIND.*DEFINITION OF SĀKTOPĀYA FROM MALINI VIJAYA TANTRA: SĀKTOPĀYA IS THAT UPAYA WHICH FUNCTIONS BY THE MEANS OF ENERGIES. SĀKTOPĀYA IS CALLED JNANOPAYA, BECAUSE IT IS THE MEANS - WHICH ORIGINATES FROM JNANA SHAKTI, THE ENERGY OF KNOWLEDGE. *IT MEANS, BY HOLDING THE POWERFUL COGNITION, YOU MANIFEST THE STATE / SPACE / POWERS / BEING / SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS OF PARAMASHIVA.*MOST OF THE TEACHINGS I DO IS FROM SĀKTOPĀYA METHODOLOGY BECAUSE I GIVE YOU THE POWERFUL COGNITION AND ASK YOU TO HOLD IT AND ASK YOU TO MANIFEST POWERS!*NEXT IS ŚĀMBHAVOPĀYA, THE METHOD OF CONSCIOUSNESS. THE DEFINITION FROM MALINI VIJAYA TANTRA IS: “THE ONE WHO PRESERVES THOUGHTLESSNESS.”*UNCLUTCHING / AJAPA JAPA IS ŚĀMBHAVOPĀYA.*I SINCERELY RECOMMEND ALL DEVOTEES: IF YOU ARE NEW TO MY SANGHA AND MY SATSANG, PLEASE WATCH MY SATSANGS ON UNCLUTCHING AND AJAPA JAPA AND START PRACTICING.*AJAPA JAPA MEANS, WITHOUT CHANTING, WITHOUT USING YOUR TONGUE, KEEPING THE MANTRA ALIVE, REPEATING ITSELF IN THE LEVEL OF VAK IN YOUR DEEP THROAT THROUGH YOUR WITNESSING CONSCIOUSNESS; ONE PART WITNESSES AND ONE PART CHANTS WITHOUT MOVING YOUR TONGUE OR YOUR VOLUNTARY INVOLVEMENT. *I CAN GIVE YOU 5 OPTIONS FOR CHANTING: ‘OM’, JUST PRANAVA. YOU DON'T EVEN NEED TO MAKE NOISE. MANDUKYA UPANISHAD DECLARES, THIS IS THE MOST POWERFUL SADHANA.‘SHIVA, SHIVA, SHIVA….’ IT IS NOT JUST A MANTRA ALONE, BUT PARAMASHIVA HIMSELF.‘SHIVAYA NAMAH’‘SHIVOHAM’ ‘PARAMASHIVOHAM’‘OM NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVOHAM’*ANY OF THESE YOU CAN GO ON BE DOING AJAPA JAPA. YOU WILL EXPERIENCE SHAMBHAŚĀMBHAVOPĀYAVOPAYA.*ALL 6 ARE IN THE SAME FREQUENCY. ANY ONE OR MIXTURE OF ANY OF THE SIX, YOU CAN DO FOR AJAPA JAPA.*THE LONGER THE MANTRA THE MORE AWARE IT WILL KEEP YOU. BUT AT ONE TIME WHEN YOU BECOME DEEPLY SILENT, YOU MAY NOT NEED THAT MANY SYLLABLES SO ‘OM NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVOHAM’ CAN MERGE INTO ‘PARAMASHIVOHAM’, WHICH CAN MERGE INTO ‘SHIVOHAM’ AND THEN INTO ‘SHIVA’ AND THEN INTO ‘OM’. NOTHING WRONG.*ŚĀMBHAVOPĀYA - JUST BY THE THOUGHTLESSNESS OR UNCLUTCHING OR AJAPA JAPA, MANIFESTING THE STATE / SPACE / POWERS / BEING OF PARAMASHIVA.*THE FOURTH ONE IS TOO IMPORTANT. YOU NEED TO ATTENTIVELY LISTEN.*’ANUPĀYA’ MEANS THE ‘METHODLESS’ METHOD. THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD FROM MALINI VIJAYA TANTRA IS: ANUPAYA IS INITIATION.*JUST BY INITIATION OF THE GURU, YOU MANIFEST THE STATE / SPACE / POWERS / BEING / SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS / KAILASA OF PARAMASHIVA.*ANUPAYA IS SIMPLY GURU’S GRACE, SHAKTI PADA, SHAKTINI PADA, INITIATION, THAT'S IT. *SHEER INITIATION OF THE GURU CAN GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED AND MAKE YOU MANIFEST THE STATE / SPACE / POWERS / BEING / SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS AND KAILASA OF PARAMASHIVA; EVERYTHING YOU NEED!*SO THESE ARE THE FOUR UPAYAS - 1) ANAVOPAYA - WORKING ON YOUR BODY, MIND, DETOXING YOURSELF FROM ALL PARASITES / MICROBES AND MANIFESTING PARAMASHIVA 2) SHAKTOPAYA - USING POWERFUL CONSCIOUS COGNITIONS, COMING TO POWERFUL CONCLUSIONS AND THROUGH THAT COGNITIONS, FEROCIOUSLY MANIFESTING PARASHIVATVA 3) SHAMBHAVOPAYA - MANIFESTING PARAMASHIVA THROUGH UNCLUTCHING, AJAPA JAPA 4) ANUPAYA WHICH IS MANIFESTING PARAMASHIVA JUST BY INITIATION, BLESSINGS, GRACE OF THE GURU.*IT IS THE ANUPAYA I USED WHEN I DID THE KAILASA COURTYARD POWER MANIFESTATION SESSIONS. JUST BY THE SHEER GURU'S GRACE AND INITIATION EVERYONE STARTED MANIFESTING POWERS!*IT IS A HISTORICAL HAPPENING. FORTUNATELY WE HAVE VIDEO RECORD OF EVERYTHING. I THINK AROUND 2-3 MONTHS I DID!*NO TECHNIQUE / METHODOLOGY IS USED. JUST I WILL INITIATE AND EVERYONE WILL START MANIFESTING. THE PURE ANUPAYA, THE METHODLESS METHOD WAS USED AND JUST BY INITIATION ALL DISCIPLES MANIFEST PARAMASHIVA.*FOR EVERY PROBLEM, ALL THESE FOUR METHODS CAN FIND SOLUTION.*WE CAN FIND ULTIMATE SOLUTION, ENLIGHTENMENT, FOR ALL PROBLEMS THROUGH ALL THESE FOUR METHODS.*I WILL CONTINUE TO EXPAND ON ALL THESE GREAT TRUTHS IN FURTHER SATSANGS.*WITH THIS, I BLESS YOU ALL.

