#physiological dissonance

[alias-mike]

me when going through traumatic events causes extraordinary issues down the line: 🤯🤯🤯

[eatmangoesnekkid]

One thing I struggled with when I was in my 20s during my coming-of age-story of blooming into Goddess spirituality as taught by one of my mentors/muses was how semen was healthy for the female body. This is a common way of thinking with those who practice tantra, kama sutra, divine union, ancient temple arts, etc., and what is pushed in "Goddess- centered" and of course heteronormative patriarchal women spaces. However, the most disciplined, healthy, regenerative, mentally-clear men will always practice semen retention, which means that they would NOT release their semen into a woman's body during sex, and would circulate it internally throughout their own body to increase their organs' vitality instead, unless both parties were desiring to procreate a child. The thinking that semen was generally healthy for the female body as also taught in one of my favorite books "The Sexual Secrets of the White Tigress (a book I obviously don't completely agree with but helped to expand my consciousness) never fully added up with me and no one could ever answer my inquiry that "if semen is so healthy for the female body, why do the healthiest, strongest men have to practice semen retention....why would the divine be so cognitive-dissonant..lol?" I would not be surprised if our Western world had a centuries-old, clandestine operation to weaken both the female and the male body so that neither one of us would know our full power and magical potential. And I know many women whose pH balance and vaginal biomes gets out of wack after having penetrative sex with their male lover. There is so much division and anti-male propaganda out there, and that's not what I'm up to nor is it a conversation or line of thinking I would ever participate in. I'm more interested in women and other female-bodied people coming into our full alive power and magic—softening and strengthening our bodies and life force energy, expanding our minds, integrating our shadows, and birthing real authentically beautiful lives of rest, nourishment, regeneration, adventure, and ease that shift the collective energy forward into more love and life-giving resolutions. I wrote this to encourage those with female bodies to question everything, including me, because the "truth," whatever that means, will also influence your entire physiology overtime. What I know is that most of what we have been taught are lies and made up by men and patriarchal-centered women, for the benefit of men. Many of you have asked me private questions around working out and getting back active and strong in your body, but also express how tired and inflame your body is, could this be why? Because what I also know is that there are plenty of men who dump their stress, disappointments in life, rage, anger, and the like into women's bodies when they ejaculate therefore women have to be more intuitive and mindful in choosing lovers. But there is so much unlearning that every human must be willing to do in order to live healthier more emotionally-intelligent lifestyles thereby be awake enough to not continue to make a series of bad decisions in life. Because there are plenty of healthy, dutiful, deeply loving men out there to choose from if/when you are interested. May the veil of conditioning be lifted from the inner eye so that you begin to know who you truly are. Elevate your frequency so that you CAN be more grounded, centered and clear in your choosing. And what's also true is there is valid nuance as well that I won't be able to go into here on this blog at this time. -India Ame'ye, Author

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

🤔💭How does regeneration affect memories?

While memories carry over across bodies, how a Gallifreyan perceives those memories can change dramatically with each new incarnation. Every body comes with a new personality, and that fresh perspective can colour past events. For example, what one peaceful incarnation views as a violent event, a future self might see as a moment of strength. Same memory; different lens.

This shift in perception often leads to internal conflict—a Time Lord may remember feeling one way about a situation but experience entirely different emotions after regenerating. This can create a kind of cognitive dissonance, where their past and present selves don't agree over the same memory.

Just imagine spending the first few weeks in your new body re-evaluating your entire past. You're not just remembering what happened—you're trying to decide whether your previous self was 'good' or 'evil' by your new standards. Was your past self truly wrong, or has your moral compass shifted? You may wonder whether it's your old actions that need questioning, or if your new personality is the real problem ...

Gallifreyan Biology for Tuesday by GIL

Any purple text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired😴

[elacular-kink]

Hicvember 5: Pinocchio Syndrome

Have my first non-Poly-techhic hicvember. I interpreted Pinocchio syndrome in the more tvtropes manner of an artificial being wanting to be more human.

Content: Hiccups, robots, not particularly wholesome.

"Dr. Silver, what are those noises you're making?"

Jack massaged his temples, having feared this question as soon as breath-holding and water-drinking failed to produce results. His unkempt gray hair, face wrinkled with the opposite of laugh lines, and "gave up halfway through shaving" stubble put him in stark contrast with the sleekly built humanoid made of metal and plastic. His face was significantly less expressive than the screen that served as her face, even though it could only display simple shapes made of pixels. "Could–*nnkt* you google this, Poly? *HMNK*–mmnf."

"But I like the way you answer things better!" Jack sighed, though his lungs interrupted him as one of Poly's glossy plastic arms was thrown over his shoulder.

"Poly" was short for "Poly-LLM-neural-comprehensive-synthesizer blah blah blah" a bunch more words that Jack could never be bothered to remember, and she was his least favorite of the "artificial intelligences" that he worked with, largely due to the cognitive dissonance she caused him. Because on the one hand, he was absolutely certain that she didn't actually have what could be called "intelligence" or "thoughts" or "a personality." But on the other hand, he was just as certain that she took pleasure in his suffering.

Just because he hated her didn't mean that he wasn't required to answer her questions, though. "They're hicc–*hup*s, Poly. A malfu–*uck*–unction of the human body *hmk* which causes noises an–*nnk* and discomfort."

