Sanity Check

In the LOTR book trilogy, there is a good wizard named Saruman who is seduced by evil. While Saruman's magic power isn't well defined. It is illustrated that one of his abilities is influencing others into believing everything he says is true. Whatever Saruman says, is what people believe. Late in the story, Saruman's tower is attacked by treeborn Ents and the area becomes flooded with water. Saruman's situation is desperate. In his desperation, Saruman unwisely abuses his power and overexerts himself, shattering his own magic. This has always been interesting to me. Saruman was never directly defeated in combat or war. Instead his story is that of a wizard who apparently defeats themselves. Is this something that actually happens in the real world? Or is it merely fiction? How did JRR Tolkien come by this plot twist. Long story short, people say I waste my time paying attention to fictional stories. Maybe they're right. Or perhaps there is something that might be learned at times?

Accidental double post.

https://x.com/eludayo_1/status/1968273814367977614

Fun fact on hermetics. The most famous person in the world to study it is. JK Rowling the author of Harry Potter. Who named her character Hermione after hermetics. Peak daobums right here.

Christians currently have no Holy Grail or Lance of Longinus. No one has seen the Ark of the Covenant in millennia. The Temple of Solomon remains destroyed - wherever it is. The only item God left behind for christians to inherit is a book. The Bible. Do christians underestimate the relevance of this. Do I underestimate the importance. Should I read more. ?

Wow. 2025 is going full ancient hindu warrior now.

In JK Rowling's fictional universe. An evil wizard achieves immortality by breaking their soul into 7 pieces. And fusing the pieces of his soul with various relics. To maintain a presence in the physical world, even should their body die. These relics are referred to as horcruxes. And I would guess there are a massive number of youth who googled it trying to learn more.

Feng shui of color. wat is zis

Good write up. Given that many of these stories predate written records. Dating back to a time when oral traditions were copied word for word. Its hard to imagine a scenario where carbon dating or empirical evidence can be used to determine the actual age or historicity of these epic tales. One thing that stands out is the number of stories of global flooding in eras where ice ages ended. Might fllood tales stand independently as individual works, rather than being necessitated to be copies of one another. Melting glaciers and ice leading to floods of water isn't the largest leap of imagination. While I still haven't read the epic of gilgamesh. I don't know that controversy is necessary with any of it. Extraordinary lifespans are an interesting puzzle to ponder. I guess the most obvious theory is to say reduced population density fuels lifespan extension. Agriculture difficulty rises proportionally to cold weather in ice ages. Less food, reduced population. The lifespan of humans must extend proportionately to perpetuate species. There may be similar precedents present with the greenland shark which can live 250 to 400 years. This doesn't mean depopulation will necessarily lead to longer lifespans. There are other theories for what might have caused human longevity to extend. Still, I think its an interesting puzzle to think about. Even if there is no real world application for it.

Here is a good example. Have you ever seen David Lynch's 1984 classic Dune? In the movie, Paul Atreides was born and bred to be the perfect warrior. Have you seen the recent reboot of Dune? In the reboot, Paul Atreides is a skinny and weak looking kid. He looks like he was born and bred to be the perfect accountant. Maybe this reflects how militarism and warrior philosophies have come to define our culture and society less. Don't get me wrong I love "The Book of 5 Rings", Shaw Brothers kung fu flics. I love all of that stuff. But it is possible the future will be defined more by things other than force of might. Or maybe I'm just being regressive in some way without realizing it. Personally, I just think I'm better at abstracts and rationalizations than I am @ athletics. I don't think I weigh more than 160 lbs and I think I did bench press 240 lbs when I was younger. But its not what I'm best at. So I'll leave the warrior stuff to the pros. Unless I'm forced to go that road.