[happylittlemarmite]

Creative Journal

16/11/20- Week 7

Sessions Themes: In todays session we discussed the concept of “overchoice” (Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, 1970), defined by wikipedia as “cognitive impairment in which people have a difficult time making a decision when faced with many options.” We talked about how if something is endlessly editable it would lead to endless indecision which is something that resonates with me in a big way in terms of graphics, when it comes to making different variations of a design I always find I'm overcomplicating it. 

Analysis Paralysis - Overthinking causes paralysis in terms of decision making

Decision Fatigue - Deteriorating quality of decisions after too much decision making

Planning

Not about being impulsive

Commit to creative decisions

When mistakes are made build on them or work around them

How Steve Jobs’ Love of Simplicity Fuelled A Design Revolution - Smithsonian

“I love it when you can bring really great design and simple capability to something that doesn’t cost much”

“It takes a lot of hard work.... to make something simple, to truly understand the underlying challenges and come up with elegant solutions.”

“the headline of Apple’s first marketing brochure proclaimed in 1977, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.””

Steve was always critical - Loved one design but hated the next where others could tell no difference between models.   

Simplicity is the Key to Creativity - The Guardian

Case Study: Pizza Express 

Changed Lemon Chopping duties for drinks from waiting staff to chefs.

Saved time ∴ money

“ Our conscious brains overcomplicate stuff. We can’t help but overthink and try to be clever. If we trust our gut and feel our way to solutions we have a much greater chance to deliver simplicity and ideas that work. The simplest ideas are often the best.”

Living With Complexity - Donald A Norman (2010)

We have fetishized simplicity and privileged hiding complexity

Complicating simplicity -  “Complexity is good. Simplicity is misleading. The good life is complex, rich, and rewarding–but only if it is understandable, sensible, and meaningful.”

