#story

anonymiss@despora.de

The dark sides of our #civilization

A lion lay sated on the savannah watching the sun set. An economist came by and asked the lion why he wasn't working. The lion replied that he would normally eat economists for dessert, but at the moment he was full. This would also be the reason why he rests here, because there would be nothing more to do than to enjoy life with a full stomach.

The economist explained that there are 3 hours left until sunset. If the lion would hold on, he could still hunt 3 to 4 antelopes. After that he would have a food supply and could rest much longer and enjoy life.

The lion thought to himself, I can try that. After he had even killed 5 antelopes in the end, the economist sold him a freezer to store the antelopes. After that, of course, he still needed an electricity contract and a house to put the freezer in. Before the lion knew it, he was working from 8 in the morning until late in the evening to hunt antelope, because now he had to pay off the loan for the house and the electricity for the freezer. He could rest only for a short time on weekends.

#society #work #capitalism #consume #rest #story #life #freedom #economy

libramoon@diaspora.glasswings.com

lunar ramblings

queries, concepts - post-post-modern quiz

I believe that all the lonely people should get together and end loneliness
in our lifetime
I believe in making Peace The issue
I believe we are all part of a plan of our
own forming
I believe people want to get along up
to the point when they want to fight and
expend pent up rage
I believe people project on our opponents what
we perceive as our horrific sins
I believe there is ultimately
nothing to win
and you?

;

It's just a phase, this material trance. We awake into a world ready made and monkey-see our way into a social construct we call "me". We do this both individually and all together. We go through the metamorphoses of growth and experience, trying to piece it together into useful sense. In that effort, we try out different roles, different styles, different socio-political theories and practices. It is a systemic spiral we travel, incrementally changing until we reach a critical mass, a crisis of belief and boundary redefining. The world we think we know, have created in our own minds, shifts. Before we get to that crisis, we explore and overextend, we wallow to ridiculous degree to fully engorge, to fully play out the possibilities and consequences of the reigning paradigm. We have learned, have seen, that tools, technology can give us the illusion of grabbing more than our hands can hold, of smiting our enemies and increasing our security. We have learned, have seen, that grabbing and hoarding the material luxuries and symbols of power can give small, scared, weak people an illusion of power and command, and the kind of security that implies. However, we are learning, some are seeing, that the material trappings are not the feelings themselves, are not truly worthwhile as goals or means. It is a phase we learn through, then, if we have been paying appropriate attention, move from to try out other theories, other practices, as those possibilities become more obvious. Of course, there is always the chance that what hasn't truly made us stronger will kill us.

;

why not, while we are having this conversation, create a future through promotion in which, like utopian dreams of fiction and reverie, a world in which our basic needs, even material whimsies, are taken care of by the fruits of our imagination (technology) while we (all our material needs attended) live in creativity, expansive relationship, giving and receiving the nurturance of each other now that we are not bound by "making money" to make us slaves to the shit work of those in charge to survive?

;

If you start with the assumption that government is the problem, you are negating the possibility of using government sensibly as an organizing entity. If you start with the assumption that government is the solution you tend to look at all problems as demanding laws to manage. If you start with the assumption that government is a tool for use by the people, you can start to look at where it is useful and how, and where other tools might be more efficacious.

;

It can be argued that more equitable distribution of access to resources is both more democratic as the majority of people can vote with their dollars for the kinds of goods and services we want, and better for economic growth and the optimal functioning of market economy.
Nobody is getting free stuff. This idea is a shared illusion. Everyone is getting paid. Those who produce and sell the products, those who work and pay taxes, those who are paid to contribute economically as consumers while keeping their dysfunctions out of the workplace, are all being paid. No one is losing. It's a win/win/win.
Many of the people reviled with concerned that they get "free stuff" are working very hard; and not getting sufficient compensation to pay for basic needs. Others are seriously disabled, requiring major accommodations to be effective employees. Most employers prefer not to make such accommodations (quite understandably), so these people can not be employed. Government or private concerns could develop special training and projects to employ those who could work, but rarely do.
Others, though not traditionally disabled have such chaotic lives (for any of many possible reasons) that they are unemployable.
Others will be employed and able to make their own contributions to the general revenue; but for right now that has not happened.
Yet, these people are all actively contributing to the overall economy while their lives are sorting out. Fewer people are actively sick and destitute on the streets, and thus not bringing down property values, causing problems for local businesses, presenting disincentives for people of means to shop or enjoy public space, or presenting even greater problems for health care and crime industries.

