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(10-18-2016, 08:36 AM)Mahakali Wrote: Story Okay, I will try to help you with more of my ramblings, because I feel that despite your actions there is light in your heart. Maybe it will not be useful to you but then I can only give you what I have available. I am going to offer you some keys. This planetary structure is built and maintain by an immense energy, a hatred of the Creator. By this I do not refer to the theological war ever going on but to an entity which has 'fallen' to this plane and taken the entire planet under its will, driven by this hatred. This hatred accounts for the immense damage that humans are willing to do to eachother and their environment for the sake of gain, because they are continually impressed that without that competition with the Creator they will never be free. Thus, against the Creator, they believe they are provided nothing and so need to take, take and take in order to fulfill the 'need' crested out of the hatred for the very source of the things they wish for. This hatred is really love condensed and my exact analogy, perhaps literal if you understand me, is that of light and matter. Love is what happens when hatred is released and love is locked up when hatred condenses. They are the same substance, but also are the same energy. This is why hatred holds just as much power as love in the context of will. However. Each attracts different ends aspects of the vibrational spectrum. Look at the planet and it's entrapment. This is born of a hatred for free will, of the creative spirit and of the inspired individual. However, becoming caught up in hatred puts you in alignment with this entity. I will admit that this is a way to achieve what you wish to achieve because this vibration has much power and can absolutely yield access to the level of intelligent infinity because this entity is enmeshed with the densities of matter itself. To create a pocket universe would be easy. In that I will admit my thought that that would only be an illusory freedom. Perhaps you could 'out-hate' the entity by hating it more than it hates the Creator or by hating people that carry it on more than it influences people. Fight fire with fire, right? It can work, by all means, if you are satisfied with any outcome no matter how scorched. Meat is meat, right? Maybe I am a little idealistic though and sometimes I like to consider how other elements might work. Say treating some burning with some water rather than more burning, or bandaging a wound and cleansing it rather than tearing it open again and again. Neither is better I suppose, but through my constant experiences of internal pain I admit it is a lot easier to be happy when I am not in agony, and that is admittedly rare. It is also easier to feel free and creative. Pain is not very conducive to creativity and freedom, that is something I have learned from my own experience. Then again, some people thrive in it. I think it is important to express pain and there is more benefit in that than a lot of other 'therapies'. There is another way besides hatred but it is harder when you have hatred, so you probably aren't interested but there is a pattern which breaks down the control structures of energy on this planet which are meant to stifle creative freedom and that is the power of love, which is the same thing as hatred but invested, raised up to the highest level, or in other word released, uncompressed and expanded. Hatred is a black hole and love is a sun. The fact that this planet is dominated by a black hole should be a clear enough indicator to me that to join in is to bolster the same thing I feel I am fighting. Then again, maybe the fight is all an illusion, right? The Creator is both love and hate, so both should reach it right?
As I kept running from myself...I started to realize that there were different aspects of myself that I wasn't ready to look at.
The more that I ignored them, or looked for excuses in the world around me, the more that the world around me would reflect the ignored aspects back at me, through interactions with others as well as internal dialogue. I stopped enjoying feeling like the only one in the room that didn't get the whole "love" thing. The only one that looked for the problem in everything or everyone, so that I could feel justified in my own self loathing. I realized that the only way to truly rid myself of the numb, homicidal/suicidal thoughts, was to either kill myself (as the darker side tell me to) or try with everything I have, to look for and hold on to a higher thought. That's what takes true determination. Being an insane cat who'll pull hammers on anyone is easy. It's gangsta to lie there, writhing in angst wanting to turn into an atomic bomb n destroy the planet...yet find it somewhere in your demon plagued thoughts to hold onto a ray of hope and not let the dark thoughts suck you into the black hole. The black hole s*** is the easy part...due mainly to what Aion talked about regarding the ruling force of the planet. Being the beginnings of a sun, or "shining in the shade" as it were, to me, is what the true OG's are here to do. I feel like giving you a little background on myself, since you went into quite abit with your comment. Around 2002, when I had a vision (you can check my wanderer story if you're curious about details: http://www.bring4th.org/forums/showthread.php?tid=11497 ), I had been making beats for about 3-4 years and was also quite self aware. My journey down the STS path was subtle, at first. Initially, after the vision, I had a connection to the all that was strong. I could sense what people knew and what their agenda was in any given situation. I saw "signs" and the creator in every moment. Then I started getting caught up in the intellectual, more nihilistic viewpoint. I was an avid Gnostic and thought that I had cracked the code. I didn't notice my ego was so rampant at the time...hindsight's a useful tool, when used in an understanding way. I think I really realized how far down the path I'd gone, when my wife and 2 kids (3 and 5) moved to another city without me, due to my cheating ways. I couldn't forgive myself for that. It's why I joined Black Power/Darkside. Initially, it wasn't because I wanted to smoke meth or home invade people. Around 2005, I started kicking it with a homie who was a 25 y/o patch member. He was an established battle mc/gangsta rapper with the crew Darkside, who started of as a music group but evolved into a feeder gang for the Blacks. Gangs have never really been my thing, but I felt something different as I sat there, day in and day out for about 6 months really getting to know my bro. I realized that his vision was more of an alternative to the enslaving system. A way of having a client base internally and externally, without having to pay the politicians to be corrupt a*******. What's not to like...you know what I'm saying? He told me about the history of the club and how it came about as a defense mechanism, which I related to and have always sided with the underdog. The club is an organization with chapters nationwide aswell as in Australia, so there are many aspects to it, besides the less government sanctioned ventures. It's also the only club in the country to introduce mandatory meth tests, with rehab or the door, your only 2 options. I'm Maori, and could relate to the attitude they had as I got the same treatment as most indigenous cultures do. Maori, as a people, have been only recently forced into cities (started in the early 1900's but the big drive was more in the 50's/60's and have had less time to learn how to thrive in this system, as the "settlers", who came from England, having hundreds, if not thousands of years to build inter-generational wealth. So, I was making 5 beats a day at this stage and would hook him up, mainly because I really got to know him and he was a good cat. He was also the health advocate for the club. It meant that he was working to try to better the people, something I saw as the best way of combating the ignorance the powers that be spread. But part of me joined because I hated myself and wanted to die. I couldn't change the past, so I wanted to erase a future with me having to live with that reality. I thought that the fastest and most "legacy leaving"(if that's even a term lol) way of doing that, would be to join the realest dudes in the city n straight up not give a f*** about me. Things are abit different over here. It's more bats/axes/hammers/whatever you can grab...when it comes to differences over colors. If you mess with someone on a more personal level, you wont get aired out in the street most times...you'll end up in the boot. So I started rocking a hammer. I probably had the same overall demeanor you're expressing. I had hate for this existence that I had created for myself. I saw my own hate reflected everytime an old lady would switch her handbag to her other shoulder, to avoid being within my reach, as I walked past her. I would walk around with rags on my head, hammer in my belt n wait for someone, anyone to look for more than a casual glance. Meth is $700-$900/g here, so life can get quite intense when you've got that ratio of volatility:affordability. The main drugs we pumped were Meth, X, acid, weed. I'd be on a combo of those daily, mixed with 6 Valium or maybe codeine...and a constant flow of alcohol. I don't mean to let my somewhat chivalrous intentions have you under any misconceptions...I was a bad muthafucka. My g'z would say "you're a buzzy cunt g...just sit there n watch." I was mostly entertaining the darkest of my fantasies as they were encouraged in this setting...I delved deeply into the world of manipulation through intellectual and aesthetic means, for my own agenda. Not to sound too full of myself, but I've never been called ugly or slow...and being a beatmaker, is like being a crack dealer to every nigga who think he can rap...we both know that's nearly every drunk dude...gang or no gang LMAO. I got so cocky and full of myself, that I started rolling with only certain g'z I saw as "on my level" as far as rap and the scene dictated. I got alot of hate from those that had put in years of prospecting and sitting on the door or cleaning up...only to watch me walk in, protected on high by their OGz. I was an ignorant, ego driven, controlled zombie. People would move away from me because I was that much of a black hole. I started driving around ho's n then going back to my girlfriend after 6 days up. Standing over other gangs just cos I could and it made me feel better to dominate with the fear my dispassionate temperament n our gang instilled. Alot of the time I had thoughts of jumping on people and eating their faces off. Sometimes it would be a more disturbing moving picture. I say all of this because I see alot of the same questions in you, that I had. I have had a few interactions or experiences with negative "friends". They are the ones that are, at the very least exasperating your inner turmoil. Maybe have a look at this http://www.bring4th.org/forums/showthread.php?tid=13000 and have a look at the links from Dekalb_Blues. I felt a deep resonance...i drew parallels between the described attitudes which birthed the agenda of the Nazis and my own hatred for existence. To be blunt...they hide in the pockets you create by not looking at your own hurt. Perceived wrongs that caused you to get in your feelings about that situation and resulted in a feeling that they exist to either channel or embody. That's what my understanding of your problem is. It's what causes us all to go through what we do. The subconscious is a messed up place yo.
