Well this last election really broke me from thinking of myself as an American. I just happen to live here.

Because the truth is our democracy is managed by oligarch propaganda. And our votes mean very little outside of local elections.

A vote for Trump and a vote for Harris were both going to continue the harms of the MIC and the fossil fuel industry. Yes, Trump is an accelerant. And I voted not to add gasoline.

But the fire was going to burn one way or the other.

Anyway, I think folks that feel ashamed still believe that their voice matters. Which is by design of the political and business class.

Every comment like this pretends that our elections are based off the popular vote, and not the electoral college.

But over a year later, liberals still blame non-voters instead of their party for running unpopular candidates.

And voter turnout was good in swing states btw. Granted, I think Trump cheated.

You started off with I hate folks who eat meat. What kind of reaction did you expect outside of a vegan comm?

Yeah I think everybody actually does, but the sense consciousnesses are a lot less subtle than stuff like intentions.

And even that last part can be let go of. What is beyond that is beyond conceptualization, but it’s not nothing. Nor is it something. As both are concepts.

They’ve done studies on dopamine with sugar. It’s not the eating it that’s satisfying, it’s the getting it. So most dopamine is released on the way to the mouth. Assuming you’ve had ice cream before and the neural pathways are laid.

Which is why the first bite is the best.

But yeah the mind has some plasticity. We can learn to be more visual or olfactory ‘thinkers’.

Your mind has an active visual cortex. Other folks think more using their audio cortex. Some more with somatic awareness (feeling tone).

Mathameticians can visualize math.

Everyone is wired a bit different.

I’m a two or a four on the scale, depending on how much weed I consume. As heavy weed use dulls the minds eye. Though irregular use can enhance it.

And after years working in kitchens, I can think in smells. I.e.mix spices in my mind and smell them in my head before adding to a dish.

Set healthy boundaries.

“I don’t want to keep talking about this today.”

And then leave the room.

If they make suicidal threats.

“If you’re serious I’m going to have to call a welfare check.”

Mahayana also reframes the goal toward practicing compassion in the moment and other pro social concepts (no self), rather than enlightenment of the individual.

A Western Zen teacher was asked by a student why the Bodhisattva vows are unattainable. Suffering is endless, living beings are innumerable. But we vow to end all suffering and lead all beings to enlightenment.

The Zen teacher replied, essentially, they’re silly because being helpful is the goal.

Mayahana also helped a lot with reification that snuck in during the five hundred years after the Buddha’s death. The abhidharma for example reduces the mental factors into individual components or atoms and treats them as though they have an essence or self.

Indian Buddhist philosophers such as Nagarjuna, pointed out that even these are interdependent. Jewels in Indra’s net.

For context, I’ve been studying and practicing off and on for around a decade. Took my precepts in the Plum Village Zen tradition under Thich Nhat Hanh’s lineage, and also study and practice under the guidance of a Theravada monk and scholor named Bhikkhu Analayo.

All concepts are upaya. Some are more skillful than others, such as the Dharma taught by the Buddha. But they’re signs on a map, rather than a dogma to hold onto.

Of course, individual teachers and practitioners are human, and they may see things differently than I do. But ultimately I view Buddhism as a critique of concepts, that points at the interdependent (empty) and impermanent nature of things. And most world religions seem to lean much more heavily on dogma.

But again individual practitioners in other religions may be more enlightened. I know Thich Naht Hanh was friends with a lot of Christians and studied theology in the West as a young man. Some of his closest friends included monastics like Thomas Merton. And some activists such as Daniel Berrigan and Dr King. Hanh believed that the heart of Christ and the heart of the Buddha were pointing at the same ultimate ground.

And I could also argue that Jesus was quite critical of Judaism. Though his followers have largely used him for personal and political gain in the 2000 years since his death.

Linked below is a Dharma talk were a Plum Village nun discusses the appropriation of spirituality for the sake of control of the masses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm7NL8mOsEs

Anyway, I’ve read a lot and I’ve studied a lot. I find wisdom in both Theravada and Mahayana. Though I do find the Tibetan tradition problematic, and don’t generally spend much time with their teachings anymore. Though I am drawn to the esoteric teachings and have cribbed quite a bit from the book of the dead, I find Plum Village speaks more to my heart. And without that, the dharma is hard to hear.

I also like systems science by the way. Very similar critique of reification. Or ‘selfing’.

I would argue that Buddhism is as distinct from Hinduism as an agnostic is from the abrahamic faiths.

If you really look at Buddhism, it’s a critique of Hindu concepts such as Atman.

Of course it incorporates a lot of those concepts, because the Buddha was communicating his critique to folks who used those concepts.

