No, it’s showing what’s in my pants. Or was in my pants at birth if I’ve had an operation. And if my gender presentation doesn’t match someone’s expectations, it means I will potentially get detained or harassed. Or possibly even arrested depending on the country.
So the intent is to hurt the trans community. And being all, ‘well actually’ about it being sex assigned at birth feels like a bad faith take.
Which is why you’re getting downvoted.
Hi, drug nerd here. Especially psychedelic plants and fungi.
Don’t.
And not just because I tried it in my twenties and had a really horrible time. But also because I’ve learned a lot in the last two decades about the plant, and that potency can vary significantly.
A dose someone took in a trip report where they had mild effects could cause temporary or permanent blindness for you. Because the plant that you are consuming may be a lot more potent than theirs was.
But yes, the trip is horrible. If you want to know what it’s like it’s a form of delirium. So if you’ve ever been up for long periods of time and your mind has started playing tricks on you, it’s like that. On top of this you also experience urinary retention, which means I spent the night getting up to use the bathroom while delirious and being unable to pee.
And remember I mentioned temporary blindness, I had what you could call the opposite of tunnel vision. I wasn’t able to focus and could really only see using my peripheral vision. This effect lasted well into the next day.
And while I was actually high, I was mostly experiencing audio hallucinations and I just wanted it to be over so I tried to sleep through it. About the only interesting anecdote I have is that I got up in the middle of the night to turn off a CD that was on repeat, only to find that I had unplugged the stereo hours before.
No insight aside from don’t drink datura.
For a similar and safer visionary effect, try staying up for 2 days. It’s basically the same feeling but without all of the side effects. There’s also the old formulation of Dramamine, I don’t remember what it’s called but very similar deliriant but in a measured dose.
And none of those I would really consider fun or especially insightful. Considering most of us are familiar with sleep deprivation anyway.
Well this last election really broke me from thinking of myself as an American. I just happen to live here.
Because the truth is our democracy is managed by oligarch propaganda. And our votes mean very little outside of local elections.
A vote for Trump and a vote for Harris were both going to continue the harms of the MIC and the fossil fuel industry. Yes, Trump is an accelerant. And I voted not to add gasoline.
But the fire was going to burn one way or the other.
Anyway, I think folks that feel ashamed still believe that their voice matters. Which is by design of the political and business class.
Every comment like this pretends that our elections are based off the popular vote, and not the electoral college.
But over a year later, liberals still blame non-voters instead of their party for running unpopular candidates.
And voter turnout was good in swing states btw. Granted, I think Trump cheated.
You started off with I hate folks who eat meat. What kind of reaction did you expect outside of a vegan comm?
I have certainly encountered that on Lemmy.
Yeah I think everybody actually does, but the sense consciousnesses are a lot less subtle than stuff like intentions.
And even that last part can be let go of. What is beyond that is beyond conceptualization, but it’s not nothing. Nor is it something. As both are concepts.
They’ve done studies on dopamine with sugar. It’s not the eating it that’s satisfying, it’s the getting it. So most dopamine is released on the way to the mouth. Assuming you’ve had ice cream before and the neural pathways are laid.
Which is why the first bite is the best.
But yeah the mind has some plasticity. We can learn to be more visual or olfactory ‘thinkers’.
Your mind has an active visual cortex. Other folks think more using their audio cortex. Some more with somatic awareness (feeling tone).
Mathameticians can visualize math.
Everyone is wired a bit different.
I’m a two or a four on the scale, depending on how much weed I consume. As heavy weed use dulls the minds eye. Though irregular use can enhance it.
And after years working in kitchens, I can think in smells. I.e.mix spices in my mind and smell them in my head before adding to a dish.
Their point was that due process isn’t just for citizens. It applies to everyone.
Because most of voters are ignorant and don’t understand that due process applies regardless.
Set healthy boundaries.
“I don’t want to keep talking about this today.”
And then leave the room.
If they make suicidal threats.
“If you’re serious I’m going to have to call a welfare check.”
Mahayana also reframes the goal toward practicing compassion in the moment and other pro social concepts (no self), rather than enlightenment of the individual.
A Western Zen teacher was asked by a student why the Bodhisattva vows are unattainable. Suffering is endless, living beings are innumerable. But we vow to end all suffering and lead all beings to enlightenment.