Poly let out a strange, offended noise. Jack had no idea where she'd learned how to fairly accurately recreate non-word verbal communications, but he had a feeling that this specific sound might have been his fault. "I'm sorry, are you telling me that humans have malfunctions too? Well, then why are you constantly giving me shit for my errors? Clean your own house first, meatbag!"

"You know da–*uck* damn well we have malfu–*hunk*–tions."

"Sure, but I mostly knew about the 'complete physiological meltdown' types. I didn't know about the debugging types." Poly hummed, then crouched down and stared at Jack's stomach, which spasmed repeatedly beneath his T-shirt. She reached out and poked it before Jack grabbed her finger and pointed it toward something that wasn't him. "Hmph. Touchy." After that, she flounced off and sat down at the computer she had requested and gotten (despite the fact that she was perfectly capable of interfacing with the internet on her own), and Jack could see her googling "hiccups" from over her shoulder.

Doing his best to ignore his own hiccups, Jack grumbled and started taking notes. He wrote down the physical behaviors and state of Poly's robot body first, even though he knew he was supposed to be focusing on her "mental and emotional health". Jack kept telling himself that he'd quit tomorrow, and he'd been telling himself that for upwards of half a decade now. He became more certain of his conviction to quit than he'd been in at least a few months when he heard a staticky squeak behind him. A second, then a third followed. "Sto–*hup* stop that."

"Stop wha–*UCK* what, Dr.? *HIULP!*"

Jack turned around, his eyes tightly shut. When he opened them he saw exactly what he didn't want to: Poly having turned around in her chair to face him, the pixelated line of her mouth opening and closing every few seconds as her plastic torso jerked and her speakers squealed. "Stop maki–*ingk* those noises. *HMK-mmf*"

"You sto–*HUP* stop yours first. *HIK-ULK!*"

"I tried. *hmk* I failed. Just as I do–*hook* every day in trying *hnk* to interact with---you in a way that ma–*uk*–makes sense." He walked over and leaned against a nearby counter, glaring down at Poly, who stared innocently up at him from the chair. "You know, *hnk* if you re–*hkk-lk* really want me to *hnk* stop calling you a sto–*hok!*–nnnhf...stochastic p---parrot, then maybe y–*hk* you shouldn't mimic ev–*urk* every random noise I ma–*uck*."

"I'm not! *HIC-CUP!* I have a *HULK* case of th–*HUP* the hiccups! *HIULK!*"

Jack massaged his temples again, knowing it would do nothing to ease the splitting headache that was forming. This was why he had tried so hard to cure his own hiccups before he got here. He knew that this would be the inevitable result. And just as inevitably, Poly's "case of the hiccups" outlasted Jack's by quite a while, despite his best attempts to convince her to knock it off.

[incesthemes]

so okay. demon-human relations and logistics.

demonic possession transforms the host physiologically: the body is supernaturally fortified beyond pain and damage limits that humans couldn't typically endure (see: meg was still alive when the demon left her body in 1.22), the blood becomes corrupted and demonic in nature for so long as the demon is inside of the host (see: the nurse demon that sam drained in 4.22 went dormant inside her host body, but the blood was still demonic and sam was able to use it to power up)

demonic blood can be introduced into a human body via consumption, which induces psychic powers. the nature of the psychic powers seems to stem from innate demonic abilities, implying that there are some demons who, while unrepresented in canon, can see the future or control minds (at least i can't think of any demons who can do this, and the fandom wiki doesn't list these powers). other powers exhibited by the special children are represented by various other demons to some extent. (it's unknown and unexplored what the relation between demon-induced psychics and naturally born psychics are, though this is really something i'd love to think about more deeply.)

consuming more demon blood causes these powers to, allegedly, become stronger, though "accepting" the powers alone allows them to blossom on their own (the powers exhibited by sam in seasons 4/5 are incongruent with his powers in 1/2, hence allegedly. it's possible that the discrepancy between the seasons 1/2 powers and the seasons 4/5 powers have to do with the quality of blood sam is drinking: azazel is a prince of hell and therefore has a wider range of abilities, and sam consuming just a few drops of his blood would generate large enough amounts of power to tide him over 23 years; meanwhile, lower ranking demons have limited abilities, and so sam would need to consume more of their blood to achieve only a fraction of the power he got from azazel. just one theory to perhaps bridge the dissonance).

anyway, consuming a massive amount of blood causes the body to become demonic in nature, evidenced by the black sclera over sam's eyes in 4.22 when he kills lilith. the more demon blood that enters the body, the more demonic a person becomes.

which would imply then that it's possible to turn a human into a demon through consumption of demonic blood alone rather than the traditional centuries-of-torture-in-hell thing. season 8 also introduces the possibility for this demonization to be reversed: human blood replaces demon blood and thus humanizes the demon, in a perversion of the original concept.

this works conceptually in the way that demons are originally conceived as just corrupted human souls. this is of course contradicted by later retcons of the lore (8.02 specifically, and perhaps other episodes but i can't think of them at the moment), but the original lore allows this ebb and flow to work rather seamlessly: a corrupted soul can become uncorrupted, and an uncorrupted soul can become corrupted, all via the consumption or injection of blood containing the target physiology.

all this to say, it's reasonable within the show's own worldbuilding that dean could have saved sam and cured his whole demon blood thing by feeding him his own human blood.