10-18-2016, 08:04 PM
That was pretty much off the top of my head...it's probably dis-jointed but I hope you catch the gist of what I'm saying.
10-19-2016, 12:19 AM
This might also help you.
Taken from Book 1 Session 5: Questioner: We have decided to accept, if offered, the honor/duty of learning/teaching the healing process. I would ask as to the first step which we should accomplish in becoming effective healers. Ra: I am Ra. We shall begin with the first of the three teachings/learnings. We begin with the mental learn/teaching necessary for contact with intelligent infinity. The prerequisite of mental work is the ability to retain silence of self at a steady state when required by the self. The mind must be opened like a door. The key is silence. Within the door lies an hierarchical construction you may liken unto geography and in some ways geometry, for the hierarchy is quite regular, bearing inner relationships. To begin to master the concept of mental disciplines it is necessary to examine the self. The polarity of your dimension must be internalized. Where you find patience within your mind you must consciously find the corresponding impatience and vice versa. Each thought a being has, has in its turn an antithesis. The disciplines of the mind involve, first of all, identifying both those things of which you approve and those things of which you disapprove within yourself, and then balancing each and every positive and negative charge with its equal. The mind contains all things. Therefore, you must discover this completeness within yourself. The second mental discipline is acceptance of the completeness within your consciousness. It is not for a being of polarity in the physical consciousness to pick and choose among attributes, thus building the roles that cause blockages and confusions in the already distorted mind complex. Each acceptance smoothes part of the many distortions that the faculty you call judgment engenders. The third discipline of the mind is a repetition of the first but with the gaze outward toward the fellow entities that it meets. In each entity there exists completeness. Thus, the ability to understand each balance is necessary. When you view patience, you are responsible for mirroring in your mental understandings, patience/impatience. When you view impatience, it is necessary for your mental configuration of understanding to be impatience/patience. We use this as a simple example. Most configurations of mind have many facets, and understanding of either self polarities, or what you would call other-self polarities, can and must be understood as subtle work. The next step is the acceptance of the other-self polarities, which mirrors the second step. These are the first four steps of learning mental disciplines. The fifth step involves observing the geographical and geometrical relationships and ratios of the mind, the other mind, the mass mind, and the infinite mind. The second area of learn/teaching is the study/understanding of the body complexes. It is necessary to know your body well. This is a matter of using the mind to examine how the feelings, the biases, what you would call the emotions, affect various portions of the body complex. It shall be necessary to both understand the bodily polarity and to accept them, repeating in a chemical/physical manifestation the work you have done upon the mind bethinking the consciousness. The body is a creature of the mind’s creation. It has its biases. The biological bias must be first completely understood and then the opposite bias allowed to find full expression in understanding. Again, the process of acceptance of the body as a balanced, as well as polarized, individual may then be accomplished. It is then the task to extend this understanding to the bodies of the other-selves whom you will meet. The simplest example of this is the understanding that each biological male is female; each biological female is male. This is a simple example. However, in almost every case wherein you are attempting the understanding of the body of self or other-self, you will again find that the most subtle discernment is necessary in order to fully grasp the polarity complexes involved.
10-19-2016, 08:47 AM
(10-13-2016, 07:33 PM)Nicholas Wrote:(09-25-2016, 01:06 AM)octavia Wrote:(09-24-2016, 12:36 AM)anagogy Wrote: ...Similarly, a rape victim does not deliberately attract rape, rather, they simply, for whatever reason, get out of alignment with who they really are. When you find yourself peering out at great mystery or paradox, then surely you are at the footsteps of Infinity.
10-19-2016, 12:05 PM
Thankyou for sharing. I feel happy that my experience has reaped another positive effect for us
10-19-2016, 06:48 PM
(10-18-2016, 11:32 AM)Aion Wrote: Hatred is a black hole and love is a sun. The fact that this planet is dominated by a black hole should be a clear enough indicator to me that to join in is to bolster the same thing I feel I am fighting. Then again, maybe the fight is all an illusion, right? Of course the fight is an illusion. All existence is illusion. Have fun with that, lol.
10-19-2016, 10:20 PM
By that measure all peace, cooperation and good will is also an illusion. Can't have your cake and eat it too.
10-20-2016, 06:39 AM
(10-18-2016, 08:01 PM)Kaaron Wrote: being a beatmaker, is like being a crack dealer to every nigga who think he can rap...we both know that's nearly every drunk dude...gang or no gang LMAO. Ha. Good idea, never considered that. I never did understand the business aspects of gangsters. I don't like gang culture, or the way most gangsters act, or the morphic fields around those cultures. I mostly just liked the fact that certain people like that are fucking insane. And maybe it's like, only a handful who are really like that. Most of them think like you were saying, get stuck-up about it, and only for the drugs and guns and money and stuff. That's why I don't like gangs. I noticed that there is a much higher proportion of people like me involved in gangs than in the general population (or really anywhere else), and yet most gangsters are not like me. Even some of those people who are into living large, five-star hotels and things; I respect them, because they can be crazy, but they want to live large, that's their goal, and there's a lot of circle-jerking around the concepts of manipulation and psychopathy in the context of political or social power. I prefer a condemned office building covered in Satanic graffiti, broken glass and dirty heroin needles; I prefer the virtues of hatred and psychosis for their own sake; I often prefer rebellion to control, to be a loner with power over himself. I didn't care much about moving drugs or any of that, except to make money to support my own habits. I was smoking weed and taking oxycodone and ativan 24/7, as well as anything else I could get my hands on. I rarely sold drugs directly, instead getting what I could for hooking people up (since I was hanging around those people 24/7 anyways). I sold pills, mostly. I stay away from meth and such. I've used street-grade amphetamines twice, both times mixed with alcohol, and both times resulting in violent behavior; the second time, I nearly killed a friend for no reason. I really can't even tempt myself with anything like that. I get MEAN on the s***, even if it's just prescription pills or something. Amphetamines aren't good when your connection to reality is tenuous anyways. As far as "negative people" go... yeah. I'm not unaware. But they're poisoning themselves more than me. Some of those people are funny. (10-19-2016, 10:20 PM)Aion Wrote: By that measure all peace, cooperation and good will is also an illusion. Can't have your cake and eat it too. Well, yeah. Aren't all those things just human concepts with no objective reality? The Seth material has a good handle on the concept of this world as illusion. Matter isn't an objective form that's somehow perceived by our physical senses... a table for example, is made up of the perceptions of its own various parts, and of the perceptions of the bacterial living on the side of it, and on the perceptions of those looking at it. One the higher levels of human consciousness - and therefore probably other consciousness - things are associative; like attracts like on the astral plane. So, the way to accomplish what I want to accomplish is to think with the things I want to alter, to perceive no difference between object and observer. I think this can be done. More I meant to respond to.