For example, the four brahmavajara’s are framed in a Hindu understanding of the godhead. That doesn’t mean the Buddha believed in Brahma beyond it’s conceptualization by Hindus.

He was merely using it as a teaching device to point out the importance of the four immeasurable minds to a Brahmin who asked him what the mind of God is like.

Yeah there’s a term for it in Hinduism, Maya.

I’ve also spent a lot of time and study with Buddhism. Explored a lot of mind altering drugs.

Perception is a map of the territory influenced by karma (evolution and personal experience) In constant feedback with the territory, of course.

But the map edits itself out. Because when a tiger appears on the map we need to run, not debate rather or not there’s really a tiger.

My older brother used to run around with a young man that was raised by racist bikers. The guy killed someone during a house robbery. And still I’m not sure that that person was irredeemably evil.

But I’ve also done time in prison. And was celled up with an old man that hurt a little girl. No acknowledgement, no remorse. Smiling, outgoing. But at the time I had no idea what he had done. And I had no idea that he was a sociopath until he opened up to me about cutting crow’s tongues when he was young, because he had seen a talking crow at a circus. No empathy. As ‘nice’ as he seemed.

Looking back, he had that same look in his eyes that you can see in cult leaders and other sociopaths. When I watched the Nixium documentary with my partner, it was like that. A charismatic predator.

But you’re right.

Only the hologram is produced by the nervous system. Not God’s super computer or whatever.

In Buddhism the God realm is where beings with very good karma go after death. Where they often become apathetic, burn off their good karma, and don’t reach enlightenment.

The cosmology also reflects inflated/deflated egos. The mind needs to be balanced to easily see the path, and the lower realms have a lot of pain while the upper ones have a lot of pleasure.

The idea behind enlightenment is to transcend both pleasure and pain. All the realms of birth and death.

But there’s some God realms looked after by enlightened Buddhas rather than Gods. In Pure Land Buddhism for example, merit practice is about being reborn in one of these realms, so in the next life enlightenment is easier to reach.

Personally, I vowed to be reborn to practice under Kwan Yin/Avolokita. Bodhisattva of compassion. I practice in this life too. But in the next one I’d like to do it in a nun’s robes.

Job interviews on psychedelics are fun hey?

I tease. I’m glad someone’s joy of being themselves helped you find freedom to be yourself.

I grew up in a small town. Didn’t get exposed to other trans folks until my late 30s.

Joy is contagious :) And played a large role in my egg cracking. Also took a little help from some fungal friends.

Not trolling.

But randomly capitalizing words to express your outrage is off-putting. So is pointing at your PhD multiple times when you feel defensive.

Anyway, the answer to your first question answers the rest.

Not everyone agrees that fascism is bad. Yes, it’s what we were supposed to learn in school. But our country has its own history of genocide, racism, and hate. And we largely teach that greed and stepping on others is how to get ahead. I mean, we’re taught the golden rule. But also to be successful even if it means turning a blind eye to the harms you cause.

Our unresolved racial and genocidal karma is also very easy to tap into when folks are scared or feeling stepped on.

Which makes it very easy for a demogague to make the case, you know, maybe fascism isn’t that bad.

Couple this with billion dollar propaganda machines and a lack of critical thinking skills taught in some religions and educational systems, and most folks on the right don’t realize that anti-antifa is logically pro-fascim. And the rest don’t care as long as they get theirs and the right people get hurt.

The opening part is important. A pattern of disregard for the rights of others.

Most folks will exhibit some of these traits sometimes. We might get defensive and overstep. Feel remorse and make ammends.

If you look at your life and think everyone but you is the problem, rather than understanding that sometimes I am the problem and can work on things from my end, than yeah, that’s ASPD.

But the fact that you’re capable of reflecting and asking suggests that you don’t have ASPD. Some traits, sometimes. Like most folks.

Let go of my defense mechanisms and cracked my egg on mushrooms.

Imagine getting out of bed and realizing you’re a forty year old trans woman, who absolutely hates her entire wardrobe. And in a world that stigmatizes gender non-conformity.

But my partner was very supportive, and I spent the next few months replacing my wardrobe. Started on HRT. And life got better.

Scary. Still scared. But now I know I can love and be myself. And communication and understanding between my partner and I is much better too.

Happy HRT birthday! Love your name btw :)

Someday we will all be food for microbes and plants.

Edit: I actually find this comforting. It wasn’t sarcasm. Plants and microbes are our greater family. Knowing the molecules in my body will feed them when I’m no longer aware brings me a sense of peace and connection.

A friend of mine used to name his infected with viruses