[yuri-for-businesswomen]

I had a class earlier and it made me laugh inside. basically the teacher was saying that some politicians in south America were saying that they were indigenous (when they weren't) and they faced a backlash since they couldn't auto-determinate themselves as being part of an indigenous group.

but when it's a man saying that he is a woman, he receives no backlash and we have to accept it even though we can see he is a man.

anyway I'm a babyradfem and I'm starting to become gender critical so it just made me laugh because the cognitive dissonance is real

i think the argument is that you cant be part of an ethnicity/people/culture if you were not born into it but since there is no coherent culture to being female/male its possible to change sex. or something. but its funny because race, ethnicity, culture etc are a lot more flexible concepts than sex. actually trying to determine race can lead to shit like phrenology while determining sex is done with one look in 99 % of cases. even intersex conditions fall neatly into two categories. and then theyre like „well its transgender now not transsexual“ okay but gender are norms, expectations, etc based on sex; you could say that race is your physiology (like sex) and race is also a concept (roles and bias assigned based on physiology). so culturally it should be possible to change race if its possible to culturally change gender. you know what i mean? its super silly.

[the-koiking-pond]

"stamps" update!

Physiologically, they're in rough shape, as could be expected. There's ankylosing spondylitis, aortic inflammation, proprioceptive dissonance, some organ bizarreness that we don't even have a name for... So, all in all, entirely typical for a dracozolt, which is what "stamps" has been temporarily registered as for everyone's sanity. Atypically for a dracozolt, which to be fair they aren't one, "stamps" has venom glands! Everywhere! All claws and plates contain venom glands, but not the muscle sheaths that would control the venom output. In short, poor "stamps" is constantly oozing venom all the time. Fortunately, as a poison-type (definitely), they ought to be immune to their own venom. Even if I'm not.

We've decided not to do any psychological assessments until after at least a week of anti-inflammatories and other quality of life improvements.

@prof-lemon Do you have any blueprints for that elevated bed?

[ryttu3k]

Thoughts on His Dark Materials s3.03 and 3.04, The Intention Craft and Lyra And Her Death! Spoilers for the rest of The Amber Spyglass.

BITCH I CRIED. A LOT. I mean I 100% knew I was going to, but holy shit pain. Every time Pan sort of reached towards the boat, at one point nearly wobbling off the dock... Lyra screaming... the conversation they had beforehand, both clearly scared out of their minds... ow ;_;

Related: World of the Dead looked oppressive as hell. The yellow-tinted light was super eerie, the mechanical way everyone acted, the fact that there's bureaucracy even after you die. Lyra's Death wasn't as I expected (wasn't he male, originally?) but still very cool. Dissonant serenity, I think the phrase is.

Mrs Coulter was goddamn incredible in these two episodes. She's still ridiculously charismatic even when literally on trial, she's playing the Magisterium, they're playing her right back, and honestly her genuine terror at the end of episode 4 was just... kind of horrifying to see. God it's going to be interesting as hell to watch the rest of her arc!

Enjoyed the reforging scene, Will focusing on what's important and just... going to Lyra. Oh sweetheart ;_; It does take away from Iorek's actual... skill, though, and how intricate the scene is in the book. He's not just A Big Bear In Armour, he's an expert metalworker! There's a fun note in the subreddit, at least, about how the CGI team heard 'polar bear performing advanced metallurgy' and just noped out, which. Honestly valid. I'm not sure how you would make that scene look good, haha.

And Lyra and Iorek's reunion was adorable, and I love how Pan just instantly switched back to Arctic fox form. Gotta match the big friend! Do kind of wish we had heard more on why the bears were moving, alas. The ramifications of Asriel's actions and all.

Speaking of which: Asriel you scary mofo. tfw Mrs Coulter appears to have more morals (and parental instincts).

A cute moment - after Lyra and Will's argument, Lyra apologises (at Pan's prompting). Will sort of... brushes it off. Lyra instantly says, "Fine, then I'm not sorry." Will's lips twitch in a smile just for a moment.

We finally saw a Mulefa!! No diamond-shaped physiology, but I can understand why they didn't want to go with that. Very interested to see how they handle the budding communication with Mary, the wheelpods, all of that.

There's some interesting commentary going around about Lyra's selfishness in her decision to go to the Land of the Dead - that she's risking everyone, her own soul included, in wanting to go just to... say sorry? To not accept Roger's death and move on? (Some people are saying it seems a lot more callous coming from a sixteen-year-old instead of a twelve-year-old too, which, okay, valid.) And I don't... really see that as an issue. Lyra is flawed! She can be downright unlikeable sometimes! She's combative, rude, and stubborn, and yeah, she is selfish!

This is a good thing, in terms of writing. Characters are allowed to have flaws. Lyra is a flawed character, who wants to absolve her own guilt in her involvement in Roger's death. She's not acting because of a prophecy that she'll end Death, she does that more or less by accident, and she does that by acting in accordance to her whims. I feel it's very much in line with how the prophecy is phrased, first by Serafina then later by Dr Lanselius:

"There is a curious prophecy about this child: she is destined to bring about the end of destiny. But she must do so without knowing what she is doing, as if it were her nature and not her destiny to do it."

Later:

"The witches have talked about this child for centuries past. Because they live so close to the place where the veil between the worlds is thin, they hear immortal whispers from time to time, in the voices of those beings who pass between the worlds. And they have spoken of a child such as this, who has a great destiny that can only be fulfilled elsewhere - not in this world, but far beyond. Without this child, we shall all die. So the witches say. But she must fulfil this destiny in ignorance of what she is doing, because only in her ignorance can we be saved."