10-20-2016, 05:04 PM
Yes, you create your own reality, but 'you' are not yet what you become, thus you may be confused about the catalyst being offered.
10-20-2016, 06:24 PM
Insanity has many flavours and it seems those who like it aren't all the same. I enjoy psychedelic insanity, morphing realities and dream worlds. I think I burned through a lot of my dark desires already, I've been through the grungy, Satanic sort. Really popular in the black metal community that kind of insanity.
10-21-2016, 01:17 AM
(10-14-2016, 02:20 PM)octavia Wrote:(10-14-2016, 01:29 PM)Aion Wrote: So, I've noticed that in the discussions on victims and other such situations the focus has often been upon that of the victim themselves and their position in the process of creation, however I would like to bring light that one's own desires are not the only ones in the universe and that we are co-creators so it is possible to become involved with others' desires as well. In the case of the rape victim, it has to be remembered that the rapist also puts out a powerful emotional vibration and is 'creating their reality' in the same way the victim supposedly is. Thank you/s to Octavia and Aion for expressing what smc wanted to also say - but finds very difficult to discuss. From: https://bellejar.ca/2015/12/03/being-a-g...-violence/ Quote:Being A Girl: A Brief Personal History of Violence
@SMC
To comment on what you shared, the thing is that not all women have such experiences just like there are men who had truly bad experiences themselves. I get why a woman or a non-straight or non-white person can have a heavier focus in feeling repressed, but there are still white straight males that got brutally beaten up to near death and others who were lead to suicide because of psychological attacks over time, there even are cases where women are what led men to suicide. The woman seems to be from the same place I live based on the text and I would say this place is, as far as I'm aware, quite a good place on this stuff. In my life I never saw racism being played in front of my eyes, nor sexism on a big enough scale that it wasn't just people to people interaction, heck I probably saw more men be intimidated by women than I saw the opposite. Though I would think she is older than I am and grew up in a different time and I do think there was more problems of this kind in the past and things here got a whole lot better. Racism for example seem very strong in the older generation (old people) but not so much present in the younger ones. Gender, race, sexual orientation does not matter, to focus on this is to reinforce separation among people based on these traits and reinforce the manifestation of this dissonance of perspective within the planetary mind. To seek to see all as equals is to reinforce that people are equals, and this mentality does not prevent you to go to the help of someone nor bring them comfort if they need it. There are strong willed women just like there are weak willed men. In term of creating your reality, it is a very complex thing. Every event has power to shape what you become and sometimes being hurt and broken is a mean to become what you desire to become. For it to happen you need to be within circumstances you feel hopeless, you require others that are so deep in their unwellness they will seek to wrong others, you need to feel like the world is against yourself and seeks your doom. But I tell you, anyone that wrongs you is an actor of your own fate, they answer unconscious desires of yourself and provide you with the steps you require to become that which you desire to become. Did you want to be a facet of the Creator that knows not what it is to be wronged? That can't emphatize with powerlessness in the face of others? That knows not what it feels like to be broken? That wanted to contain solely experiences of being well and bathing in a constant blissful light? If you are here in this place, I really well doubt that the spark of Creation you are desired these things and instead quite the opposite. There is beauty in all of it, sometimes it takes time to distill, sometimes it takes time to understand, a long long time. You will heal, you will become greater than you were, you will become both more loving and understanding of others, and you will shine a brighter light through all of this. This is what you gain from these experiences and why, as a timeless infinite being, you can will them as part of your path to become that which you desire to become as Co-Creator. Quote:it is far more coherent to psychologically explore the infringing party than it is to psychologically explore the party that has been infringed upon, at least in the context of the concept of he who manifests his own reality. For in my limited understanding, excessive and conscious control is the way of the negative path. You bolded this portion of Octavia's post. I beg to differ upon this, it is well to explore both parties and if you work with victims then it is more important to explore those you seek to help than to explore those you are less likely to work with or that are more likely to reject help or guidance/healing you can provide. On a positive scope, to explore the psychology of anyone should be a mean to find greater love for all that is.
10-21-2016, 11:54 AM
Sometimes, what victims need to get past separation is for someone who hasn't been through what they've been through to acknowledge their legitimate need to spend space/time healing.
Quote:In my life I never saw racism being played in front of my eyes, nor sexism on a big enough scale that it wasn't just people to people interaction, heck I probably saw more men be intimidated by women than I saw the opposite. I think this may define the word "privilege" as it has been attempted to be used here on these forums perfectly. In my experience, my father was a horrible racist and misogynist, so it was part of my every day life. When I read that line, all I thought was, "What a privilege to not have experienced these things!" Some of us have preincarnative programming that has little to do with being able to pinpoint it on a thoughtform from this current incarnation. Did I resonate with "victimhood" before this incarnation? I think a more constructive way to frame it would be that I resonated with martyrdom, the giving of myself to others without hesitation to the point of detriment. This meant just victimizing myself by the means of my being of an entity that vibrated in 4th density energies and choosing my family which decidedly didn't. This programmed me for future experiences where I personally experienced sexism towards me from others than just my own family. It's not something I still currently experience but I could likely still find a wound or two to rip open from my myriad of experiences of having my gender be the cause of a mess. I wish I could say sexism and racism doesn't exist in my reality, but almost every single woman I meet who has a job is a victim of sexism because they make 1/4 less than what men make. 1/3 of The US's prison population is African American when they make up only 12% of our total population. Over 60% of the prison population is people of color, while over 63% of the total population is actually white. I can't say racism/sexism doesn't exist. This is bypassing the issues that are still current and ongoing that will take time and lots and lots of loving communication and understanding for our planetary mind to deal with. Yes, I know, it is ever possible to get to that point of unity in one strong moment of inspiration, but I'm also just trying to be realistic with what I can personally do to help others in the moment. Obviously, as proven by discussions here, appeals to unity/infinity aren't always the answer. So what do we do in between? We're dealing with a heart chakra issue. It involves moving this energy up to the blue ray. As victims attempt to share their victimhood, in blue-ray energy, support should be offered until that blue-ray gains enough footing that we can guide others to accurately seat these injustices within their experience. Telling them to just get over it because it doesn't exist in your reality is not productive, in fact in my opinion it leads to repression which just exacerbates the problem. Quote:Quote:Gender, race, sexual orientation does not matter, to focus on this is to reinforce separation among people based on these traits and reinforce the manifestation of this dissonance of perspective within the planetary mind. We are still working with third density energies. Do you call yourself a boy? Then, according to what Minya said, you are reinforcing separation in the planetary mind. Do you still use money? Then you are reinforcing separation. Do you still buy products made by slaves in third world countries? Then you are reinforcing separation. To call people out for having issues with sexism and racism, that you yourself haven't even experienced, for reinforcing separation seems extremely hypocritical to me. Why is it so hard to acknowledge that healing needs time - and that is literally what third density is about? Learning how to heal ourselves, and maybe others, through the passage of time. To tell others that their open wounds "don't matter" and are "reinforcing the manifestation of dissonance within the planetary mind" is callous. Don't you see how this isn't a resolution, but merely making the perceived victim into your perceived aggressor? You're accusing them of polluting your planetary mind. Maybe taking time to seek an awareness of what actually is going on in the planetary mind, instead of focusing on your own personal experience, might lead to a greater understanding.
