Dan McClellan is a BYU Bible scholar. He's chosen the correct fork in the great divide of these times. This is a good talk on empathy's role in society.
#psychology #empathy #exmo #exmormon #lds #mormon #AbuseCulture
It's interesting to think of god as a scientist who created this simulation, and each of our awarenesses and memories are data-points of what it is like to experience this reality.
All of these words are really stand-ins for concepts which can't be put into human words or even human constructs. But I think this direction quite often.
god probably isn't a being the way we think of beings. Daddy in the sky is not the appropriate metaphor for this way of thinking about god.
Maybe that means there are realities where the rules are different, and then our body of experiences can be compared to the experiences of awarenesses there to understand how a higher level of reality works.
I find a lot of purpose in this, that my collection of data and the meaning I've discovered about how this reality works is of benefit to "god," in how that will be compared to the conclusions and summaries of uncountable other awarenesses.
No matter what happens to me, I've contributed. All I have to do is think an observation, and it's of value. Nothing is "correct" or "true," just another datapoint in a vast, incomprehensible experiment.
I hardly even think that such a god created any of this, but instead arose naturally, as we did, out of the mixing and matching of all the things that are possible, happening.
It also stands to reason that there are many more than just one of these gods.
Introduction
Doing an #introduction as I'm new to Friendica, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite ways to engage with the fediverse, and friendica.world. I'm always happy to meet people with similar interests, so feel free to boost / share!
I'm a human who loves weird art, all sorts of music (from Hindustani to Death Metal), tech, sunny days, green hills, incense, tea, spirits, soft couches, cats, and books. I'm a prolific vegan cook, and I design, code, write, play games, and produce, write, and play music for fun.
Some relevant tags are: #ADHD #arch #atheist #chicago #design #endeavouros #exmo #ExMormon #FLOSS #FOSS #GNU #incense #indieweb #introductionspost #KDE #LGBT #libregraphics #leftist #linux #music #scotland #tea #TransRights #trombone #vegan #vegancooking #webdev #writing
I hadn't searched myself for awhile and it looks like lots of folks have done derivatives of my religious trauma and manipulation deconstruction work. This is actually really cool! Wish I had space to listen to some of them.
#RecoveringAgency #ReligiousTrauma #exmo #exmormon https://mas.to/@tokyo_0/114099341707629649
A Would You Rather question for Mormons (in the broadest possible sense - incl exmormons). This thought always goes through my mind when writing about Forever Families, as I am in one of these groups and have to remember the other group exists to include that perspective.
You hear the prophet yet again say that if you sin, you will never be with your family in the eternities.
1. You love your family. You have sinned, and desperately fear losing them forever.
2. You dislike/hate your family. The idea of the Celestial Kingdom seems pretty great, but you'd really rather your family not be there. This fills you with unresolvable dissonance.
Which situation is the saddest?
I fucking love art based on Mormon metaphors that isn't adhering 100% to Official Authorized LDS Doctrine.™ It's a culture rich with symbolism that manages to transform it all into literal materialistic rigidity in a way that utterly destroys any hint of beauty, individuality, or spirit.
I still have no idea what this song means (I've heard it many times) but the Mormon imagery in it is beautiful and subversive.
An Open Letter to Whoever Needs to Hear The Following:
If you claim something is “the natural order of things”, “how people were created”, what have you, yet it takes an entire culture of shame, self repression, and outright surveillance and policing to enforce that natural order, then maybe that “natural order” isn’t as natural as you think, is it?
Moreover, if the people who once believed in that “natural order”, who once shamed themselves, policed themselves and others, and repressed themselves stop repressing themselves and start deconditioning the decades of shame and control discover they feel better, maybe your so-called “natural order” and “way people were made” isn’t so natural after all, is it?
Apply the above wherever it applies.
Sincerely,
An Ex-Mormon Who Sees Through A LOT of The World’s Bullshit.
Some evocative photos I pulled out of context.
(From the 2011 Joplin, MO tornado, which leveled an LDS Stake Center. Link to article in next post.)
Well they decided that Mormon tithing lawsuit. It's not good. Apparently churches can lie about how they spend money when they invest tax-free tithing funds for profit. Fully above the law.
So the Restoration of the Utah Theocracy is going well.
In my experience, many issues with a story can be fixed by simply knowing what each and every character wants, and have them actively pursuing that goal at all times. They may or may not themselves know what they want, but the author needs to know.
Many issues with American Primeval would be solved if the writers simply gave some of the side characters a mind of their own, and set them into action. But many characters are acting in service to the plot, and thus, are hardly more than cardboard cutouts. The tension is there because the director wanted tension, not because real people are having legitimate conflicts over getting what they want.
I was clicking around the blog after months in a dormancy coma and I’ve gotta say…
I love what my headmates have done with the place.
Pretty neat.
Have Allēna’s and Eight’s masterpiece album Mago as a treat before you go. If you’re finding the system via the MadMastodon tag or related ones, I think you’ll like what it has to say. It’s all about deconstructing a high control faith, surviving psychiatry and long term abuse, and finding ourselves. Enjoy.
-Castor (he/it), the system’s original host.
And I wish they'd do a better job of showing why Mormonism is/was appealing. They're all cranky and crazy and weird and mean in this.
No, Mormons are and were *charming*. People don't join high demand groups and move across the world because all the members look miserable and the leaders act cutthroat all the time. Really glad they are showing the cutthroat stuff (and they were very much in 1857, which translates into more of a passive aggression today) but also show why people wanted to join.
There are Mormons alive today sick of the passive aggression who would love to go back to that cutthroat time. They hide behind those warm smiles and suits. They are charming AF.
People need to know it's a facade. Such a lost opportunity.
I mean blood eventually flakes off by itself after awhile.
I swear, this one guy's forehead blood keeps moving around.
And someone tell make-up that even in olden times they knew how to wash blood off at *some* point within weeks after the injury.
Wishlist: Westerns get popular again but they're all from a primarily indigenous POV.
(This show isn't as fair to the Shoshone and Paiute as I would have liked, but I'm enjoying what it tries to do, and would like more of that, only better. (And less white saviory.))
Then Brigham's going around saying "This is the place" everywhere he goes, like it's some kind of supervillain catchphrase. Which would be hilarious if they were doing it intentionally and with effect. But they're not.
Really though, it's the characters making the same mistakes with the exact same outcome every time that's so annoying. Also not done intentionally, with effect, but simply because the creators thought the only way to build tension is to have every single person be hostile to every single other person.
Tryna be Game of Thrones but it's not.
I'm just here for the hate watching at this point. And for the Mormons.