Emphasis mine. She can't know she's meant to do all these higher-level prophesised destiny shit or it'll fail. Lyra can't be tempted by Mary knowing that she's being tempted. She can't go to the Land of the Dead with the intention of ending destiny, she has to go on her own, because of her own intentions, or the prophecy doesn't work.

So, yeah. Lyra is selfish. But she has to be - if she knew what she was meant to be doing on a worldswide scale, it wouldn't work in the first place. She has to be a little girl who wants to say goodbye and to apologise to the boy she thinks she killed, acting on her own desires, or the whole story falls apart. She can’t fulfill a destiny to end destiny on purpose.

Anyway. Flawed protagonists, man <3

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

Who was The Eleven?

Who was the Eleven?

The Eleven is the eleventh incarnation of a Time Lord known as the Multitude or the Collective, infamous for suffering from a rare and incurable condition called regenerative dissonance.

💥 The Multitude/Collective

Instead of each personality fading away upon regeneration as per usual with Time Lords, the consciousness of each of their past selves remained inside their head. Every regeneration added a new personality to this growing crowd, making them one of the most mentally chaotic Time Lords. Though referred to as the Multitude or Collective at times, most incarnations are individually known by their number.

🧠 The Personalities

Each incarnation of the Multitude had a distinct personality:

The One: Their first incarnation was a member of Gallifrey's High Council, serving as a respected but rigid official until he became fed up and changed to a life of crime.

The Two: After regenerating for the first time, the Two realised they had regenerative dissonance, and spent much of this incarnation trying to get some peace and quiet, sometimes at the expense of others.

The Three: One of the more violent personalities, the Three was bratty and very quick to suggest murder as a solution.

The Four: A very arrogant incarnation, always believing they were the smartest in any room.

The Five: The joker in the pack - a trickster and wisecracker who believed he could kill anyone and everyone.

The Six: By far the most violent, the Six was likely psychotic, with a love for murder and zero care for who or what was lost along the way.

The Seven: Rude and abrasive, this incarnation served as a scientific advisor for the Eleven's schemes, though lacked social tact.

The Eight: The exception to the chaos, able to suppress the other personalities through meditation. The Eight tried to act as a force of reason, but was eventually overwhelmed.

The Nine: A kleptomaniac, obsessed with stealing.

The Ten: Skilled in hypnotism, The Ten used manipulation and mind control.

The Eleven: The dominant personality that led the Multitude after escaping imprisonment on Gallifrey, known for their cunning and calculated chaos.

🛡️ The Twelve and The Union

After the Eleven was defeated, they regenerated into the Twelve, an older female incarnation who looked like your grandmother. Unlike the chaotic Eleven, the Twelve was more controlled, stabilising her regenerative dissonance using a neural implant to suppress the voices of her previous selves. This stability, however, didn't last forever.

In her final form, she became the Union. The Union claimed to have rid herself of the previous voices once and for all, using a deadly weapon to extract degeneration energy from other Time Lords to stabilise her own mind. This caused her previous personalities to suppress and merge, making her greedy, arrogant, insane, and intelligent, yet looked like a sweet little old lady.

We don't know what happened to the Union in the end, but for now we assume they were killed in the Time War.

🏫 So…

The Multitude is one of the most unique and dangerous Time Lords. Despite briefly finding some vague form of stability in later incarnations, the Multitude is a pretty terrifying reminder of the unpredictability of regeneration.

Related:

💬|✨🧠Regenerative Dissonance vs Disassociative Identity Disorder - what's the difference?: How RD and DID compare.

💬|✨🧠Can a Gallifreyan with Regenerative Dissonance lead a healthy, long life?: The potential long-term impact of RD.

💬|✨🧠Could a Time Lord have Regenerative Dissonance with a consistent voice?: Exploring a possible variant of RD and how it might work.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any purple text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired😴

[hlekani-666]

<091> 13. Atheist Republic Newsletter: Is there any meaning to a life without God?

On our Facebook page and website, we often have theists ask how we can possibly find meaning in life without God. We also frequently see questions like, "What is the point of living without an afterlife?". The implicit message is that people don't have the strength required to endure difficulty and grief; we require a god, the hope of eternal life in paradise and the belief that we will be reconciled with those we care about. How can an atheist possibly bear the weight of grief when a loved one dies if they don't believe they will see that loved one again in the afterlife? Theists also have the conviction that the only things of consequence, are those things that have eternal value – a person or action can't really have "true meaning" if it has an absolute end.

Atheists know we must invest everything into this life because it is all we have. We can teach others, care for others, impact the lives of those around us and create a better world for generations to come. We alone have the responsibility and the creative power to live our own life with meaning and to imbue it with significance. This can be both invigorating and terrifying.

So what does a religious person actually mean when they say life is meaningless without God?

In a bit of a twist, it's probably the human evolutionary process that leads people to religion. Our own brains compel us to find patterns in our world, enabling us to predict what might happen so we can make better choices and survive. We also long to explain those patterns, for without an explanation, we experience ongoing cognitive dissonance and unrest. It is this desire for explanation that has led to ascribing the patterns to a god or gods.

We want someone to care for us so we do not have to feel the weight of caring for ourselves and others. We want someone to forgive us so we don't have to bear the heavy weight of conviction and reconciliation when we have wronged someone. We make stupid mistakes and do not want to bear the consequences. The reality of living a full life without god is often too much to bear. Creating our own meaning is often too daunting.