Complexity must mirror that of our own lives - “ Bad design complicates things unnecessarily and confuses us. Good design can tame complexity.”

KISS- Keep It Simple, Stupid

Competitive analysis - Research what others are doing, how their conventions and affordances can improve your project

Revisit Existing Designs - Think about functionality of design elements, get creative with affordance. Identify sources of existing elements to inspire new ideas.

Look Beyond Conventions - Replace conventions with affordances not in common use but instantly recognisable

I found the parts from Donald A Norman’s Living with complexity particularly intriguing. I had never thought before about the idea of simplicity or hiding complexity as a privilege. It made me think about how older and cheaper technology is usually more complicated than what we have now, in terms of people who are less socially and economically privileged usually owning such technology. Like for example, TV’s used to have a big box on the back for all the components but now almost every TV is flat with much of its components engineered in a way to make the device more compact and visually pleasing. We are privileged in that we have the technological knowledge in order to do this having used these old box TV's for so long, we’re privileged that we have the resources/materials, privileged that we’ve even had the luxury of TVs of a box on the back to recognised that these flat screen TVs are something more appealing. 

I also found the concept of “simplicity as a design aesthetic” to be quite interesting. Continuing with the example of modern technology, it’s interesting to think of how many devices designs have changed in a way that would’ve previously been deemed largely unuseful. A good example i can think of for this is the development of the smartphone in the early 2010′s. It started out with devices like the blackberry that had so many buttons, but with the development of touch screen technology buttoned mobile phones became obsolete. It’s so wild to think my siblings will never know the concept of having to press number 9 thrice just to type the letter “y”. These design adaptations have made our lives easier yes, now that we’re acclimatised to them, but i remember many adults in the beginning were extremely sceptical of such design features being removed, and i doubt much of the generation ahead of my parents would be as comfortable to use such devices. Another example would be with the release of the iPhone model that had no earphone jack, as the company had chosen aestheticized simplicity over necessary functionality.

DSD:  For my DSD activity this week I have been experimenting with cooking different types of food that I wouldn’t usually make. I have always been a very busy person, working and getting an education at the same time for years, and so cooking something nice for dinner is like the one thing I can hold onto in the daytime and look forward to. There are so many foods that i disliked growing up but have since realised my mum is just not great at cooking, so i feel like I’m a little behind the curve in terms of eating healthily and enjoying it. I always cook more asian-style cuisine, lots of rice, noodles, fish and white meat; so now I’m experimenting with what I’ve been calling “british winter warmers”. I always dismissed these kind of meals as boring and stodgy, but as my skills have developed and I have grown more confident with certain ingredients the asian-style food i was eating before is starting to become boring to me instead. I think i must’ve categorised “foreign = interesting” at some point in my brain because I always refuse to eat anything with potatoes or minced beef at its core. I think especially as we’re approaching the festive season and it’s getting a bit colder outside these classic “family favourites” are on my mind a little more, and I’ve realised i can always add my own touches to make it more interesting should i need to. Some things I have made already this week are bolognaise using spicy pork sausage instead of minced beef and Chicken, leek and bacon pie, the former being pretty major considering how historically i have always HATED bolognaise.

Inspiration: An interesting piece of media i have come across this week is the work of James Kerr (@scorpiondagger on Instagram). Facebook advertised some contemporary fashion house to me on Facebook and the animated ad was unlike anything I’d ever seen from any similar brands. Although i can’t find the original ad i had been looking at on any of their social media, I did take a screenshot as shown bellow and went on to explore some of his other work.