;

There appears to be a spell long cast upon the people to integrate into our basic understanding of the world this idea of market based economy as a given. Economics, money, even mathematics, are human constructs, ideas, not reality. When economic systems, ideas we have joined in promoting, do not well serve human enterprise and needs, the people ought not feel it is we who must adjust to serve the economy. Rather, it is those ideas that need adjustment to better fit our purpose.

;

people have a natural desire to perform useful functions, to grow skills through experience, to feel productive and meaningful within their community, to belong Freud found that our most important values are work and love. Money is a medium of exchange, the way we in modern societies distribute resources. There is no real reason why money need be tied to work.

;

learning, mentally and physically growing, is what children do naturally
to twist that natural curiosity and expansion into forced inactivity and silence except on command of authority is a great deal of what has made us so much less than we could be, so much worse than we would be

;

People get the ego all wrong. I do understand -- it is what we are taught.
Ego is meant to be the organizing principle in our consciousness. It is a hard-working, important tool if we are to be social beings in a material world. When ego is well used, it allows us to make sense of the flood of sensations, organize time/space/tools/intent into worthwhile projects, create appropriate interfaces for smooth social commerce, and generally function as strong, self-motivated, sane actors. Because we are misinformed, we often grow misformed egos that are not well used or healthy. This can create deep resentments, anti-social inclinations, general confusion about one's place in the world. Rather than denigrating ego, we would do well to befriend our various strands and become more whole, more able, more socially useful and personally joyful.

;

Having regard for oneself, respect for that first person singular subjective locus, why would that be considered negative? It sounds like a philosophy which subsumes the self into the benefit of the whole, or of some particular selves who have power over the whole. If the self were like a cell within a systemic whole, though, such self-regard would not be a negative, it would be unimaginable -- unless the cell had consciousness, yet no idea of the greater system, in which case self-regard would be completely appropriate for a creature on its own. Bragging, puffing up, presenting oneself as more important are not attributes of self-regard. They are attributes of insecurity, a need for constant validation, a role played to gain attention or misdirect. The person who is secure within their own skin is generally genial, with no need to take the spotlight, unless that is their role in a particular performance. So why is the ego, the self, the first person singular, the focused consciousness maligned?

;

the root of oppressive behavior is a complex of pain and fear which expresses as anger against an assigned scapegoat which escalates to violence and institutionalizes as oppression

#discuss?

;

Violence feels good. It is a cathartic release of rage. When done as a group activity, it helps to solidify the group. Especially in religious cultures that have severe restrictions on sex, tribal violence can be a useful binding agent, and a useful warning to those who might dissent.

What do you #think?

;

One would think (if one were me, I guess, though obviously others) that honesty would be not only a cornerstone, but a rationale for relationship of any meaning. We have the option to find ourselves, learn more than we can alone, in relationship. Not only the reflection, but the changing, the interaction of bonding, the realizing of self that only becomes in interaction or communication.
Yet so much of our time together is about masking, hiding, mistrust and denial of understanding. Is this because our significant role models lied to us, misunderstood their relationship to us, treated us as "children" as if that were a separate species? Is part of it schoolyard divisiveness, taunts and hostilities, groupings and betrayals? Is part of it feeling unacceptable?

;

Probably the best policy effort for all of our futures would be compassionate emotional education from pre-K all the way through schooling. People need to be taught to dialog, and too much "education" is about keeping still and being led by experts/authorities. People seem to be raised in tightly closed environments where family traumas get to repeat like Greek tragedies without ever being aired to heal. We learn to lick our wounds in the dark and band together out of fear-fed angers against anyone out there. Too many lives are wasted, piled on the heap, left to rot without feeling wanted or alive. All the lonely people who cry silently without seeing all the lonely people crying silently who could become happy kin. We really need to learn to do it better.
Have studies been done on peer therapy, like the AA model of sponsors -- people brought together with others with whom they can talk anytime 24/7 about what is bothering them, training in active listening, teams so no one person carries too much burden on their time and to bring in wider voices and ways of caring and understanding -- kind of like a caring and attentive family?

;

something more than the absence of war, but including that as well Peace is an attitude of calm deliberation and acceptance of all that is on its own terms with the will to move in a more generally healthy and respectful direction; not lack of disagreement, but lack of disrespect (except for disrespect for the disrespectful)

What do #you think?