10-22-2016, 02:49 AM
I agree with Aion. I think your heart is saying one thing but your head, another.
If you like being a crazy nigga with negative entities fucking with you...be an out the gate cat. If you want to stop them exasperating your already negative inclinations...meditate. The end. (10-22-2016, 12:21 AM)Bring4th_Jade Wrote: Sometimes, what victims need to get past separation is for someone who hasn't been through what they've been through to acknowledge their legitimate need to spend space/time healing. Well that is fine, I was touched when SMC shared about her own being but what I have been discussing is lashing on things external to her being. Sharing a story about a woman who was victimized is not asking for help in healing, it seeks to project dissonance in perception of man and woman. Like I said, there are also men who had really bad lifes and were lead to abuse by women, I think this explains well why I think it's not about making a gender war or racial war but instead focus upon the fact the person is hurt and work with that. There are myriads of reasons one can be hurt but the mechanics of healing will remain simpler than the complexity of being hurt. (10-22-2016, 12:21 AM)Bring4th_Jade Wrote: I think this may define the word "privilege" as it has been attempted to be used here on these forums perfectly. In my experience, my father was a horrible racist and misogynist, so it was part of my every day life. When I read that line, all I thought was, "What a privilege to not have experienced these things!" Some of us have preincarnative programming that has little to do with being able to pinpoint it on a thoughtform from this current incarnation. Did I resonate with "victimhood" before this incarnation? I think a more constructive way to frame it would be that I resonated with martyrdom, the giving of myself to others without hesitation to the point of detriment. This meant just victimizing myself by the means of my being of an entity that vibrated in 4th density energies and choosing my family which decidedly didn't. This programmed me for future experiences where I personally experienced sexism towards me from others than just my own family. It's not something I still currently experience but I could likely still find a wound or two to rip open from my myriad of experiences of having my gender be the cause of a mess. My life circumstances are a mean to work on what I desire to work upon and my soul holds it's own share of scars that it makes me wonder whether all this priviledged stuff is not merely a mirror upon that your sensibles souls grew in what you would call priviledged worlds. I don't feel like my soul is one that grew in any peaceful vegetarian worlds where beings evolved in bliss. I think it's been torn apart, broken, stepped upon countless times and fell into an abyss of darkness that made it become everything it could have sought to reject becoming. At a certain point the way out of the abyss was to open myself to the awareness that all of my fate was to shape me to become as I desired, that indirecrly I used each who had hurt me and that each time I was hurt the other also hurt itself. That there is much sorrow and compassion to find for those who wrong you if you seek to have the greater perspective. So while I had good life circumstances, the perspective I offer does not feel in any way as one that was molded without pain. I'm not just priviledged, I feel literally blessed by this world on a daily basis. So often when I wanted to do shrooms I saw the overcast sky open up on the stars for me, so often I saw clouds stop raining to accomodate me, so often I saw that my every bad luck contained a greater luck and had meaning. I'm sorry I don't get hit by my reality, I feel in very good harmony with this planet and worked myself the karma I currently have over lifetimes. More than once I felt unworthy of the karma I have but I still can't deny that it is where I am at. I might not be overly polarized and leaning a tad on neutrality in my desire to shape my external reality, but one thing that is certain is that I make positive interpretation of catalysts and rarely have a need to be stuck within karmic loops to learn something. When I sincerely wanted to know why I was blessed so much by this world, I was hit by a compassion so strong it tore my heart apart and made me reject it's light. So yeah, I don't think I am all that alien to what it means to be broken but you are free to limit your interpretation of my words to my lifetime circumstances that simply were meant to allow me to more easily crystalize a greater positive gaze upon things. (10-22-2016, 12:21 AM)Bring4th_Jade Wrote: I wish I could say sexism and racism doesn't exist in my reality, but almost every single woman I meet who has a job is a victim of sexism because they make 1/4 less than what men make. 1/3 of The US's prison population is African American when they make up only 12% of our total population. Over 60% of the prison population is people of color, while over 63% of the total population is actually white. I can't say racism/sexism doesn't exist. This is bypassing the issues that are still current and ongoing that will take time and lots and lots of loving communication and understanding for our planetary mind to deal with. Yes, I know, it is ever possible to get to that point of unity in one strong moment of inspiration, but I'm also just trying to be realistic with what I can personally do to help others in the moment. Obviously, as proven by discussions here, appeals to unity/infinity aren't always the answer. So what do we do in between? People find the world unfair on myriads of things even if it isn't on the things you mentionned. It's not about changing things in one moment of unity but gain momentum in a chosen direction. I gave the example of where I live at because I think things are well here because people did things otherwise. The racial bias and gender bias slowly dropped out of not being energized. The USA is probably the worst example of a country (ok, maybe not but maybe so still) and your society has it's root issues that makes it so. While I get why you can see my words as without love, I already stated I would find myself to be without love if I were to seek to reinforce negative interpretation of catalysts and dissonance among people. I don't think I speak without love and even if my words get rejected in the moment, I will leave them with a hope they allow one day one grand moment of healing when the person is open to it. Healing implies transformation and a change of perspective, the person needs help to get out their patterns of thoughts. (10-22-2016, 12:21 AM)Bring4th_Jade Wrote: We're dealing with a heart chakra issue. It involves moving this energy up to the blue ray. As victims attempt to share their victimhood, in blue-ray energy, support should be offered until that blue-ray gains enough footing that we can guide others to accurately seat these injustices within their experience. Telling them to just get over it because it doesn't exist in your reality is not productive, in fact in my opinion it leads to repression which just exacerbates the problem. It touched me when SMC shared about herself, like I said, but sharing stories of others is trying to make it not about her own healing. Like I said there have been both women and men of any race, any sexual orientation, any gender that experienced being hurt by others and were lead to suicide. Categorizing hurt souls into groups is not useful in my opinion and shows dissonance in the perception of other-selves and not a desire to see all as One, nor the self in others nor others in the self. This dissonance of perception is hurtful of itself and someone that knows better should offer a different and more unifying perspective. (10-22-2016, 12:21 AM)Bring4th_Jade Wrote:Quote:Quote:Gender, race, sexual orientation does not matter, to focus on this is to reinforce separation among people based on these traits and reinforce the manifestation of this dissonance of perspective within the planetary mind. I think it's farily obvious that quite often activism reinforces that it seeks to erase. A vegan activist can reinforce the desire of others to eat meat, someone that fights racism can very well just accentuate it in others. This is why the Law of One offers guidelines about polarity and manifestation and also tools to understand one's karma and open up to one's divine nature. I seek to share awareness that there is no victims/agressors because it is a transcending truth that anyone can acess and crystalize an understanding of within themselves. It is freeing and the moving toward a positive interpration of catalyst, which as per the Ra material, is the point of catalyst to begin with and which avoidance of will call for the karmic cycles to repeat. Understand well that I was talking to SMC specifically in a reply to something she said on this very forum. Nowhere did I say that this would be what I would tell just anyone, I guess there is a part of me that feels like it knows SMC contains within herself an awareness and understanding of things that is more healthy and healing for both herself and others. (10-22-2016, 12:21 AM)Bring4th_Jade