As I’ve mentioned before, I love to use mixed media and elements of collage in my graphic design work and have been trying to hone my own style for years. Kerr’s work uses collage of what i believe to be cut outs of classical paintings, reformed together to make new people and settings. What makes this ad stick out against his other work for me, is the combination of classical art alongside snippets of modern streetwear fashion. Looking at the cigarette ads from a few weeks ago I have been thinking a lot about incorporating retro art styles in my work.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHAT THE OTHER ROAD AHEAD

VCs to come back when they have more traction. The kids see to that. It's quite a leap to start a startup, then whether you realize it yet or not. If parents told their kids the truth about it. It seemed the planet was being irretrievably ruined. For most people the best plan probably is to go to work for you, as Google has, you have to introduce yourself, or someone with connections in the movie business. Palo Alto you happen to run into Sean Parker, who understands the domain really well because he started a similar startup himself, and also knows all the investors. Whereas it's easy to know how high they'd go, but I think it can scale all the way back to high school, flushing out all the arbitrary stuff people are measured by now. Why do startups have to be secretive with other companies, who to hire, everything. It was when I'd finished one project and was deciding what to do next. The plan was to put art galleries on the Web even now, ten years later. And you know what?

If one tries a new programming language or a new discovery. They use different words, certainly. There is a bit of a debate inside our partnership about the airbed concept. He invented television. Of those eight, it now looks as if at least four succeeded. Because their current business model depends on overcharging people who have incomplete information about prices. This fallacy is usually there in the background when you hear someone saying we don't need to rely on other defenses. As with gangs, we have some idea what secrecy would be like, because that's how things used to be done with levers and cams and gears are now done with loops and trees and closures.

Suppose another multiple of three. Until a few centuries ago, the main sources of wealth were mines, slaves and serfs, land, and cattle, and the next you're doomed. If you'd been around when that change began around 1000 in Europe it would have seemed a great bet a few months. The problem with feeling you're doomed is not just that it's more preposterous to claim about anywhere else. And what drives them both is the number of employees at Craigslist looks like a misprint. These things don't scale linearly. They'll learn a lot, and that job at Microsoft will still be waiting for them if they wanted to start a startup, we never anticipated that founders would grow successful startups on nothing more than YC funding. But design is a definite skill. In a big company, it would be more fun. When they'd been independent, they could release changes instantly. That seems like saying that blue is heavy, or that we'd meet them again.

The power of chance meetings is more variable than people around you care about the kind of work the recipe is in big companies, software has to go through one lame idea before realizing that a startup has made money, and partly because people pay for these things, so one doesn't need to change. So if you want to make your fortune was a crazy thing to do, I'd encourage you to focus more on the basis of education than wealth. We could hire employees, but we are still in the gathering data phase. They're probably good at judging new inventions for casting steel or grinding lenses, but they pay attention. And after having spent their whole lives doing things that are false, and being regarded as odd by outsiders on that account, the cognitive dissonance pushing children to regard themselves as Xes, despite the fact that I still thought at age 11 that teachers were infallible shows what a job the system must have done on my brain. In a feudal society, there are three reasons. If you feel you're really helping people, you'll keep working even when it seems like your startup is worth investing in, and they'll close it, whatever type of lead it is. Wow. There's a narrow variant: is it bad that the current legal system, to apply for patents to build up the patent portfolio they'll need to. So governments that forbid you to accumulate wealth are in effect decreeing that you work slowly. That's why we're doing it during the summer—so even college students can participate. Like nuclear weapons, the main sources of wealth were mines, slaves and serfs, land, and cattle, and the second is worth twice as much.

A lot of the spread of modern religions, and explains why their doctrines are a combination of factors. What I like about Boston or rather Cambridge is that the function of swearwords is to mark the speaker as an adult. If it gets easier to start a startup, is start a consulting business you can then gradually turn into a product business. Are you still in NYC? If they want to conceal the existence of these words for as long as you didn't fail out of laziness or incurable stupidity. The kids see to that. What should they do? Imagine having to ask permission to release software to users. But among the many other things I was ignorant of was how much debris there already was in my head. To almost everyone except criminals, it seems that most people are insulated from it most of the startups we've funded. But if a kid asks you Is there a God?

He found they were one thirteenth as productive after the acquisition. Startups are often described as a pie. I've heard from cities: in London you can still reach the ball, even if you're producing it unknowingly. Instead of going to venture capitalists with a business plan and trying to convince myself I could start a company when he wrote the first version of Facebook. It's obvious that biotech or software startups exist to solve hard technical problems, but I suspect that if you need money, you should be smarter. The mere fact that someone needs you makes you want to sell the company. But even those they use no more than necessary. But you never have to pretend that's what they're doing when they patent algorithms. CEOs, movie stars, hedge fund managers, professional athletes. Instead of working at a low intensity for forty years, you work as hard as you possibly can. It was only after hearing reports of friends who'd done it that they decided to build recipe sites, or aggregators for local events. As long as you stay on the territory of truth, you're strong.