;

so sick (in my gut, in my head, in my heart, in my arms) of all the divisiveness. Men can't understand women. Whites can't understand blacks. Rich can't understand poor. Left can't understand right ...
That's why we have language, art, long-term complicated relationships, community projects and festivals and -- tell me your #story

libramoon@diaspora.glasswings.com

Waking Beauty
#poem #fairytale #story #reimagined

You saw me, a playing child, laughing amongst the roses.
My shining eyes reflected worlds;
singsong choruses to which I danced proclaimed their glory.
I, a cherub princess, all the doting subjects at my command,
all I asked was their love and beneficence.
Fairies clapped for me, flittered in with luminescent kisses,
fed me on honey, cakes and sweet lilac tea,
whispered me their blessings, giggling and tittering,
watched over me with warm caresses of enchanted nurturing.
I loved easily, laughed whole-heartedly, sang from my soul
happy dance tunes and whimsical madrigals.
There shone radiant magic throughout the land
in the morning of the world.

It was not so easy as I grew.
Word got out, worried whisperings,
that there was a curse upon me.
Those who had seemed so open and friendly
grew distant, masked their faces so I would not call to them,
or became furtively hostile so I would stay away.
I thought it was the power, soon to be mine by succession.
Surely they feared to be too familiar with the potential Queen.
I tried to reassure them, to be warm and familiar, to look for
little ways to please them.
The fairies still played with me, but sometimes turned mean.
They whispered ugly rumours, pinched me and flew away.
They called me fat and ugly and would feed me only thistle and briar.
Then, sometimes, without notice, all would be forgiven, all would be
a madcap party, a whirling swirl of luscious scents and colours,
a warm embrace of magical happiness,
warm and safe and cherished.

I learned to be needy without showing need;
peering sideways into partially opened doors
to see if I could find one safe to enter.
I took to finding little chores that would take me into
unused corners,
bending over so none would look into my face with malice.
I took to wearing common clothing, layered into camouflage.
I took to telling myself that I must indeed be awfully horrid and
worthless to have lost so much and be so reviled.
I took to taking on any sorry chore that would have me
that I might say to the courtiers:
“Look, I am a humble laborer, not worth your attention.”

So I was spinning and pricked my finger, as the curse foretold.
My blood called forth the evil energy to swoop into my open wound.
Unconscious.
Life moving along beyond my senseless form, without my knowledge or input.
Who can tell what may have been done with my unprotesting body.
I was not dead, not appropriate for burial;
still helplessly breathing, metabolizing/catabolizing, inexorably,
yet so slowly, so quietly, so manifestly without power, so easily forgotten.
The wicked ones who would benefit from my demise became old and dust
while I slept.
Those who were false to me acquired many more sins and salvations,
traveling their own rocky roads.
The curse took no notice of time or circumstance.
I existed in a liminal state of vague dream images,
static discharge of random sensory neurons.
I did not expect; I did not wait; I was not aware of being.
Sometimes excruciating nightmares might overtake me;
no matter.
I could neither hear nor utter, but just breathe on
as images vaguely formed and dissipated.

They say there was a malaise over the kingdom.
Work became hard to find and
wandering adventurers moved about the land
hoping to find their fortune.
There was a far off war diminishing the resources
and often intense skirmishes along the borders
increasing fear and bravado.
The once wise and strong ruling family, disrupted in
succession squabbles, had been deposed.
There were no strong rulers, but only petty tyrants,
and not so petty.
The gardens had gone to weeds and brambles.
The fields suffered; sometimes from drought,
sometimes from mildew,
sometimes from marauding scavengers.
Perhaps these were my nightmares come to life.

There was a young prince from a noble but impoverished
family.
He had grown strong and brave, taking in stories of better times.
He had heard the fable of the cursed princess,
sleeping, hidden, once a source of glory and happiness
in a merry and prosperous land.
He had nothing but a dream, to find me.

They say he set out down a road that others had followed.
But where others had met with sorry fates, or become lost,
or defeated by the impenetrability of the twisted trees and brambles,
he found no encumbrance.
There I was, within his reach, so pale and still.
It is said that he wept for joy, took me up into his arms,
whirled me about and kissed me reverently,
infused his buoyant dream into my sleeping form.

I felt the warmth of living moving through me.
I felt safe, exultant, cherished.
My senses slowly revealed themselves,
though true consciousness had not yet returned.