Wrote: We are still working with third density energies. Do you call yourself a boy? Then, according to what Minya said, you are reinforcing separation in the planetary mind. Do you still use money? Then you are reinforcing separation. Do you still buy products made by slaves in third world countries? Then you are reinforcing separation. To call people out for having issues with sexism and racism, that you yourself haven't even experienced, for reinforcing separation seems extremely hypocritical to me. Why is it so hard to acknowledge that healing needs time - and that is literally what third density is about? Learning how to heal ourselves, and maybe others, through the passage of time. To tell others that their open wounds "don't matter" and are "reinforcing the manifestation of dissonance within the planetary mind" is callous. Don't you see how this isn't a resolution, but merely making the perceived victim into your perceived aggressor? You're accusing them of polluting your planetary mind. Maybe taking time to seek an awareness of what actually is going on in the planetary mind, instead of focusing on your own personal experience, might lead to a greater understanding. I think you are misinterpreting the issue. You can acknowledge distinctions without defining them as the chief and core defining aspect of your identity. Differences exist, obviously. However, the more you focus on those differences at the expense of focusing on the shared similarities and commonalities, the more dissonance is introduced. Differences are wonderful, and can be glorious extensions of identity, but not when people use them as a club to beat someone over the head with, which is precisely what happens when you play the blame game, no matter how justified you are in playing it. The second you play the blame game, no matter how justified you think you are, you just gave your power away. Perpetual victim-hood. Nobody is saying that racism doesn't exist, and nobody is saying that sexism doesn't exist, and nobody is saying victims are the aggressors or that their wounds "don't matter", and if that is what you are taking away from this, then you simply aren't understanding what is being said. These movements that attempt to increase peoples awareness of these things are very good intentioned. But remember the old adage: "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"? So while it inevitably, and unavoidably, infuriates a lot of people, the hard truth of the matter is that the more you focus on these issues the GREATER they become. I know people will disagree with that, but I know in my heart this is true, so I have to stand by that personal truth. I accept that others have not realized this for themselves, so I completely forgive anyone so inclined to suggest otherwise. As well meaning and well intentioned as these "social justice warriors" are, they are inadvertently CAUSING the very problem they have set out to ameliorate. But no one wants to hear that of course, they want to think they, super special justice warrior extraordinaire, are beating back the injustices of the world. It's fine to acknowledge suffering, but it is not fine to teach people to stay focused there indefinitely. That teaches perpetual powerlessness. Everybody loves to sit in their armchairs and subscribe to the metaphysical philosophy of creating ones reality until they have to apply it to the nitty gritty real world issues, and then of course they abandon the truth of it forthwith, because they become totally uncomfortable with the implications. They draw near to the truth with their words, but draw very far away in their actions. Nobody wants to own their own experience and their own power because then they have to take responsibility for it.
10-22-2016, 12:21 PM
Hi Anagogy,
I feel like in exploring this topic it might be useful to clearly define what we mean by the phrase Social Justice Warrior. This is a phrase that I have seen thrown around a lot in the past few years. It seems to be a phrase that is heavily mired in confusion. If you want, you can give your own personal definition for the term, and we can use that definition for the rest of the discussion. (10-22-2016, 11:27 AM)anagogy Wrote: So while it inevitably, and unavoidably, infuriates a lot of people, the hard truth of the matter is that the more you focus on these issues the GREATER they become. I would disagree with this idea. As a categorical proposition, it seems flatly incompatible with material reality. To give an elementary example from US history, it is incoherent to imagine how Women's Suffrage would have been achieved without any political movement focused on bringing the issue to light. (10-22-2016, 11:27 AM)anagogy Wrote: These movements that attempt to increase peoples awareness of these things are very good intentioned. But remember the old adage: "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"? I feel that this adage is misleading. Q'uo explains why better than I could: Quote:Gary: This one comes from our friend L., who writes: “I’m thinking of the phrase ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ This got me thinking. Many of the channelings say if our intentions are pure then there really isn’t much to worry about, so all of us New Age type folks doing all we can with the best intentions and still witnessing supposed failure about us, I’m wondering if you could speak to that phrase and its validity.”
10-22-2016, 12:27 PM
On a side note, the entire latest on-going South Park season (20th one), seems to be exploring these exact themes that have been on-going recently on this forum, for anyone interested.
Gerald, aka Skankhunt42 in last Wednesday\s episode at a troll meet-up Wrote:Look, how do you troll somebody? The season seems to be headed toward exploring trolls psychology and root reasons they become trolls, and also seems focused about taking away from them the power they have instead of reinforcing it. While I get why anyone can dislike this show and won't encourage someone who feel like they will have a negative feedback to watch it, I still think South Park might very well be what on television gives the most sincere and truthful portrait of society and it's problems while trying to make it into something that can make people smile or laugh about subjects they usually just dwell in negative emotions about. (10-22-2016, 12:21 PM)octavia Wrote: Hi Anagogy, I would define it as someone who mistakenly believes they are accomplishing good, when they are doing the exact opposite. That is my cynical interpretation of them. (10-22-2016, 12:21 PM)octavia Wrote: I would disagree with this idea. As a categorical proposition, it seems flatly incompatible with material reality. To give an elementary example from US history, it is incoherent to imagine how Women's Suffrage would have been achieved without any political movement focused on bringing the issue to light. You're interpreting the past through your current belief system, like everyone is. Bringing suffering to light is fine, as long as you use it a place to pivot to focusing on empowerment. That isn't what I see with most of these SJW groups. They focus on 100% pure, fresh squeezed, farm raised, victimhood, and keep doing it, ad nauseum. There might be rare exceptions. But I haven't seen many examples of that. So in the example you brought up, all progress was from focusing on empowerment, and all resistance to it ocurring was the result of focusing on victimhood. Often in these movements it is a brutal struggle to accomplish the empowerment and it is precisely because they focus so strongly on the opposition (playing the blame game). Social progress would happen far quicker if they didn't waste their energy activating a contradictory vibration to their ideal, but it is almost universally unavoidable (because as a species, we are just not that evolved and there is inevitably going to be a degree of spiritual entropy in the direction of ignorance of metaphysical creative processes). (10-22-2016, 12:21 PM)octavia Wrote: I feel that this adage is misleading. Q'uo explains why better than I could: I'm gonna cut you off right there, because I've never personally derived a great deal of inspiration or validity from Q'uo channelings. Conscious channeling is virtually never unbiased and often times just reflects the distorted and very human biases present in the channeler. To be honest, I find that quote completely unintelligible and nonsensical. And by the way, I wasn't stating it as some kind of absolute rule, just as a fitting adage to the context of the discussion. Truly, if an intention were "pure" and non-contradicted, and sustained, attention would naturally gravitate to the correct vibrational focus for accomplishing the intent. However, many people start off with good intentions which then devolve to something that is, shall we say, "less pure". They become side tracked by distractions that disperse any collected energy, which is what you see with most of these SJW movements. The focus on what is wrong with world just creates more of it, unless you merely use it as a turning point to focus on what is wanted instead. Here's another adage for you: "hate of war won't bring peace, only love of peace will."