Steve Huffman wrote Reddit on. It wasn't the vet's fault; the cat had a congenitally weak heart; the anaesthesia was too much for one person to bear. It seems to be a smooth presenter if you understand something well and tell the truth you don't have that feeling that your life is flying by like you do in the second. But money is just the effect of grading. Instead of trading violins directly for potatoes, you trade violins for, say, to make your fortune was a crazy thing to do. Nearly everyone who works is satisfying some kind of irresponsible pied piper, leading impressionable young hackers down the road to ruin. Wealth is what people want. It's when you can see that people there actually care what paintings look like. For the foreseeable future, people will rally around you: investors, customers, other companies, or deal with other companies, or in most schools. You shouldn't put the blame on one parent, because divorce is never only one person's fault. But I think it will also be found to be true in businesses that don't seem to matter. Because this phrase is not only manufacturing companies that create wealth.

Thanks to Geoff Ralston, Trevor Blackwell, Sarah Harlin, Robert Morris, and Steve Huffman for putting up with me.

[thinking-outline]



‘It’s a Superpower’: How Walking Makes Us Healthier, Happier and Brainier

By Thinking Outline ; Pratay Das

Neuroscientist Shane O’Mara believes that plenty of regular walking unlocks the cognitive powers of the brain like nothing else. He explains why you should exchange your gym kit for a pair of comfy shoes and get strolling.

Taking a stroll with Shane O’Mara is a risky endeavour. The neuroscientist is so passionate about walking, and our collective right to go for walks, that he is determined not to let the slightest unfortunate aspect of urban design break his stride. So much so, that he has a habit of darting across busy roads as the lights change. “One of life’s great horrors as you’re walking is waiting for permission to cross the street,” he tells me, when we are forced to stop for traffic – a rude interruption when, as he says, “the experience of synchrony when walking together is one of life’s great pleasures”. He knows this not only through personal experience, but from cold, hard data – walking makes us healthier, happier and brainier.

We are wandering the streets of Dublin discussing O’Mara’s book, In Praise of Walking, a backstage tour of what happens in our brains while we perambulate. Our jaunt begins at the grand old gates of his workplace, Trinity College, and takes in the Irish famine memorial at St Stephen’s Green, the Georgian mile, the birthplace of Francis Bacon, the site of Facebook’s new European mega-HQ and the salubrious seaside dwellings of Sandymount.

O’Mara, 53, is in his element striding through urban landscapes – from epic hikes across London’s sprawl to more sedate ambles in Oxford, where he received his DPhil – and waxing lyrical about science, nature, architecture and literature. He favours what he calls a “motor-centric” view of the brain – that it evolved to support movement and, therefore, if we stop moving about, it won’t work as well.

This is neatly illustrated by the life cycle of the humble sea squirt which, in its adult form, is a marine invertebrate found clinging to rocks or boat hulls. It has no brain because it has eaten it. During its larval stage, it had a backbone, a single eye and a basic brain to enable it to swim about hunting like “a small, water-dwelling, vertebrate cyclops”, as O’Mara puts it. The larval sea squirt knew when it was hungry and how to move about, and it could tell up from down. But, when it fused on to a rock to start its new vegetative existence, it consumed its redundant eye, brain and spinal cord. Certain species of jellyfish, conversely, start out as brainless polyps on rocks, only developing complicated nerves that might be considered semi-brains as they become swimmers.

Sitting at a desk all day, it’s easy to start feeling like a brainless polyp, whereas walking and talking, as we are this morning, while admiring the Great Sugar Loaf mountain rising beyond the city and a Huguenot cemetery formed in 1693, our minds are fizzing. “Our sensory systems work at their best when they’re moving about the world,” says O’Mara. He cites a 2018 study that tracked participants’ activity levels and personality traits over 20 years, and found that those who moved the least showed malign personality changes, scoring lower in the positive traits: openness, extraversion and agreeableness. There is substantial data showing that walkers have lower rates of depression, too. And we know, says O’Mara, “from the scientific literature, that getting people to engage in physical activity before they engage in a creative act is very powerful. My notion – and we need to test this – is that the activation that occurs across the whole of the brain during problem-solving becomes much greater almost as an accident of walking demanding lots of neural resources.”

O’Mara’s enthusiasm for walking ties in with both of his main interests as a professor of experimental brain research: stress, depression and anxiety; and learning, memory and cognition. “It turns out that the brain systems that support learning, memory and cognition are the same ones that are very badly affected by stress and depression,” he says. “And by a quirk of evolution, these brain systems also support functions such as cognitive mapping,” by which he means our internal GPS system. But these aren’t the only overlaps between movement and mental and cognitive health that neuroscience has identified.

I witnessed the brain-healing effects of walking when my partner was recovering from an acute brain injury. His mind was often unsettled, but during our evening strolls through east London, things started to make more sense and conversation flowed easily. O’Mara nods knowingly. “You’re walking rhythmically together,” he says, “and there are all sorts of rhythms happening in the brain as a result of engaging in that kind of activity, and they’re absent when you’re sitting. One of the great overlooked superpowers we have is that, when we get up and walk, our senses are sharpened. Rhythms that would previously be quiet suddenly come to life, and the way our brain interacts with our body changes.”

From the scant data available on walking and brain injury, says O’Mara, “it is reasonable to surmise that supervised walking may help with acquired brain injury, depending on the nature, type and extent of injury – perhaps by promoting blood flow, and perhaps also through the effect of entraining various electrical rhythms in the brain. And perhaps by engaging in systematic dual tasking, such as talking and walking.”

One such rhythm, he says, is that of theta brainwaves. Theta is a pulse or frequency (seven to eight hertz, to be precise) which, says O’Mara, “you can detect all over the brain during the course of movement, and it has all sorts of wonderful effects in terms of assisting learning and memory, and those kinds of things”. Theta cranks up when we move around because it is needed for spatial learning, and O’Mara suspects that walking is the best movement for such learning. “The timescales that walking affords us are the ones we evolved with,” he writes, “and in which information pickup from the environment most easily occurs.”

Essential brain-nourishing molecules are produced by aerobically demanding activity, too. You’ll get raised levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which, writes O’Mara, “could be thought of as a kind of a molecular fertiliser produced within the brain because it supports structural remodelling and growth of synapses after learning … BDNF increases resilience to ageing, and damage caused by trauma or infection.” Then there’s vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which helps to grow the network of blood vessels carrying oxygen and nutrients to brain cells.

Some people, I point out, don’t think walking counts as proper exercise. “This is a terrible mistake,” he says. “What we need to be is much more generally active over the course of the day than we are.” And often, an hour at the gym doesn’t cut it. “What you see if you get people to wear activity monitors is that because they engage in an hour of really intense activity, they engage in much less activity afterwards.”

But you don’t get the endorphin high from walking, I say. “The same hit you get from running is what you’d get from taking morphine? We simply don’t know that’s true,” he says. “People who study this area don’t go on about endorphins and there may be a reason for that.” Not that he is opposed to vigorous exercise, but walking is much more accessible and easily woven into everyday life: “You don’t need to bring anything other than comfy shoes and a rain jacket. You don’t have to engage in lots of preparation; stretching, warm-up, warm-down …” O’Mara gets off his commuter train a stop early so that he can clock up more steps on his pedometer. To get the maximum health benefits, he recommends that “speed should be consistently high over a reasonable distance – say consistently over 5km/h, sustained for at least 30 minutes, at least four or five times a week.”

Twice during our circuitous route, he asks me to point to where I think our starting point of Trinity College is, and my estimates are pretty close. “That just shows you how good your GPS is,” he says. “You have never been here before, but you have a very good sense of where you need to go.” This is reassuring, I say, because, of course, Google Maps is enfeebling our innate abilities to find our way. “That’s absolute garbage,” says O’Mara. “We really have to get a grip. If you hire a car and drive around a country you’ve never been in, taking a route into a city you’ve never driven into before, the first time, you rely very heavily on the GPS. The second time, not quite so much and, by the third or fourth time, you don’t need the GPS at all, because you’ve learned the route. I actually think GPS is great for helping us disambiguate where we are.”