I invest some time & energy into trying to sharpen mind. There is no practical use or application for it. Maybe its simply what I'm best at. "Play to your strengths." Isn't that what they say. The founder of special forces SEAL team 6 is an author. I read some of his books. The impression I got is special forces units spend many years training for war. In most cases, all of that training is for nothing, they never see a single deployment where they engage in actual combat. Of course, this was published in a book he wrote before 2001, before the iraq invasion, before a lot happened. If the founder of SEAL team 6 says SEALs spend years training for war and never see actual war, then what practical use or application am I likely to have for actual combat? Don't get me wrong. I spend time training on my own. Trying to improve and refine technique. I just don't think militancy and combat are as much of a focus today as in past eras. Even Putin does not appear to be having much success with his wartime goals. Not to mention war in this day and age being so expensive as to be practically unaffordable. I'm from hawaii. There were always a lot of tough guys, everywhere. Maybe not as much these days. Things have changed a little. Its good having a lot of tough guys around, people tend to be more respectful. Hopefully, people see me in the yard digging a hole 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and 4 feet deep with a pickaxe and shovel to plant crops. And decide there are easier targets to be had elsewhere. I'm at high enough elevation to be safe from tsunamis. While being near enough to the coast to be able to reach it easily for fishing purposes if needed. Are there other reasons for coastal locations being bad I missed? If I know I'm being influenced. That makes it easier to defend against. Everyone has their opinion. That's mine. I should have said Jesus manifesting fish and bread to feed the multitude. That is a better example. Transforming water into wine might be more transfiguration than manifesting. The same with Moses vs egypt transforming rods into serpents. That is an argument I have heard from atheists in the past. They claimed the story of Jesus was derived from Mithras, etc. I never found that argument compelling but they seemed to enjoy it.

Middle aged to elderly demographics are the largest consumers of CNN legacy media. They are also the demographic most targeted by conmen and scammers. If someone in the world is being scammed by nigerian princes. Its almost always an unfortunate elderly person being scammed out of their retirement funds. I believe youth of today, on average, are far less susceptible to nigerian princes. Their guard is up, they're more aware of the need to filter legitimate information from scamful disinfo. Youth aren't able to trust everything they see on TV the way boomers were privileged to. It has triggered something like an infowars arms race where marketers and influencers are seeking to devise better methods of influencing minds. While on the flipside, people are striving to arm themselves with better defenses, as to not embarrass themselves or diminish their own perceived societal value through sharing inaccurate views on social media. I would contend the media machine is regressing and becoming simplified over time. There is a list of verifiable reasons to support this. Bottom line, if Noam Chomsky wrote a book claiming the media machine is bigger, better and more sophisticated with $1,000 bucks on the line for me to debunk his claims. It might be easy money $$. I haven't read his book but its not hard to conceive of ways in which he and others could be exaggerating. I'm not convinced people know what they want. Observe my example. I lived during a time of peace and prosperity and was not able to appreciate what I had, at all. Others may have been even worse. They believed peace and prosperity were entitlements they would always have, no matter what choices they made. If I can live during a golden age and not recognize it. How could I know what I want, if I had not realized it, when I had it? In terms of youth, I think we need to remember our own state of affairs when we were young. Can you remember what you were like when you were 6 years old? 12 years old? At 12 years of age I knew nothing about anything. The only thing I might have known about were cartoons with very simplistic plots and character development. Now look at 12 years old growing up on their phones. They have some idea what dogecoin and bitcoin are. They know who Andrew Tate is. They know a lot of things. They know a lot more than I did at their age. Which could mean their overall ceiling & potential for growth is much higher than my own. Maybe they are all being indoctrinated and influenced. But so was I. We were all influenced. People can change and outgrow their influences and indoctrination, sometimes, if they choose to. Whatever consumerism is running rampant influencing youth, it does not represent an end game. When I say old world and future world. It goes like this. The old world revolved around brutality and force of might. It was a place of conquerors and kings. Those with the DNA to be a great conqueror or king today might wind up in prison. Or working a minimum wage labor job. Society no longer rewards or recognizes their contributions or value as much as it did in past eras. Our culture has moved on to some extent. Even those who are famous, making a good living as a modern day gladiator in MMA or boxing aren't so celebrated. Some say they are merely spreading "toxic masculinity" or whatever it is. So it seems gladiators and kings aren't as cool as they used to be. Much of what represents the old world isn't trendy anymore. Circumstances have changed. People have changed. In the modern world whose value and contributions are recognized? Maybe a case could be made for the Elons, Jeff Bezos and Jack Mas. Now its trendy and cool to be a CEO, real estate mogul or business magnate. If what I'm saying is accurate, than what will the future be like? Some of what people do today. Seems like a selective attempt to resurrect old world values. There is a conflict between old world and new world going down. Immigrants from middle eastern nations have old world values and traditions. Which conflict with new world values & lifestyle of places they immigrate into. The old world and new worlds are colliding. But why? Why would anyone want to live in a nation built on christian morality and principles. Rather than nations built on other ideology? ...