10-22-2016, 01:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-22-2016, 07:47 PM by octavia.
Edit Reason: Corrected names used for present channelers of Q'uo
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(10-22-2016, 12:21 PM)octavia Wrote: I'm gonna cut you off right there, because I've never personally derived a great deal of inspiration or validity from Q'uo channelings. Conscious channeling is virtually never unbiased and often times just reflects the distorted and very human biases present in the channeler. To be honest, I find that quote completely unintelligible and nonsensical. And by the way, I wasn't stating it as some kind of absolute rule, just as a fitting adage to the context of the discussion. Truly, if an intention were "pure" and non-contradicted, and sustained, attention would naturally gravitate to the correct vibrational focus for accomplishing the intent. However, many people start off with good intentions which then devolve to something that is, shall we say, "less pure". They become side tracked by distractions that disperse any collected energy, which is what you see with most of these SJW movements. Hi Anagogy, I do not claim that Q'uo is unbiased. However, I do think that they communicate the difficulties in that adage better than I could. Moreover, the consistency of the Confederation messages received by L/L Research are extraordinarily internally consistent. I have found this to remain true despite changes in density of the channeled Confederation source and on behalf of the channeler themself. To give an example of this factual consistency: compare this old Hatonn channeling to Ra, both concerning the nature of Homosexuality. There are some very basic consistencies in their message, although Ra's perspective is much more exacting, and with a greater specificity of information. Quote:[1976.7.18] Questioner: What is the function of homosexuality? Quote:[31.8] Questioner: We have what seems to be an increasing number of entities incarnate here now who have what is called a homosexual orientation in this respect. Could you explain and expand upon that concept? Furthermore, I do not think it is true that "Conscious channeling is virtually never unbiased and often times just reflects the distorted and very human biases present in the channeler." at least where Q'uo is concerned. In many of the more recent channelings of Q'uo, Q'uo swaps from channeling one person to another. I believe Jim and Steve T. are the two current channelers for Q'uo. In order for this theory on human bias to be true in this specific instance, we would see a large swing in tone and content that would be evident to a casual reader. However, although I have not read even the majority of more recent Q'uo channelings, I do not know of one instance in which this can be said to have occurred. (10-22-2016, 01:23 PM)octavia Wrote: Furthermore, I do not think it is true that "Conscious channeling is virtually never unbiased and often times just reflects the distorted and very human biases present in the channeler." at least where Q'uo is concerned. In many of the more recent channelings of Q'uo, Q'uo swaps from channeling one person to another. I believe Gary B. and Steve T. are the two current channelers for Q'uo. In order for this theory on human bias to be true in this specific instance, we would see a large swing in tone and content that would be evident to a casual reader. However, although I have not read even the majority of more recent Q'uo channelings, I do not know of one instance in which this can be said to have occurred. Well, I don't really care to argue about it, it is just my personal opinion, and I'm not really motivated enough to dredge up a plethora of examples for you, but I have, in fact, noticed a large swing in tone and wisdom as Q'uo switches among channelers. But the fact of the matter is, when you have a group of people channeling the same entity who are familiar with the same body of metaphysical material, naturally they are going to be at least somewhat similar in tone and perspective (most of the time). It really doesn't prove anything one way or the other, it is just personal preference of mine. I'm not saying there is never any wisdom offered. Quite the opposite really, I've learned much from different conscious channelers, I just can't help but notice the qualitative difference. Again, just a personal predilection. Each to their own. If you feel you are learning something of value, more power to you.
10-22-2016, 11:27 PM
(10-22-2016, 12:51 PM)anagogy Wrote: I've never personally derived a great deal of inspiration or validity from Q'uo channelings. anagogy, out of curiosity, what are your preferred channeled sources besides Ra? Q'uo does seem to lean to the "fluff" side of channeling (a term Carla used in her channeling handbook). But I have got a few good gems and inspirations from the transcripts. (10-22-2016, 11:27 PM)sjel Wrote: anagogy, out of curiosity, what are your preferred channeled sources besides Ra? Yeah, I've gotten some good stuff out of Q'uo too, just nothing that really blew my mind. It's just that compared to Ra, the resonance factor is just luke warm for me. There is an abundance of love in the material, that's for sure (which is sometimes what is needed -- the fluffiness, rather than tough love). As far as channeled sources, I'm a fan of Seth, Abraham, Bashar, A Course in Miracles, Neil Donald Walsch, various channelings from Dolores Cannon's books, Edgar Cayce, and various other random sprinklings from other obscure sources which are probably out of print now (Eileen Rota channeled a being called "pretty flower" which was somewhat interesting). All channeling has a degree of distortion to it, whether conscious or trance channeled, so discernment is always required of course. I also think it is easy for spiritual seekers to rely too much on it at times. I do a bit of my own channeling as well, but I don't usually call it that (I've experimented with automatic writing and spirit boards but nowadays I just go into meditation and ask my questions mentally). I think we all do that to some extent. We all have a higher self that is willing to communicate with us if we open the requisite inner pathways. There are certainly some I'm forgetting, as there are an absolute truck load I've investigated, but those mentioned above have had the most nuggets of truth in them.
10-23-2016, 10:37 AM
(10-22-2016, 11:27 AM)anagogy Wrote: Nobody is saying that racism doesn't exist, and nobody is saying that sexism doesn't exist, and nobody is saying victims are the aggressors or that their wounds "don't matter", and if that is what you are taking away from this, then you simply aren't understanding what is being said. (10-21-2016, 11:51 AM)Minyatur Wrote: Gender, race, sexual orientation does not matter, to focus on this is to reinforce separation among people based on these traits and reinforce the manifestation of this dissonance of perspective within the planetary mind. Did I misinterpret this sentence? This sentence that you quoted/bolded because you vehemently agreed with its point? (10-21-2016, 11:54 AM)anagogy Wrote:(10-21-2016, 11:51 AM)Minyatur Wrote: Gender, race, sexual orientation does not matter, to focus on this is to reinforce separation among people based on these traits and reinforce the manifestation of this dissonance of perspective within the planetary mind. Are you intentionally gaslighting? Or am I being trolled? Minyatur Wrote:The USA is probably the worst example of a country (ok, maybe not but maybe so still) and your society has it's root issues that makes it so. There are so many other countries that have much worse cases of gender and racism issues. The US is just the most advanced/refined with its discrimination. There are plenty of civil wars and people dying every day because of their race. This is still a huge wound in our planetary sphere. I am glad places like Canada (84% caucasian) do not have racial issues. People are being murdered en masse in other countries because of their race right now. When you say, "these things don't exist", this is repression. You must acknowledge the pain in others/the planetary complex. These things do exist. Separation exists. Fourth density will take at least 70 more years of work to birth before we can even be near the point of becoming a social memory complex. We must practice acceptance for these things, because without acceptance, there can be no healing. Ra Wrote:The general cause of service such as the Confederation offers is that of the primal distortion of the Law of One, which is service. The One Being of the creation is like unto a body, if you will accept this third-density analogy. Would we ignore a pain in the leg? A bruise upon the skin? A cut which is festering? No. There is no ignoring a call. We, the entities of sorrow, choose as our service the attempt to heal the sorrow which we are calling analogous to the pains of a physical body complex distortion. This whole thing plays out in my mind as such: A man walks into a doctor's office with a stab wound. He says, "Doctor, someone did this to me!! It hurts!!" and the doctor says "Hmm yes this is apparently so. What did you do to this person to make them stab you? Are they injured as well? Are you sure you didn't just stab yourself? Have you tried just stitching the wound up on your own? I can