He held me close and danced me into movement,
laughing freely and whispering words of encouragement.
He did not rush me, nor let me feel anything but loving support.
He told me how he had grown up dreaming of finding me,
returning me to my rightful place,
removing the curse upon the land.
“And what, my lady,” he asked, “have you been dreaming all these silent years?”

ramnath@nerdpol.ch

2 Esdras 11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The #Vision of the #Eagle
11 On the second night I had a dream: I saw rising from the sea an eagle that had twelve feathered wings and three heads. 2 I saw it spread its wings over[a] the whole earth, and all the winds of heaven blew upon it, and the clouds were gathered around it.[b] 3 I saw that out of its wings there grew opposing wings, but they became little, puny wings. 4 But its heads were at rest; the middle head was larger than the other heads, but it, too, was at rest with them. 5 Then I saw that the eagle flew with its wings, and it reigned over the earth and over those who inhabit it. 6 And I saw how all things under heaven were subjected to it, and no one spoke against it—not a single creature that was on the earth. 7 Then I saw the eagle rise upon its talons, and it uttered a cry to its wings, saying, 8 “Do not all watch at the same time; let each sleep in its own place, and watch in its turn, 9 but let the heads be reserved for the last.”

10 I looked again and saw that the voice did not come from its heads but from the middle of its body. 11 I counted its rival wings, and there were eight of them. 12 As I watched, one wing on the right side rose up, and it reigned over all the earth. 13 And after a time its reign came to an end, and it disappeared, so that even its place was no longer visible. Then the next wing rose up and reigned, and it continued to reign a long time. 14 While it was reigning its end came also, so that it disappeared like the first. 15 And a voice sounded, saying to it, 16 “Listen to me, you who have ruled the earth all this time; I announce this to you before you disappear. 17 After you no one shall rule as long as you have ruled, not even half as long.”

18 Then the third wing raised itself up and held the rule as the earlier ones had done, and it also disappeared. 19 And so it went with all the wings; they wielded power one after another and then were never seen again. 20 I kept looking, and in due time the wings that followed[c] also rose up on the right[d] side, in order to rule. There were some of them that ruled, yet disappeared suddenly, 21 and others of them rose up but did not hold the rule.

22 And after this I looked and saw that the twelve wings and the two little wings had disappeared, 23 and nothing remained on the eagle’s body except the three heads that were at rest and six little wings.

24 As I kept looking I saw that two little wings separated from the six and remained under the head that was on the right side, but four remained in their place. 25 Then I saw that these little wings[e] planned to set themselves up and hold the rule. 26 As I kept looking, one was set up but suddenly disappeared; 27 a second also, and this disappeared more quickly than the first. 28 While I continued to look, the two that remained were planning between themselves to reign together; 29 and while they were planning, one of the heads at rest (the one that was in the middle) suddenly awoke; it was greater than the other two heads. 30 And I saw how it allied the two heads with itself 31 and how the head turned with those that were with it and devoured the two little wings[f] that were planning to reign. 32 Moreover, this head gained control of the whole earth and with much oppression dominated its inhabitants; it had greater power over the world than all the wings that had gone before.

33 After this I looked again and saw the head in the middle suddenly disappear, just as the wings had done. 34 But the two heads remained, which also in like manner ruled over the earth and its inhabitants. 35 And while I looked, I saw the head on the right side devour the one on the left.

A Lion Roused from the Forest
36 Then I heard a voice saying to me, “Look in front of you and consider what you see.” 37 When I looked, I saw what seemed to be a lion roused from the forest, roaring, and I heard how it uttered a human voice to the eagle and spoke, saying, 38 “Listen, and I will speak to you. The Most High says to you, 39 ‘Are you not the one that remains of the four beasts that I had made to reign in my world, so that the end of my times might come through them? 40 You, the fourth that has come, have conquered all the beasts that have gone before, and you have held sway over the world with great terror and over all the earth with grievous oppression, and for so long you have lived on the earth with deceit.[g] 41 You have judged the earth but not with truth, 42 for you have oppressed the meek and injured the peaceable; you have hated those who tell the truth and have loved liars; you have destroyed the homes of those who brought forth fruit and have laid low the walls of those who did you no harm. 43 Your insolence has come up before the Most High and your pride to the Mighty One. 44 The Most High has looked at his times; now they have ended, and his ages have reached completion. 45 Therefore you, eagle, will surely disappear, you and your terrifying wings, your most evil little wings, your malicious heads, your most evil talons, and your whole worthless body, 46 so that the whole earth, freed from your violence, may be refreshed and relieved and may hope for the judgment and mercy of him who made it.’ ”

#bible #story

ramnath@nerdpol.ch

https://podbay.fm/p/way-of-the-truth-warrior-podcast/e/1688776894
Roman Bystrianyk, in the 1990s, went through all the data he could get his hands on about the #mortality rates from famous old diseases, from the 1800s, through to 1990s, and found something astonishing. Those diseases, in ALL cases, were reduced almost to zero BEFORE the 'vaccines' for them became available.