I used to do the same thing. Sk8 home from work. The only reason I didn't do it more is due to it being time consuming. 15 to 20 minute drive became like 1 to 2 hour trip.

I haven't thought of reason or the mind as weapons in 20 years. For those who feel they need weapons. Or even to develop their mind as a weapon. What's your motive for fighting. What's the point. This matters a lot more than some might think. In the old world a certain degree of militancy was necessary for basic survival. But the world has changed. People have changed. There is a new world coming. Rather than repeat old world behavior, it might be better to ask what type of place our future will be and plan around that eventuality. Its mainly middle age to elderly who are susceptible to TV influence. But they didn't grow up in a world being constantly bombarded by ads and scams the way youth in the digital age were. And so they are disadvantaged. The world is changing. People are changing. They are not as easy to influence as they once may have been. There is something that needs to be said about christianity and the bible. People flock to it, as it is the realest and most legit thing that exists in this world. Period. Look at celebrities claiming they "manifested" something. They're all trying to be like Jesus turning water into wine. Emulating the christian faith, hoping to derive some legitimacy from it. I've seen buddhists claim that Mother Teresa and Jesus were great "buddhists". They claim historical figures of other religions more than they claim those involved with their own religion. Listening to most smart things mindset or life coaches try to say. High percentage of it is content borrowed from christianity and the bible. All roads lead to the christian faith. A foundation upon which modern society is built. Also thanks for your reading recommendations. I wrote them down and will look them up later.

You might be the guy annoyed about kids skateboarding in the street. I was that kid for sure.

Bible says those who commit evil will be dealt with shrewdly. In a way that they dont see coming.

Damaged? Not noticing lapses in judgement. New inspirational motto: "God wants you to read a book". Helps put those other folks burning books into perspective, too.

Hearts and minds say. Wars aren't necessarily won or lost via harm. At some point public opinion will become important. And it might be the majority that decides what is what in the end.

... In 1973 a scientist named Santiago Genoves did an experiment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acali He put 11 people of different nationalities / ethnicities on a raft in the middle of the ocean and tried to get them to turn on each other. End result - they all became friends and grew to resent the scientist, recognizing his efforts to stir up drama. Some even had sexual relations on the raft, leading the media to call it the sex raft. Have things changed from 1973 to the present? I don't know. All I know is, I don't feel any resentment or negativity towards anyone. If there is a war I don't even feel like participating cuz there isn't anyone I want to hurt.

I shouldn't say no one has seen the Ark of the Covenant. Not when there are some claiming they know exactly where it is: Anyone who grew up playing video games knows guns are the most valuable item in game. People have a tendency to assume this precedent also applies to real life. They search for daggers, weapons and relics. But God leaving behind a book as the only inheritance might imply the pen being mightier than swords.

"The tao that can be spoken of." "Is not the true tao."

This thread is a good reminder to me. To breathe more. And breathe more deeply.

Are you saying you don't trust the science. Researchers and scientists, established science itself, is not trustworthy enough for carbon dating to be valid?

Extreme sports aren't all bad.