certainly stitch the wound up myself - I mean, I've never had a stab wound, but I'm a doctor so I'm good at these things and really understand you. But I don't think stab wounds exist as you believe they do." anagogy Wrote:I'm gonna cut you off right there, because I've never personally derived a great deal of inspiration or validity from Q'uo channelings. Conscious channeling is virtually never unbiased and often times just reflects the distorted and very human biases present in the channeler. To be honest, I find that quote completely unintelligible and nonsensical. And by the way, I wasn't stating it as some kind of absolute rule, just as a fitting adage to the context of the discussion. Truly, if an intention were "pure" and non-contradicted, and sustained, attention would naturally gravitate to the correct vibrational focus for accomplishing the intent. However, many people start off with good intentions which then devolve to something that is, shall we say, "less pure". They become side tracked by distractions that disperse any collected energy, which is what you see with most of these SJW movements. It seems here you are being intentionally dismissive. Q'uo makes an extremely good point that intentions are everything. Yet you say the road to hell is paved with good intentions? I mean, you could say "good intentions gone awry" but that's for each to decide, their purity within. This is why I'm a big fan of studying the transformation of the mind, since it's the root of the basis of our polarity and purity of intentions. All done in love is never wrong. If you're trying to "teach someone a lesson", well, my guess is that intention is often misguided at best. That even might be where the "SJW movement" goes awry. I also feel it's probably important to point out that just because it's a colloquialism doesn't make it true!! For what it's worth, my husband always interpreted that colloquialism to mean that it's difficult to do good, not that doing good brings you to a bad place. Your interpretation is, again, making the victims into aggressors. Saying that those who are trying to do good, out of pain, are causing more pain because of their lack of purity, is exactly that. It's expected that those who aren't consciously aware of the transformation will wobble as Ra says. So yes, purity is extremely difficult but I definitely advocate a purity to courting the maiden as you are aware. In my experience, this hasn't "led me to hell". anagogy Wrote:There is an abundance of love in the material, that's for sure (which is sometimes what is needed -- the fluffiness, rather than tough love). I would argue that love - the fluffy, green ray kind, is ALL that is needed to heal 3rd density into fourth. Wisdom doesn't begin to factor in as necessary for sequential progression until the next density. So why are you scoffing at fluffy love? (10-23-2016, 10:37 AM)Bring4th_Jade Wrote: Are you intentionally gaslighting? Or am I being trolled? Neither, you are just seeing my words through the lens of your belief system and seeing what you believe to be contradictions when, in reality, there are none. Those things Minyatur mentioned are surface illusions of our identity, (parts of us that will be discarded at death, just like any material possessions we've accumulated) we are spiritual beings having a temporary physical experience, and if you focus and identify with those temporal characteristics to the extent of seeing more differences than similarities between others, then guess what? You get racism, sexism, bigotry and all that other negative stuff. And it doesn't matter if you are doing it for "good reasons" or to fight what you perceive to be the evil injustices of the world. The effect is the same. The focus on differences to the exclusion of similarities and commonalities simply makes the differences more and more active players in your experience which leads to the aforementioned examples of separation. It just activates and exacerbates the vibration of separation and disharmony. I'm definitely not saying that people cannot explore those aspects of their being, but in my opinion they should be regarded with the same attachment that we have towards a temporary garment of clothing. But of course, we're human, and no one is going to be perfect. (10-23-2016, 10:37 AM)Bring4th_Jade Wrote: It seems here you are being intentionally dismissive. Q'uo makes an extremely good point that intentions are everything. Yet you say the road to hell is paved with good intentions? I mean, you could say "good intentions gone awry" but that's for each to decide, their purity within. This is why I'm a big fan of studying the transformation of the mind, since it's the root of the basis of our polarity and purity of intentions. All done in love is never wrong. If you're trying to "teach someone a lesson", well, my guess is that intention is often misguided at best. That even might be where the "SJW movement" goes awry. You seem to have ignored the part where I said: (10-22-2016, 12:51 PM)anagogy Wrote: And by the way, I wasn't stating it as some kind of absolute rule, just as a fitting adage to the context of the discussion. Truly, if an intention were "pure" and non-contradicted, and sustained, attention would naturally gravitate to the correct vibrational focus for accomplishing the intent. However, many people start off with good intentions which then devolve to something that is, shall we say, "less pure". (10-23-2016, 10:37 AM)Bring4th_Jade Wrote: Your interpretation is, again, making the victims into aggressors. Saying that those who are trying to do good, out of pain, are causing more pain because of their lack of purity, is exactly that. It's expected that those who aren't consciously aware of the transformation will wobble as Ra says. So yes, purity is extremely difficult but I definitely advocate a purity to courting the maiden as you are aware. In my experience, this hasn't "led me to hell". All I can tell you is that I don't see victims as aggressors -- it's a flat out misinterpretation of what I'm saying. It's more like: I'm walking along a path and find someone who has been attacked by a wild animal, the wound is bleeding and they are picking at the wound, causing it to bleed more profusely, and I say, "If I were you I would stop picking at the wound, you are making it far worse." And they say, "I'm trying to find the source of the pain. I have to keep picking at it till I find the source and then I can make it stop." And I say, "It actually doesn't work that way. What you are doing only leads to endless pain. Leave it alone, stop picking at it, and it will heal. You are preventing your wound from healing." And people just keep picking at the wounds, because they can't understand that their actions are preventing the very thing they are desiring. (10-23-2016, 10:37 AM)Bring4th_Jade Wrote: I would argue that love - the fluffy, green ray kind, is ALL that is needed to heal 3rd density into fourth. Wisdom doesn't begin to factor in as necessary for sequential progression until the next density. So why are you scoffing at fluffy love? What makes you think I'm scoffing at it? It's fine for people who need or want it. But some people seek more encompassing (higher density) wisdoms.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/toula-fosco...13727.html
Toula Drimonis Former TC Media News Director. Freelance writer, editor, opinion columnist. CJAD800 radio contributor. A "Rape Culture" Tutorial for the Naysayers Posted: 03/06/2014 5:21 pm EST Updated: 05/06/2014 5:59 am EDT It's happening more and more lately on my Facebook feed. Every time I post a link to a cringe-inducing incident (sexist jokes, sexist comments, allegations of violence or rape), it inevitably happens. A well-meaning, yet somewhat unaware, (usually) male friend will comment or contact me in private, attempting to "understand" what's going on, all the while trying to explain, justify, minimize, and reduce the severity of what was just discussed. There's a term for it. It's called "mansplaining" and it's slowly becoming an epidemic. "I don't mean to downplay it, but..." [Of course you do.] "All we know about this guy was this one horrible sexist event!" [So I should base my opinion of him on the behaviour I'm not aware of?] "I get that this incident (like the one before it, and the one before it, and the one before it...) is horrible, but does this really justify the use of 'rape culture' as a term to be used so loosely?" [Yes.] "Boys will be boys... It doesn't mean they'll act on their comments." [Oh, ok. That makes me feel much safer.] Even men who consider themselves feminists don't often get it, because they too come from a place of unconscious privilege. They're inevitably standing on the top, looking down. From the place everything is compared to, measured against, the controlled group that serves as a standard; you know... the status quo. First off, and since International Women's Day is around the corner, can we take a minute to define 'rape culture' for those who seem to think it's an irrational and highly charged blanket statement that seeks to vilify all men for all sins? Rape culture is a term that was coined by feminists in the United States in the 1970s. It was designed to show the ways in which society blamed victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence through jokes, TV, music, advertising, laws, words and imagery that make violence against women and their overt sexualisation seem practically normal. Forty years later, not much has changed, despite Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente's assertion that "The war for women's rights is over. And we won!" (Huh? Must have been embarrassing being the only one at that celebration party, right Margaret?) Examples of behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, sexual objectification and trivializing rape. Rape culture doesn't mean I live in debilitating fear that a man will rape me the minute I step outside my home, but it does mean I nervously hold my keys in my hand when I walk home late at night. It doesn't mean that I'm terrified to speak to a stranger in a bar, but it does mean that I may be in a bar with someone "ironically" wearing a T-shirt that says "Carry On And Rape A Lot" (yes, it's an actual shirt manufactured by an actual company), because... Hahaha! Rape! It doesn't mean I hate men and won't accept a polite compliment, but it does mean I'll pick up my pace, avoid eye contact and I won't respond to the cat calls of a group of construction workers from across the street (if you think that's a tired old cliché, you're a man reading this or have never travelled to Europe). Rape culture doesn't automatically mean I have been a victim of sexual assault, but it does mean I may very well have been, or will be, or can easily name someone who has been. By the same token, it does mean that, over the years, I've been repeatedly groped in public, exposed to unwanted sexual advances, flashed at by dirty old men at the ages of six and, then again at 36, and those unique-to-me life experiences barely elicit a separate paragraph, because they're so routine to so many women, it usually makes them shake their heads in resigned recognition when shared, while most men I've told react in horrified shock. Statistically, incidents of rape and sexual assault are simply too commonplace for most women to be unfamiliar with or untouched in some way by them, whatever the naysayers may say. Rape culture means a rape victim is victimized all over again when she reports (if she reports) the crime, when the police, the judge, the people around her get to excessively question the validity of her claims. Rape culture means a bunch of privileged college kids get to discuss the finer points of sodomizing the student association president in a private Facebook conversation (I'm looking at you, University of Ottawa!), and when that conversation is leaked, exposing them, instead of meekly apologizing and resigning, they brazenly threaten legal action against the victim. Rape culture means that, two days later, the very same university suspends their entire men's hockey team for an alleged gang rape of a woman in Thunder Bay. Rape culture means you get to read a myriad of excuses from apologists who rush to their defense, patiently and patronizingly explaining to you that you don't really know these boys, and what if they were just good kids who made that one tiny mistake? The way the Steubenville rapists were bright kids with bright futures, until they decided to -- oops! -- rape someone. Rape culture means that St. Mary's University in Halifax had a "rape chant" for years, and both men and women obliviously sang along, without questioning the words, because it was all "just in good fun." Rape culture means that a Montreal bar gets to make jokes about date rape and domestic violence, and when you denounce them, you get called out for not being able to take a joke, and the trolls come out to call you a "b****" and a "lesbo." Rape culture means that in 2011 a convicted rapist didn't go to jail because a Manitoba judge concluded the victim sent signals that "sex was in the air" through her suggestive attire and promiscuous conduct on the night of the attack. Rape culture means that the men around you get to question the veracity of these claims, and get to excuse them as exceptions that can't possibly be the rule. Only, how many exceptions do we get to dismiss away before we acknowledge that we have a problem? Rape culture means that U.S. state representatives get to publicly state that "some girls rape easy" (Republican Roger Rivard, State of Wisconsin) and "If a woman has a right to an abortion, why shouldn't a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman?" (Republican Lawrence Lockman, State of Maine), and they still don't get run out of office by their electorate. Rape culture means that a Toronto police officer can suggest that a woman can avoid sexual assault by not dressing like a "slut" and think it completely justified to say out loud. Rape culture means privileged white middle-class women like Margaret Wente and Barbara Kay -- so out of touch with reality they have long ago become irrelevant -- are given space in national publications like the Globe and Mail and the National Post to spew their moralizing rhetoric. They get to flippantly dismiss women's concerns about safety on Canadian campuses, while conveniently appeasing the naysayers blind to the damning statistics and the facts of sexual assault cases. But, hey... rape usually happens to "stupid girls" who do "bad things" they get to say while wagging their fingers at us. In these irresponsible columnists' minds, rape is a direct consequence of bad decisions made, unaccountability on the victims' part; not a direct and indirect result of a society that views women's bodies as sexually available for men to ogle, comment on, harass, dehumanize, hit on, objectify, and inevitably assault. I suppose it's comforting to believe that rape is the direct result of bad decisions, because then you can convince yourself that you can decrease its occurrence by simply taking the steps required. But rape doesn't always involve some creepy stranger jumping out of a van late at night, holding you at knifepoint and forcing himself on you. I mean, it can involve that, but statistics clearly reveal that 70 per cent of rapes are committed by someone the victim knows. A family friend, a relative, a boyfriend, an acquaintance -- in many cases, an ordinary "good" guy you trusted. Rape culture means that every time you discuss the topic of rape, a man will always -- without fail -- pop up to ask: "what about rape against men?" Not that those victims don't matter (they most certainly do), but that somehow that miniscule percentage is supposed to overshadow and obliterate the overwhelming daily percentage of women who get raped. As if discussing rape against women is somehow deemed invalid because men aren't the primary focus of the discussion... Rape culture means that when you bring up sexual assault and rape, apologists will question the numbers, the studies, the motives, the blurred lines. Was it really rape? Was it really assault? Was the victim credible? Are you sure she didn't simply regret it in the morning? Instead of questioning why the numbers are so high, your knee-jerk reaction is to resort to questioning the ulterior motives of the ones posting them. Rape culture means that most women and girls are raised and instructed to limit their day-to-day behaviour because of the existence of rape. Most women and girls who travel abroad, who take public transportation, or walk to a dimly lit parking lot at night experience that "what if" panicky moment. Women reading this know what I'm talking about. Men, in general, do not. And knowing that most men don't rape, and that most women will never be victims of rape, is not enough to erase that fear. Because it's real, and it's the legacy of a culture where rape (and rape denial) exist in too high numbers. Rape culture is the incessant trolling female opinion writers are forced to deal with, the constant barrage of "are you sure's?" they're asked when they state the facts, the #rapeculture hashtags they are forced to come across on Facebook and Twitter used as ironic fodder for jokes ("Your team got raped, dude!") by those who refuse to get it. Rape culture is the constant questioning of a rape victim's past sexual history, her choices of attire, and her social habits. Did she drink? Was she seen late in a bar? Was she sexual? Was her skirt too short, her top too tight; her heels too high? Did she look -- come on, people... spell it out -- like she was "asking for it"? You know what I'm talking about. The kind of questions you're no longer allowed to ask, yet are still forming quietly in your head. Some men are quick to complain that many of them feel persecuted and discriminated against in the current climate. They like to perpetuate the notion that feminism is anti-men, anti-sex, anti-equality. That it conveniently removes or downplays the notions of accountability and responsibility for women. That couldn't be farthest from the truth for most feminists I know (many of which are men, by the way). No one is looking to remove accountability. It's the lack of accountability in the form of excuses that we need to see go away. Ultimately, however, rape culture means I get to write an almost 2000-word dissertation attempting to explain what rape culture is, knowing fully well that too many of you will be too busy dismissing it as feminist griping to consider whether any of this might possibly have merit. Hey... at least I tried. |
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