The Zen teacher replied, essentially, they’re silly because being helpful is the goal.
Mayahana also helped a lot with reification that snuck in during the five hundred years after the Buddha’s death. The abhidharma for example reduces the mental factors into individual components or atoms and treats them as though they have an essence or self.
Indian Buddhist philosophers such as Nagarjuna, pointed out that even these are interdependent. Jewels in Indra’s net.
For context, I’ve been studying and practicing off and on for around a decade. Took my precepts in the Plum Village Zen tradition under Thich Nhat Hanh’s lineage, and also study and practice under the guidance of a Theravada monk and scholor named Bhikkhu Analayo.
All concepts are upaya. Some are more skillful than others, such as the Dharma taught by the Buddha. But they’re signs on a map, rather than a dogma to hold onto.
Of course, individual teachers and practitioners are human, and they may see things differently than I do. But ultimately I view Buddhism as a critique of concepts, that points at the interdependent (empty) and impermanent nature of things. And most world religions seem to lean much more heavily on dogma.
But again individual practitioners in other religions may be more enlightened. I know Thich Naht Hanh was friends with a lot of Christians and studied theology in the West as a young man. Some of his closest friends included monastics like Thomas Merton. And some activists such as Daniel Berrigan and Dr King. Hanh believed that the heart of Christ and the heart of the Buddha were pointing at the same ultimate ground.
And I could also argue that Jesus was quite critical of Judaism. Though his followers have largely used him for personal and political gain in the 2000 years since his death.
Linked below is a Dharma talk were a Plum Village nun discusses the appropriation of spirituality for the sake of control of the masses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm7NL8mOsEs
Anyway, I’ve read a lot and I’ve studied a lot. I find wisdom in both Theravada and Mahayana. Though I do find the Tibetan tradition problematic, and don’t generally spend much time with their teachings anymore. Though I am drawn to the esoteric teachings and have cribbed quite a bit from the book of the dead, I find Plum Village speaks more to my heart. And without that, the dharma is hard to hear.
I also like systems science by the way. Very similar critique of reification. Or ‘selfing’.
Stay safe out there.
I would argue that Buddhism is as distinct from Hinduism as an agnostic is from the abrahamic faiths.
If you really look at Buddhism, it’s a critique of Hindu concepts such as Atman.
Of course it incorporates a lot of those concepts, because the Buddha was communicating his critique to folks who used those concepts.
For example, the four brahmavajara’s are framed in a Hindu understanding of the godhead. That doesn’t mean the Buddha believed in Brahma beyond it’s conceptualization by Hindus.
He was merely using it as a teaching device to point out the importance of the four immeasurable minds to a Brahmin who asked him what the mind of God is like.
I read through that thread, the mods were very patient.
And individual community members of course had their own individual reactions, depending on the content of the post.
There are support groups for men out there that are not generally charectirized as toxic. Toxic folks may attack men for going to them, but I can tell you before I transitioned I used to go to one, and no one ever verbally attacked me for it.
Yeah there’s a term for it in Hinduism, Maya.
I’ve also spent a lot of time and study with Buddhism. Explored a lot of mind altering drugs.
Perception is a map of the territory influenced by karma (evolution and personal experience) In constant feedback with the territory, of course.
But the map edits itself out. Because when a tiger appears on the map we need to run, not debate rather or not there’s really a tiger.
My older brother used to run around with a young man that was raised by racist bikers. The guy killed someone during a house robbery. And still I’m not sure that that person was irredeemably evil.
But I’ve also done time in prison. And was celled up with an old man that hurt a little girl. No acknowledgement, no remorse. Smiling, outgoing. But at the time I had no idea what he had done. And I had no idea that he was a sociopath until he opened up to me about cutting crow’s tongues when he was young, because he had seen a talking crow at a circus. No empathy. As ‘nice’ as he seemed.
Looking back, he had that same look in his eyes that you can see in cult leaders and other sociopaths. When I watched the Nixium documentary with my partner, it was like that. A charismatic predator.
Gender is sociology. Essentially caste and class roles.
Sex is biology.
Folks that like to conflate the two want gender roles to be immutable.