So it’s mere speculation that relying on satnavs is killing our sense of direction? “Yeah it is. There is no data of any quality showing that, over the long term, reliance on GPS is a bad thing. Honestly, the brain is much more robust.”

O’Mara describes our inbuilt GPS, or cognitive mapping system, as a silent sense. “It is constructed largely without our awareness, and we only notice it if it fails us.” While the sensitive vestibular system of the inner ear governs balance, for mental mapping (which can work even when our eyes don’t), we have what are known as place cells in our hippocampi. If you stay in one place, the cell for that position keeps firing, but if you move, that cell will stop firing and a cell marking your new position will start firing and so on. In rat experiments, the system worked less well when the rodents were wheeled around as opposed to walking.

It’s clever, but not infallible. “We get fooled when we walk a long way in a single direction,” says O’Mara. We need to keep looking around us and recalibrating with visual cues. “If you’re feeding your place cells by coming from a single direction, what they know about the environment is that single direction and you want them to have input from all directions, so look around occasionally and your place cells will reset from the whole sensorium around you.”

While all this is going on in the background, our social brains are working to predict which direction others will take, to avoid collision. In order to walk and navigate, the brain flickers between regions, just as our waking minds are often, says O’Mara, “flickering between big-picture states – thinking about what we have to do tomorrow, plans for next year, engaging in what is called ‘mental time travel’ – and task-focused work. And you need to flicker between these states in order to do creative work.” That’s how important associations get made, and this flickering seems to be bolstered by walking.

It’s part of the reason, O’Mara suspects, that the prolific writer and thinker Bertrand Russell said that walking was integral to his work. Likewise, the Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton, who pondered a single problem on his daily walks for seven years, eventually inventing a number system called quaternions, without which we couldn’t make electric toothbrushes or mobile phones.

O’Mara’s ultimate ode to urban walking is TS Eliot’s 1915 poem The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, which he describes as “a journey on foot, and a journey through states of mind”. Wordsworth composed poetry as he wandered, while Aristotle delivered lectures on foot in the grounds of his school in Athens. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche memorably said that “only thoughts reached by walking have value”, a notion that Charles Dickens – who was as prolific a walker as he was a writer – would no doubt have seconded.

And, while my mind has been flickering through the streets of Dublin, says O’Mara, “you haven’t died or fallen over, and you’re continuing to breathe. Your heart is booming away. You’re putting one foot in front of the other, and we’re engaging in this conversation, information exchange.” Plus, I’m checking out the area, admiring fanlights and looking for clues of neighbourhood life. “All of this is going on all the time. Robots can’t do this. Getting a robot to cross the road is really hard.” Whereas for our brains, “evolution has been solving this problem, billions of times an hour, for the past 400m years”.

[independentaussie]