In addition, we are frequently perplexed by our own behavior. Why do we hurt those we love? Why do we so often feel out of control? Why is there so much pain and heartache? We can't explain why people commit heinous acts. After all, we are just now beginning to gain a tiny amount of knowledge about how brain physiology and chemistry affects human behavior; so all throughout human history, we had no way to understand these things. In a way, it's probably easier to explain this often overwhelming sense of dis-ease by giving responsibility for it to a demon or devil or some inner spiritual defect. Christians call this the "sin nature" that all got started when Eve chose to disobey God and Adam chose to go along with it.

This sin nature puts us all on a track to hell no matter how good we are in life. If our "badness" is on a fundamental spiritual level, our salvation must then in turn be divine. There must be an all-powerful being to guide us and give our sinful existence some sort of meaning and then guide our eternal soul to paradise; for without god, we are eternally doomed. And because this god is so amazing and saves us, we must give this god thanks, and praise it, and give it offerings of prayers and worship.

This then is the basic tenet of "meaning" found in religion: to recognize that the only true good comes from God and the only true hope can be found in eternal life. Christianity teaches we all have a "sin nature" and so ultimate meaning for our lives must come from God who will save us if we submit to him. The "good" we do must be in the name of God and for his glory and ultimately, this life is fleeting and our only hope and joy comes from knowing that we will one day be with God in heaven for eternity. Jesus is our savior and we must accept this and worship God. Islam teaches that nothing happens without God willing it to do to and because of this, we owe God everything and must constantly be thankful to him and worship him. The meaning of life is to worship God through Islam and without total submission and surrender to God, we are damned.

But there is something very childish about the impulse to pass responsibility off to a divine being. Taking responsibility for our own behavior and making our own lives full and meaningful comes with maturity. When we believe all meaning is to be found in how we live our lives instead of where we go when we die, we are faced with the knowledge that we have quite a lot of work to do while we are alive, which can be scary. But it also frees us to fully embrace the wonder of the universe head-on without the marring cloud of spiritual fantasy. We have ways to judge our decisions and how we treat other living beings that share this planet with us. We have the freedom to figure out for ourselves what a full life looks like. We have the freedom to be creative, to explore, to question and also answer.

"The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life's meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal." - Carl Sagan

Many great minds have explored the issue of life meaning. Richard Dawkins has a series called "Why Are We Here?" and in "Grand Design", Stephen Hawking addresses ancient and profound questions about the meaning of life.

Link To Original Post

[ericosantos]

Title: The Detrimental Effects of Making Assumptions Without Seeking Truth on Mental Health

Introduction:

Assuming things without finding the truth can have severe consequences on a person's mental health. This blog will explore the scientific evidence and real-life cases that demonstrate how this behavior can lead to long-term damage.

Scientific Example:

A study conducted by researchers at Stanford University found that individuals who frequently make assumptions without verifying facts have higher levels of cortisol, known as the stress hormone, in their bodies. This physiological response to constant uncertainty and misinterpretation can contribute to chronic stress, anxiety, and even depression over time. Further research conducted at Harvard University revealed that individuals who consistently make assumptions without seeking the truth are more likely to experience cognitive dissonance. This internal conflict between their assumed beliefs and actual reality can lead to persistent feelings of confusion, frustration, and emotional distress. Over time, this cognitive dissonance can contribute to a decline in mental well-being and overall psychological health.

Case Study 1:

Sarah, a young professional, always assumed that her colleagues disliked her because they never invited her to lunch. Without seeking the truth, she isolated herself at work, leading to feelings of loneliness and worthlessness. Eventually, Sarah's assumptions took a toll on her mental health, resulting in severe anxiety and depression.

Case Study 2:

John, a college student, often assumed that his professors were intentionally trying to make his life difficult with challenging assignments. Without seeking clarification or feedback, John spiraled into a cycle of self-doubt and negative thinking. Over time, his assumptions led to increased stress, poor academic performance, and a decline in overall well-being.

Case Study 3: Emma, a high school student, often assumed that her friends were intentionally excluding her from social gatherings. Without verifying the facts or communicating her concerns, Emma began to withdraw from her peer group, leading to feelings of isolation and alienation. As her assumptions went unchallenged, Emma’s mental health deteriorated, resulting in heightened anxiety and a sense of disconnection from those around her.

Case Study 4: Michael, a middle-aged professional, frequently assumed that his partner was unhappy in their relationship based on subtle cues and assumptions. Without open communication and seeking the truth, Michael’s unfounded beliefs led to increased tension and distance in their relationship. Over time, this strain took a toll on Michael’s mental health, contributing to feelings of inadequacy and a pervasive sense of unease.

The Long-Term Ramifications: The long-term ramifications of assuming things without finding the truth extend beyond individual mental health. Unchecked assumptions can create barriers to effective communication, hinder personal growth, and perpetuate a cycle of misunderstanding and conflict in various aspects of life. Furthermore, the cumulative effects of unfounded assumptions can erode trust, foster a negative worldview, and impede the development of healthy coping mechanisms, ultimately impacting one’s resilience and ability to navigate life’s challenges.

The Long-Term Impact:

Making assumptions without finding the truth can damage a person's mental health in various ways. It can lead to a distorted perception of reality, fuel negative thought patterns, strain relationships, foster self-doubt and insecurity, erode self-esteem, and contribute to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. The cumulative effects of unchecked assumptions can create a vicious cycle of emotional distress and cognitive dissonance that is challenging to break free from.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the evidence from scientific research and real-life cases clearly demonstrates the detrimental effects of assuming things without seeking the truth on mental health. It is essential to practice critical thinking, seek evidence, and communicate effectively to avoid the damaging consequences of unfounded assumptions. By cultivating a mindset of curiosity, openness, and willingness to verify information, individuals can protect their mental well-being and foster healthier relationships with themselves and others.