That means we have been completely #bamboozled about the entire #vaccine #story from the beginning.

Way Of The #Truth #Warrior - Dissolving Illusions With #RomanBystrianyk
2 hour 16 minutes - Posted Jul 8, 2023

anonymiss@despora.de

‘If you win the popular #imagination, you change the game’: why we need new stories on #climate

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/jan/12/rebecca-solnit-climate-crisis-popular-imagination-why-we-need-new-stories

In order to do what the climate #crisis demands of us, we have to find stories of a livable #future, stories of popular power, stories that motivate people to do what it takes to make the #world we need.

...

Our greatest power lies in our roles as citizens, not consumers, when we can band together to collectively change how our world works.

#news #story #journalism #press #environment #nature #emissions #co2 #earth

hackbyte@friendica.utzer.de

Let me tell you a #story.. It starts with me and myself, having a .... very colourful childhood and youth. Not always in positive manners, but in a lot of sexual manners too..

I grew up to be a cis-bi/pansexual male, liking the "passive role" a lot but having no problem being the male part. ;)

Years, a few decades later actually, i'm in a hetero relationship and got to work in the night shift in a hotel right near the Reeperbahn in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg.

And late at night, like really late about 3 to 4 a.m. or so ... a pair stumbles into the entrance way which turn out to be some nice femme, holding someone else on the leash.

I was a tiny bit stumbled to be honest, but i recognized the person on the leash as the one leaving earlier and leaving the correct room number key to me to put in the safekeeping spot for that room.

So i actually didn't hesitate at all. Visual inspection checks out, the person i have seen is present. Somebody else requests the key, while said person is there and aware whats going on and does not seem distressed.

So ... what do you do?

Give the mistress the fscking key...... i don't care about however this constellation came about ... and i wont ever.

But .. i got a nice knowing heads up and a thank you from a random male who was just getting his breakfast at the buffet, hours later.

Sorry for this long story but.

That's how you fucking deal with $any $person you encounter.

#NotJustAlly ;)
#cis #trans #drag #pan #bi #whateverthefuck #RandomShit ;)

ramnath@nerdpol.ch

enter image description here
https://freemantv.com/the-unseen-story-of-ufo-mike-clelland/
#freezone

#freeman

The #Unseen #Story of #UFO#MikeClelland
Once again the media says we are not alone as if it was the first time we've heard this. We are on this side of the door in a tight little claustrophobic hallway, and on the other side of the door is an infinite vastness! We are not alone. The magic of synchronicity shares a glimpse of our connection to everything in the universe.

I understand how people take in a story, and how they need a symbol or a sign on the door. But the owl is meaningless to what is on the other side of the door. It’s just the doorway that’s important. The owl is the right symbol for the door. We are on this side, and EVERYTHING else is on that side of the door. There is a LOT more! We are in this little tight hallway here, and on the other side of the door is this vastness!

The Unseen is a fast-paced thriller, full of plot twists and intrigue. Yet, beneath that, the book conveys a deeper story. One of mystery and yearning—an exploration of the deepest aspects of reality.

A lonely odyssey culminates in a town full of mystery and secrets. Ghosts from the past, and premonitions of the future, emerge in the face of questions without answers. Spiraling twists and turns keep the pages turning, all while pulling the reader to the edge of reality and beyond.
#freemantv .com

anonymiss@despora.de

1994's Most Bizarre #Suicide

Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/1994s-most-bizarre-suicide/

Investigation to that point had revealed that the decedent had jumped from the top of a ten story building with the intent to commit suicide. (He left a note indicating his despondency.) As he passed the 9th floor on the way down, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window, killing him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the decedent was aware that a safety net had been erected at the 8th floor level to protect some window washers, and that the decedent would not have been able to complete his intent to commit suicide because of this.

#story #crime #justice