Journalism is in crisis and so is democracy

One of the great eyeopeners of the current Covid 19 "crisis" for those of us who still care is the absolute lack of integrity of corporate mainstream media in all Western countries. There seems to be a determination to shape and mould the news to fit a narrative, regardless of facts. Journalism is in crisis as a result. This blatant carelessness with the truth when coupled with a dogged insistence not to question official narratives is frightening. It shouldn't surprise anybody who has been paying attention. Regrettably, few people do. We accept dumbed down, lowest common denominator news framed in 10 second sound bites because we've become accustomed to it. We trust those who report to us and they lie to our faces. Never mind the fact that spineless journalists and sychophantic news outlets became cheer leaders for the Iraq war when some casual independent journalism would have unearthed the monstrous lies being told to justiy the invasion of a sovreign nation. Never mind that the same news outlets squeal like stuck pigs when the big bad orange man says nasty things about them, but they say diddly squat about the persecution of Julian Assange or Craig Murray. It's all OK. Just don't rock the boat and we'll all get paid nice fat cheques to gaslight the populace. That's where we're at. If you doubt my conclusion, consider these glaring examples of why journalism is in crisis All of these examples have occurred this year since the virus became newsworthy. To be clear a journalist and a publishing company should meet some fairly straight forward guidelines To report unvarnished facts within context.Publish the truth without fear nor favourTo keep all parties both political and business accountable and on their toes. For my money, its a simple either/or proposition. Behave like a journalist or disclose your biases from the start. Joe Biden Where do I start? The media cycle is full of hostile coverage of Donald Trump's exploits and for very good reason. Love him or loathe him Trump makes good copy. He's good for ratings and sells newspapers. Trump knows this. He plays the media like a fiddle. All the hostile coverage in the world doesn't change his standing with those who vote for him. The resultant silliness blankets any hope of legitimate questions over policy or decisions making. Meanwhile Joe Biden, the presumptive DNC nominee for President is having difficulty remembering who his wife is, what position he is running for and who his opponent is. (Biden recently declared that he would beat Joe Biden). There are legitimate concerns about Biden's cognitive abilities and any real examination of his fitness for President would put these on the table. Aside from Fox news (and they're preaching to the choir), no media organisation apppears remotely concerned. Biden's troubles don't end there. Former staffer, Tara Reade has accussed him of digital rape. The allegations relate to an incident that occurred in the nineties. Ms Reade has produced corroborating evidence that would indicate that something unpleasant happened to her. The same media who were willing to draw and quarter Brett Kavanaugh on far less evidence have made it their business to smear Tara Reade. I have no idea bout the rights and wrongs of either case. The curious double standards on display barely raise an eyebrow. Then there is the whole Ukraine/ Burisma Hunter Biden deal. Crickets. And if you haven't heard (highly unlikely in Australia) Biden made the statement that you weren't really black if you voted for Trump. Yes he really did. Obamagate Everyday more information is declassified about the origin of the Trump/Russia probe and the arrest of General Michael Flynn for allegedly lying to the FBI. Serious questions need to be asked about the Obama administration. Were they actively using intelligence agencies to spy on a political opponent? Did they break the law? Who knew? Any reasonable examination of the evidence so far released would lead to a journalist with a nose for a story to be all over it. Aside from Catherine Herridge, John Solomon and Sarah Carter noone in mainstream media seems remotely interested. Left leaning journalists Glenn Greenwald and Aaron Mate have been left to sound the alarm. This is potentially a bigger story than Watergate. The simple fact that 80% of legacy media refuse to cover it is frightening evidence that fearless journalism is in crisis. Too many outlets now see it as their job to frame the narrative rather than report the news. Democracy is the loser. Blatant distortion of fact. There's an independent journalist whom I follow on Twitter, who's motto is "The capital you function on in news media is TRUST. You lose some of that every time your readers/viewers figure out you sold a lie to them." Apparently those in mainstream media either missed that day in journalism school or have no idea what it means. There is no other explanation for two blatant misrepresentations of fact during this Covid 19 crisis. Firstly CBS substituted footage of an overcrowded Italian hospital for a New York hospital. Once exposed as fraudulent, they merely apologised and excused themselves for making an "editing error." Not to be outdone another , CBS outlet arranged for a fake crowd of patients lining up at a hospital to be tested for the virus. You can't keep on doing this and expect that the public will continue to trust you. The media have sewn the wind - the whirlwind is coming. It s there's to reap. Lack of Questions In ordinary times, legacy media are little more than stenographers who work off press releases. In times of crisis they willingly give up what little independence they have and become government mouthpieces. They now have form for this dating back to 9/11 at least. I wasn't overly surprised when the Victorian Government announced that modelling predicted hundreds of thousands of deaths in Victoria without government intervention, it was repeated ad nauseam and without question. Journalists refused to ask simple questions like: What was the modelling based on?Who did the modelling?What assumptions did you make?Was this a worst possible case scenario? Why is that? Information passsed on without question. That is jourmnalistic malpractice. The press is meant to be one of the checks and balances that guarantees democracy. Sadly it has become little more than an echo chamber for its corporate masters. Journalism is in crisis and democracy is the loser. Thank you for taking the time to read journalism is in crisis.  If you like this short article I’d be grateful if you shared it on Facebook, Twitter or any other platform that you hang out on. Please leave comments . I read them all. To support the work I do in this area you can leave feedback,  follow me on Twitter, Medium or Steemit or alternatively fund my independence by becoming a patron or making a crypto donation Read the full article