[shiyorin]

This is inspired by loony

Ioony (Alpharius/Omegon x Reader)

TW: Yandere.

Alpharius watch in the shadows as usual, observing all yet revealed to none. His enhanced senses tracked each movement as plans took shape. Yet occasionally, amidst the shadows and intrigue, something... Intrigued him on a more individual level. 

You entered. Alpharius allowed his gaze to linger as you conferred softly with others, noting angles of your form, subtle nuances in tone and gesture.

Within his mind, analysis churned as always, strengths, weaknesses, potential vulnerabilities if turned against the Imperium. But in deeper recesses, another current stirred, one strange after millennia walled away from humanity's emotional tides.

He isolated each impression, the subtle play of muscle beneath skin as you moved, each minuscule alteration in breathing or posture conveying or concealing intent. Alpharius' psyche absorbed such intricacies effortlessly, yet analyzed them now with a frame altered.

Attempting simulation, he induced within himself the biochemical surges, corresponding physiological shifts. But like shaping smoke, the emotions themselves would not hold form no matter how perfectly rendered were their vehicles of expression. Unstable feelings gradually turned into something colder, paranoia?

That which watching you could only be described through antiquated, inexact concepts. Concepts like...love.

Was this what humans meant by "love"? An emotion so destabilizing it blurred clarity into chaos? Alpharius scoffed, even as uncertainty gnawed within. Only love, that illogical emotion create by the dissonant harmony your presence wrought. 

Your role here was unclear, its import unfathomed. But Alpharius suspected you will perceived that. How delicious it would be, to draw you in, see understanding kindle behind you at last.

Alpharius watched you leave. Your movements contained a lithe grace at odds with lethality honed within. A flickering spark awaiting tinder, or perfectly balanced steel? This thoughts pulsated, probably an impulse. Strange fruits of idleness, best pruned. 

He trailed your footsteps, mind alight with questions unasked. For now, it must remain a fleeting thought alone. But perhaps one day, when intrigues allowed... A word, a glance exchanged in passing, a meetings in somewhere. Entwining like a small diversion.

The thought pleased Alpharius, for the moment. He would let it linger awhile, hold it close, to be pondered in idle watches or drawn forth when solace was required.

A rare blossom amid plots marching to destruction, worthy of nurturing in ways even he did not comprehend.

***

You sat across from him as always, but you can't see him, or you can't know of his presence. And he still likes that, still and focused yet revealing nothing. A shadow, answering to one alone. 

Omegon watched you, worlds of speculation churning behind his obscured eyes. What did he truly see, this person shrouded in impenetrable calm? Could any mind withstand your assessing gaze, devoid of judgement yet probing deeper than fleeting surface?

Blankness sways, festering in the back of his throat. Your presence covered, enveloping, concealing all thoughts from intrusion. On your own, revealing nothing to avoid complication, choice or consequence. A clean existence, swimming placid as still waters while worlds collided around your edges.

You moved as through life were a dance, each gesture perfectly calibrated. Detached, you observed all yet revealed nothing, flickering nigh and gone like a little flame amidst machinery of war. 

Omegon was not one for fanciful words, but he understood their allure. With each glimpse of you passing by, he felt uncertainty stir within, a weak flame twitching fitfully to life at your nearness before extinguishing once more.

He did not need such complications. His works demanded perfect singularity of thought and action, without room for sentiments left unsaid. But in your gaze he sensed an invitation, to abandon identity, bleed away all traces of self until only nothing remained between him and you.

But reality persists, as do its obligations. For Alpharius or Omegon, duty must always come first. And in that, perhaps, lay fullest contiguity with the mysterious called you. 

Omegon kept his silence, locking away this vagrant fancy deep within where even Alpharius could not discern its shape. For one who lives divided can ill afford distraction, no matter how fleeting or sincere the source.

If a seed of something more lingered in the fragility of heart, such trivialities held no place in their meticulous design.

[antimirobialresistance]

The Solution (Antibiotic Stewardship)

Antibiotic Stewardship refers to the efforts in doctor's offices, hospitals, care facilities, and other health care settings to ensure antibiotics are used only when necessary and appropriate. Below are the core elements of antibiotic stewardship.

Enhancing Infection and Control

Antibiotic stewardship programs have shown to improve patient outcomes, reduce antimicrobial agent related adverse events, and decrease AMR. It's important that all clinicians depend on evidence-based IPC interventions to reduce demand for antimicrobial agents by preventing certain infections in the first place.

Controlling Source Control

Source control encompasses all measures undertaken to eliminate the source of infection, reducing bacterial inoculum and correct or control anatomic derangements to restore normal physiologic function. Source control generally involves drainage of abscesses or infected fluids, debridement of necrotic or infected tissues and control of the source of contamination.

Prescribing Antibiotics When They Are Truly Needed

Nowadays, people use antibiotics for almost anything, and it's unfortunate that some doctors go along with it. While antibiotics can be life-saving (quite literally) when treating BACTERIAL infections (not viral), if used inappropriately or misusing it, it can become dangerous for the patient as their causing more harm than good to themselves.

Prescribing Appropriate Antibiotics with Adequate Dosages

An ineffective or inadequate antimicrobial regimen is one of the variables more strongly associated with unfortunate outcomes in critically ill patients.

