Neocities.org

Some people might not be sentient

this seems like a great representation of how rulers tend to see their troops - not real people with thoughts and beliefs but just some NPCs that are only useful as long as they are in the battlefield

Beliefs are only useful to the extent that they inspire constructive actions within ourselves and those around us. Truth is the balance. How do our motivations and our perceptions interface with our experiences and our effects upon others?

One doesn't want to get stuck within "toxic positivity" or "pronoia". But getting stuck within a combination of "negativity bias" and "learned helplessness" is also harmful. Where is each person's "locus of control" in regards to each situation?

Sometimes people, including myself, skew towards complaining about life, yet don't even try to create something constructive instead. Personally, I have gotten to the point where I've recognized that being constantly depressed is harmful to me and hope is the only viable option.

Oh yeah...I most identify, in both theory and in practice, with the "desert mothers and fathers" who lived in self-sufficient "cenobitic monasticism" in order to avoid "theocratic rule" by a corrupt "priesthood" (i.e.: the "Essenes", not the "Pharisees", "Sadducees", or "Zealots").

While some parts of modern "Christian Anarchism" (and its associated "liberation theology") touch upon their ideas with less mysticism, most of the more esoteric strains of Judaism/Christianity seem to derive from them as well, including Gnosticism.

For example, this is evidenced by the origins and contents of the Nag Hammadi Library, as well as their similarities with contemporaneous Merkabah and Hekhalot literature from which Kabbalah springs. I'm particularly interested in this kind of study: https://web.archive.org/web/20160316053521/http://odeion.org/gematria/

I don't think that abandoning hope in a better world here and now, is a good idea. But I also don't think that being concerned about karma, or any form of retributive justice in the afterlife, amounts to anything productive (even if it's real, doesn't affect this life).

One can also make direct connections with other teachings, particularly Pythagoreanism/Plotinism and Buddhism, through groups like the Therapeautae of Alexandria. But I would argue that there is a "primordial tradition"/"perinneal philosophy" that permeates all true "alchemy" and which is present within most esoteric spiritual teachings, independent of time and place.

Fundamentalist interpretations sometimes degrade into justification for tyranny. For example, many of the groups that were persecuted during the Inquisition (like the Cathars and Waldensians) tended to be more egalitarian, holding beliefs opposite to that of "dominion theology", and teaching that no human intermediaries were needed to experience "theosis"/"henosis".

@daliwali - Sorry for the post mix up. That is fair. To me, Justice is always restorative, never punitive. Likewise, constructive knowledge must be applied... I'll shut up now 😂

i relate a lot

"Spiritual revolution" Dangerous phrasing ;D. As to forgiveness, you're only peaceful if you have the capacity for violence, otherwise you're just pathetic.

@lotus-cube the russian band Кино first performed "Хочу перемен" (I want changes!) in 1986, about changing one's own heart. the soviet union collapsed in 1991.

Very nicely written. I agree with so many of the things you spoke about, especially that we have been inclined to non-action regardless of how strongly we feel. There is a sort of soft manipulation that hides like a ghost in the online world, changing even the most seemingly intelligent of people into drones.

That is why "absolute power corrupts absolutely." Stacking symbolic abstractions on top of one another can divorce perceptions from reality to the point where any action can be "justified". We must be careful with pride. There are limits to knowledge in that another's personal experience does not have a 1-to-1 correspondence to one's own.

Forgiveness is not to acquiescence to injustice out of fear, and thus condone evil passively. It is to not allow oneself to be controlled by the ways in which one has been hurt, to voluntarily choose to heal. How many truly want peace? Or do they harbor vengence in their heart and simply want to trade places with a tyrant?

The key is how we choose to apply our own will moment-by-moment. All black magick is an imposition of one's will upon another, specifically to derive some sense of "power", whether it take on the form of active violence or passive manipulation.

However, each of our choices affects others, whether we are aware of the impact or not. If we have any sense of conscience whatsoever, as we learn of those impacts, we revise our methods to make them less harmful to others.

True Justice is restorative, not punitive. It does not fall victim to "The Myth of Redemptive Violence" that acts to perpetuate violence itself. Likewise, True Mercy is not being a sycophant. There is a careful balance between individual rights and collective responsibilities. [*compare "legalism" with "hypergrace"]

...I should also mention that, while there is quite a bit of nuance, I find "satan" = "demiurge" to be a helpful interpretation. What spirit rules the world and how? (Matthew 4:8-9)

Ultimately, I believe that there is a fundamental "error" that has crept into the perception of humanity at the dawn of our existence, like the "three poisons" within the "wheel of samsara" that we talked about before.

See: https://letslearntogether.neocities.org/scispirit/Sexuality/relation01 particularly the last two sections "Hope For Healing On A Fundamental Level" and "Psychosocial Neurobiology".

Based and gold-pilled

I respect you Watchman on the Wall. That passage is to highlight a common bias of the ancient Romans. When a human sees themselves as "god almighty," then they can rationalize forcing any amount of servitude upon others "for your own good"! But as PKD said, "The empire never ended." https://letslearntogether.neocities.org/scispirit/Misc/PKD/experience

[*for further details compare the Anacyclosis of Polybius with the Three Branches of the U.S. gubmint https://letslearntogether.neocities.org/scispirit/Misc/civstudy01 ]

Where does "constitutional democracy" become corrupted? The only one I want to "represent" me is Christ, the perfect reflection of righteousness. For the only sign in which I shall conquer is in the Love of the Son of Man, every person from the unborn seed to the long forgotten.

Life is priceless. Pray for the Caesars to truly become Christs as you pay the tribute to the imperial cult and the "money spell" will be broken. (2 Timothy 3) More soon.

from 2 timothy 3, "terrible times in the last days" indeed.

No worries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJPmZFUDoi8