moment

14 hours ago, liminal_luke said:

Becoming a moderator has been a very interesting journey for me.  We all have our stories around power and control and authority.  Psychologically, the moderator role is a tricky one because all of a sudden a person is perceived as having power (and actually does have power, to some limited extent) and people have their reactions to that, sometimes vigorous reactions.  It´s come as a surprise.

 

My father was a lawyer, the district attorney for our county.  I thought of him as a professional arguer, a professional punisher.  Even for a highly verbal kid, he was tough to beat in our diningroom courthouse.  Mostly I tried to keep the peace, a role I often take to this day right here on the forum.  I often preferred to hang back: there´s safety in quietness.  The few times I tried to give my father warning points or issue a suspension did not end well for me. 

 

I haven´t sought authority in my adult life.  I´ve also avoided situation (like jobs ) where people would have authority over me.  It´s easier to avoid the whole power and control thing as much as humanly possible and just do things on my own.  Oddly, my relationship has put me somewhat in an authority position.  My partner has schizoaffective disorder and I sometimes make decisions for him.  Without my intervention, he´d literally stay in bed sleeping until the late afternoon every single day.  Most of the time I tell him he has to get up and go outside, something he doesn´t like to do.  But if I tell him to do it, he´ll do it.  I believe he´s better off getting up so most of the time I do tell him.  It´s so weird though...I´ve become this authority figure telling another adult when to get out of bed.  I never wanted to be this person yet here I am. 

 

And now I´m an authority figure on Daobums too.  Say what?  People complain and say that moderation decisions our group has made have been too harsh and maybe they´re right.  But I´m not rubbing my hands with glee delighting in my ability to punish.  At least I don´t think so.  (If you see me that way Cloudhands, please spare me your not-so-erroneous analysis of my shadow.)  In my own eyes, I´m just someone whose trying to help my partner go outside and order his own green tea.  I´m also someone who likes it when people are nice to each other here. 

 

(Not sure if any of this is useful but I felt like sharing so I did.  Thanks for reading.)

Always a pleasure getting to know you better.

On 8/22/2020 at 10:24 AM, manitou said:

 

 

 

Thing is, I think your meat-life is right here.

 

It amazes me how much of the child I still have inside me.  There is something in there that hasn't aged at all and I still feel like a little kid much of the time.  I never feel like an 'adult', whatever that is.  And yet, I can look back and see that I've made many adult decisions.  I just don't know who the heck that person was...

 

 

 

Yeah,  There is real truth to my spirit is young and strong, but the body is lagging.

I have been reading about getting work through Barefoot Writers.  I don't know anything about them and I am only a mediocre writer.  So, I am interested in other peoples experiences, in all types of reading and writing adventures, hopes, failures, etc.

John Bonham on the drums--

They say when Bonzo played air drums, the air made drum sounds out of respect!

The real real

1 hour ago, Taomeow said:

 

 

For me too, and I was instantly drawn in.  Apparently he was a member of some rather herbivorous band, forget its name, which he left to start doing his own thing.  And this is the outcome.  I read some of the comments and the first one went something like, "don't listen to this while applying makeup -- I started out just intending to make myself look nice for the day and ended up painting myself for battle."    

"painting myself for battle".

Yes, it is becoming time.

It is the unseen,

The incomprehensible

indescribable,

only known by not knowing

Strip everything

down to your innermost core

to true existence 

where only silence prevails. 

Every person has to seek their own way to make themselves more noble and to realize their own true worth.

                        -----Albert Schweitzer-(paraphrase)

“I think we want to know it all. There's a comfort in having the answers and feeling like we've got it all figured out,” Taylor says. “And I think once we give ourselves permission to not be experts, to not have it all figured out, to just be part of this wild ride, of being a human alive on this planet, I think there's great freedom in that.”

                                                                             -------- Sonya Renee Taylor

DIY covid haircuts:

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.

Mark Twain

On 8/12/2020 at 5:55 PM, steve said:

Bulgaria!

 

 

The most versatile of all instruments!

two men are hunting. one asks: did you ever hunt bear? the other one answers: no, but one time i went fishing in my shorts.

I hope when I inevitably choke to death on gummy bears, people just say I was killed by bears and leave it at that.

Actually, It isn’t a bear joke, but bear with me here…

Why can’t pooh bear catch a date. Because he is always talking about his honey.

What do you call a bear with no teeth?

A gummy bear.

Claude_Monet_La_Grenouillére

On 8/10/2020 at 12:30 AM, johndoe2012 said:

There is active Russian disinformation going on using people's dislike for anything to destabilize society. More chaos equals freer movement for Putin and friends.

 

Then there is also growing up in a society where money is the object of desire fueled by American social media. The hyper focus on lack and the overly simplistic tools on how to fix that lack: cars, houses, career, 'the secret'. After some time you get the feeling 'the system is rigged' and 'somebody is controlling the system' which it is in a way. Basically the young ones are inherenting a system that is exploiting and controlling them, at least that is one way of interpretating the gravitation towards conspiracy theories.

 

Also I think the current way of using facts to shut down how people feel about things is counterproductive. If people still feel the system is rigged then surely those facts have not solved the real issue? The fact checking way relies on suppression of feelings and so-called 'scientific evidence' rather than a resolution of said feelings.

 

 

 

 

"Also I think the current way of using facts to shut down how people feel about things is counterproductive. If people still feel the system is rigged then surely those facts have not solved the real issue? The fact checking way relies on suppression of feelings and so-called 'scientific evidence' rather than a resolution of said feelings."

I agree with you in some ways here.  But, it is such a thorny conundrum! The need to search for as much truth as possible is essential, yet to use it to suppress legitimate feelings, feeds into tribalism and confrontational politics!  I would like you, if you would be so kind, to expand on this idea, please.  Because, in many ways, this is at the root of a de-evolution that creates social/political cancer. I believe we must, become better at understanding how to, create greater health.

1 hour ago, rocala said:

Wow, thanks @moment, I have not come across Bolognesi before. Talk about impact.

You have given me much with this thread, I am just trying to keep up.

 The oldest surviving compositon on record.

this life here is short

and this time demands its toll

yet dwelling in Tao

leaves me no regrets at all

Why don’t Buddhists vacuum in the corners?
Because they have no attachments.

A Meditation student asked his teacher, “Am I allowed to send you email?”
“Yes,” replied the teacher, “But no attachments please.”

Q: Why do mindfulness students love going to airports?
A: Because they always get a free body scan!