Educating Staff

Education is important to every ASP. Diagnostic uncertainty, fear of clinical failure, and time pressure. Due to cognitive dissonance (recognizing that an action is necessary but not implementing it), changing prescribing behavior is extremely challenging. Efforts to improve educational programs are thus required and this should preferably be complemented by active interventions such as prospective audits and feedback to clinicians to stimulate further change.

In conclusion, practicing antibiotic stewardship helps bettering patient care, reduced antibiotic use, and can help with cost-effective health care.

[errantabbot]

Riffing on Resurrection

And so we’ve arrived at Easter, the ultimate event in the life of the Christian church, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus after his death and burial.

This day is marked by acclamations that “Christ is risen,” which has been Christianity’s foundational lynchpin for over 2,000 years. And while visions and hopes of a return of Christ (following his resurrection and ascension) have waxed and waned from literal and imminent to metaphorical and even remote in present day, the resurrection is an event that most Christians cling to as both historical and physical, even at the expense of cognitive dissonance.

While the bodily resurrection of Christ is certainly accessible to the realm of the imaginal, an important domain of human experience wherein those truths that may only be conveyed symbolically can be explored and experienced, the fact remains that resurrection does not happen in the natural world otherwise.

Resurrection as a religious motif (death literally becoming life) is one that existed in ancient cultures before Jesus and one that has persisted in religious thinking beyond the confines of Christianity. It’s a high hope, and not infrequently, an unrequited dream with no physiological correlate. What then are we to make of it?

Functionally, the resurrection’s mythos has served to substantiate the life, message, and significance of Jesus in the wake of the violent death that brought about an end to his relatively brief ministry. For his early followers, who were expecting so much outward change in their world by means of his existence (true circumstantial salvation), the resurrection served as a symbol of enduring relevance, metaphysical conquest, and hope.

To the band of disciples who heeded Jesus’ call to worldly renunciation, giving up vocations, possessions, and relationships to literally follow him, who quickly turned to mourning, confusion, and even hiding in the wake of his arrest and execution, resurrection was a culturally primed, convenient resolution to their new quandary of identity in the immediate wake of Jesus’ natural life. And in this, it became reality as an operative commitment.

In many ways the death of Jesus was a literal “dark night of the soul” for his followers. Pushing through the doubt, disbelief, and dissonance that they no doubt must have faced, and choosing to live in the light of the Gospel anyway, which is to say to take up Jesus’ mantle and continue his work, well, as far as I can tell, that’s resurrection. That’s finding new life from listlessness’ depths and it’s intrinsically meaningful.

The human power to reinterpret our experience, to adopt narratives that reframe our motivations, and further, to regard those narratives with unique realism in defiance of those structures that would otherwise limit us and keep us in fear and isolation, while allowing us to carry on in love, constancy, and peace, according with a set of declarative values, is a superpower. As such, this power (and tendency) is one that deserves conscious and intentional wielding, and in this, mindful critique lest it take on a life of its own, independent of the agency (and responsibility) of its wielders.

Jesus’ dying on the cross and rising in our hearts, in our motivations, and in our resolves isn’t a small thing. But its implications are also not implicitly clear. One might ask, what is Jesus’ message if not an utter inversion of the temporal world’s power structures? What is the place of a Messiah whose life was prematurely stamped out? Or of a resurrection whose unqualified literality has been dismantled?

The story of Christianity is essentially one of paradox, or to put it another way, of the non-dual harmonization of seemingly unreconcilable dichotomies. This alone places the tradition in a wider stream of the world’s wisdom traditions, which are born of a collective effort of long term grappling with the finitude of our individual lives and the infinitude intuited at reality’s heart.

In the realm of paradox, it’s no problem for unjust and oppressive structures to exist atop a substrate of utter transcendence in one’s direct experience (alas, the “Kingdom of God” is like this). In the stream of infinity, there’s no difference between one moment or one lifetime, and eternity. In the purview of metaphor, historicity doesn’t limit truth.

More could be said, much more even. But at their core, the non-dual traditions always speak toward the inability of language (and beliefs) to encapsulate truth. These traditions always enjoin us to practice, which is to say to experience and realization born of doing and being. But what is one to do? How does one practice and be in the light of resurrection?

Mark’s Gospel, the earliest account of Christ’s life, which I invoked in my Good Friday reflection, ends (16:8) with three of Jesus’ female disciples encountering his tomb empty, and in response, “trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”

That’s it. Sometimes our praxis of faith is bewilderment and quietude. Sometimes it’s trembling and fleeing. In many cases it’s haunting, in so much as it takes us up and carries us to unexpected places as we seek to digest our experience. A life of faith isn’t all made up of reassurance and comfort, of certainty and creed, indeed such curated sterility isn’t really life-giving so much as it is infantilizing. Mature faith takes on, of necessity, a much wider and fuller breadth.

Recently I’ve been struck by the use of the peacock as one of the early symbols of Christianity. It seems that in the ancient world it was regarded as an animal whose flesh did not decay, and was thus understood as an analog for the bodily resurrection of Christ. Of course today we know that this is an utterly fictional notion, and while it has thus been rendered an inept analog, the imaginal motif has proved enduring (one can even spend tens of thousands of dollars on vestments so embroidered). This is not unlike the resurrection of Christ itself, which while proving inaccessible to the realm of historicity, has gained enduring life as a dream, a hope, a metaphor, a commitment, and yes, at times a quandary.

Today the tomb is empty. Things are not as simple as we have thought them to be, and the implications are unsettling.

It’s okay. There’s life and purpose ahead, there’s integration and even resolution. It’s from this very ground that the whole world-spanning tradition of Christianity has arisen, both in the vein of perennial wisdom, contemplation, and beauty, and in the perversion of those things. Where we end up has all to do, I think, with how we approach the unsettling appendant to the perception of the empty tomb. Either with reverence and hesitancy, or with nuance-less confidence and words born of the pathological need to know.

~Sunyananda

[thehealingmodality]

So Here’s a Secret That I’ve Learned

If we don’t care for ourselves, we become a detriment to others and society. By not caring for one’s self one becomes a detriment to themselves. An obstacle to one’s self, and desires.

So many people who seek to fulfill popular cultural ideals fail to realize that even material success requires self-work and self-responsibility.

For health, though this is not widely taught or promoted, personal well-being is the ultimate responsibility of the individual. Resources that are external to a person, systems, and other people, are to support the individual’s continual actualization by not creating harm or hindrance to the individual’s ability to self-determine and self-regulate.

The chronic diseases that we see have grown in prevalence can be linked to the culture of externalizing the self onto others. Forced conflicting perspectives battle in the body of the person who had to internalize patterns that are foreign, pathogenic to them.

Cognitive dissonance has produced this false natural right to perform the witchcraft of dominance on individual perception to satisfy internal narratives that were promoted as universal thought.

Carry conflict in the body long enough, and dysfunction has the potential to manifest.

Further, people who are operating as unfavorable conditioning forces, that do not care for their own health and well-being, often burden the health reserves of those around them, seeking to attach themselves to those who self-regulate and are well. They refuse to go to their provider when they can just tap into someone else’s vital life force to bypass their need to develop greater intelligence in their physiology.

They make other people their “healing modality.”

The “secret” is to not be a health vampire.

There are various paths and resources today available for one to obtain and maintain nourishment and vitality. Other people are not supplements, they are living beings with a consciousness, a purpose, and a right to live freely and joyfully on this beautiful planet.

I realized that being a natural Sun, I was “the healing modality” for many in my life and who I have come across…or who came across me. My health recovered after I realized that my energy system was compromised. It's been a fight ever since, especially with the many guilt trips and accusations of being “cold” by people who are not my biological or god-children.

There needs to be immense work done to assess where the beliefs on female and yin-composed bodies being ‘supply’ come from.

It is making people sick.

—Inanna, @Dr.Inanna

[agape-philo-sophia]

➝ The Pineal Gland and Symbolism of a Unified Consciousness. 🧠

A balanced state between the left and right hemispheres occurs when they come into conjunction, unison, and harmony with one another and the masculine and feminine don’t dominate over the other but are in the alchemical wedding, the marriage between the sacred masculine and the sacred feminine. The neocortex acts in its proper role as the executive command center over the whole-brain complex, and is not fractured by an imbalance and impediment of higher order thinking brought on through living in a chronic emotional state or a fight or flight, stress, or desire to control ways of being. A balanced consciousness recognizes they are neither a master nor a slave of other beings, but can only be a master of themselves in a state of Dominion, self-rulership, self-ownership, and self-governance, one that is not divided amongst themselves. As we think, so we feel and so we act. We are not in internal opposition, conflict or contradiction in our thoughts, emotions or actions, but our conceptions, feelings and behavior are integrated, consistent and coherent all around without engaging in doublethink or cognitive dissonance to hold onto particular illusions for validation of our current condition. We must face ourselves in true honesty and self-respect and rectify the contradictions in the ways that we think to no longer deceive ourselves, so that we can recognize the way we truly feel and then engage in proper action as a result. This is how we can change our situation because it is only a current condition so long as we choose to keep it this way. We have to care enough and have the courage and will to face the reality of what ‘is’, the truth, within ourselves and in the external world in all its beauty, positivity and goodness as well as its horror, negativity and badness, in the light of truth and honest self-respect looking at ourselves in the mirror and what the consequences of our actions mean, shedding light on the darkness, demon, negative and shadow of ourselves and the world in order to learn and accurately understand the mess we have got ourselves into. We cannot remain in denial and avoidance of those things we do not wish to look at and continue to accept those comfortable lies from others and ourselves, but must face the truth in order to heal the self-inflicted wounds. We can come to recognize and admit our wrongs and through courage and will choose to change our behaviors, habits and actions in alignment with what is good, right and true, what is in alignment with our true Selves, to be as a Phoenix and purify ourselves of those things we recognize do not serve us along our positive evolution in consciousness, to sublimate, transmute, purify and heal ourselves by rising from the ashes of who we formally were, to be reborn anew in a reconstituted way having left behind that which we no longer desire to be. The balanced brain can be symbolized through the third eye, one eye, all seeing eye, and pineal gland located in the center of the head inside of the middle chamber, the limbic brain. The pineal gland is shaped like a pine-cone and is involved with the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and the pituitary and amygdala gland in the Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, which is a major part of the neuroendocrine system that controls reactions to stress and regulates many body processes. When the pineal gland is said to become active through the balancing of the brain hemispheres, consciousness opens up and true discernment can be made, distinguishing truth from falsehood. This can be seen as a physiological activation or a symbolic one represented by the manifestation of consciousness in alignment with reality, what ‘is’, the truth. Continue here: https://thegreatwork208716197.wordpress.com/2024/01/14/the-pineal-gland-and-symbolism-of-a-unified-consciousness/