The Over Think

As someone who loves history, and facts, it has always bothered me when people say that the Nazis were socialists. It's such a poor view of history, and often intentionally misstated in order to slander any socialist or socialist ideas. But the reality is, nope. Nazis were not socialist. Not even close.  After WWI Hitler joined German military intelligence. He was assigned to monitor, and influence if possible, the German Worker's Party. The military was keeping an eye on all the political groups in Germany, especially the new ones sprouting up after the war. Kind of like COINTELPRO, which is so wild because the FBI recruited Nazis after the war to help against communists, and before long the FBI is running a program eerily similar to the one that Hitler was a part of... At the time there were socialists in the German Workers Party. It was really a mixed bag though, so much so that there was opposition to renaming the party the National Socialist German Workers Party, which is ...

     Are you willing to give up reasonable and valid justifications for not loving someone unconditionally? There are so many perfectly good and rational reasons to not. So many. Practically an endless list of things that people do that you would be blameless for not being able to overcome the sheer natural disgust at the inhumanity. To the point I often am overwhelmed by the sense of... how is this reality? All of the infinite potential of humanity to help each other, and lift one another up, yet the energy to do so is focused instead on doing the opposite and worse. So much worse.     But what does it even mean to love unconditionally? Does it mean accepting others wholly and not wanting them to suffer the consequences of their actions? Surely the fuck not. My hope is that everyone, no matter how horrific their actions, eventually learns to see their true Self, and works out the damage they've done. For many people, it will be a long and painful process of rec...

     One of the biggest hurdles I have for breaking bad habits and instilling good ones has always been my own brain. I know my own weaknesses and can talk myself out of anything. I know all the excuses that work best that allow me to continue not making positive changes. Those thought processes themselves have become habitual. So the older I got and the more I try to change, the stronger my mind got at reactively shutting it down.       All the failed experiences didn't help. They reinforced the negative thoughts. Try to quit smoking and fail, maybe I just can't. Try to change my diet over and over only to always fall back to the easy unhealthy meals, the usual routine, what's the point of trying?      The big realization, the game changer for me, was when I understood that maybe radical change wasn't for me. Completely changing my diet overnight was maybe an unrealistic expectation, considering my own brain actively worked against it, ...

     Once upon a time there was a guy named Kevin. Kevin was a con artist, who came up with a very simple way to con a very specific audience. You see, Kevin realized there were people who not only believed in conspiracy theories, but very much wanted to be told about more conspiracy theories. Now, there are of course actual conspiracies. But for these people, the theory was all the proof they needed, facts were not important, and any fact that opposed the conspiracy was part of the conspiracy. Very easy targets for a con man.      And oh did Kevin make money off of these people. He realized he could sell these people anything if he marketed as something 'they' were keeping from you. The government doesn't want you to know about this. Pharmaceutical companies are hiding this from you. Scientists are paid to keep this under wraps. Whatever he was selling, didn't matter. People would send him money for it. Because they were that willing to buy into the conspi...

     Most of the guys I've known personally who have called themselves feminists, also had this contradictory belief women should sleep with them based solely on that fact. Also, most of the guys I haven't known personally that call themselves feminists come across the same. It really seems the guys who make a point of calling themselves 'nice guys' instead of emotionally maturing end up as alt-right or double down and become pseudo-feminists. Of course there's exceptions, like the cast of Star Trek TNG, but in general day to day life it's pretty rare in my experience to find a male feminist who is actually actively feminist.      It's also never sat right with me that women can't even have a single word for themselves. Even female anatomical terms have been co-opted for use as derogatory terms. Historically, so much of the language around women is basically, "like the male version but a little off". -ess, -ette, the occasional -ine or -trix. E...

the clearest sign that the patriarchy is severely damaging to men is how fucking stunted of a human being do you have to be to uphold a system as damaging to others as the patriarchy? it’s brainwashed so many men to the point they seriously walk around like, ‘there is no patriarchy in ba sing se.’ this isn’t a ‘woe is men, the victim’ post. it’s a holy fuck men, stop being selfish in a way that is harmful to absolutely everyone, and start being selfish in a manner that heals the shit they’ve done to you post. as a human being, you deserve happiness. you deserve to feel whole. and feel good about yourself. as an individual human being you have the same intrinsic value as every other human being that has ever lived. and you deserve to experience that as a fact. unfortunately, society is twisted. largely due to the patriarchal structure that has tainted pretty much every aspect. so to be the person you have every right to be, with the types of relationships you deserve to have......

             I should probably start this off by saying I'm not the biggest fan of the Bible. I've read it cover to cover multiple times, and some parts, like the sermon on the mount, countless times. When I was young, it was pretty much the only source if you were interested in things spiritual. And everyone around me agreed, it was the only reliable source. It was all I knew, so I made sure to know it quite well.     I'm not about to get into why now I don't really care much for it, there's a laundry list of issues, from poor translations to even poorer interpretations. There are people who get a lot out of it and live very fulfilling and compassionate lives thanks to it, so I don't think it's a terrible book or not worth reading. It's just not for me. And while I understand the people who use it as a weapon against other people, the major issues are with them and not the Bible, it's still difficult to completely separate what the Bibl...

    I made a promise to myself the first time I sat in front of a canvas with a paintbrush. While painting, I was not ever allowed ever allowed to interrupt what I was doing by second guessing myself. While I was painting, I could never view anything I did as a mistake. Just keep going. The process is the point. The experience, the moment. The art I sought was the doing. The end result, the finished painting, was a byproduct.      I never started with an idea of what the painting should look like, in order to work without ever judging whether I was executing the idea like I wanted to. Can't fall short of the target if there is no target. Even more importantly, can't worry about failing if the only goal is to do.      Pick a brush, pick a color, pick an area to apply the color and just do. A lot of times the painting would start to look kind of like something and I would nudge it along in that direction as I went. But still there were no mistakes. ...

     If someone believes talking to plants helps them grow, whether or not it actually works, it harms no one. And the person who believes it helps, it makes them happy in that moment. It helps them grow. It's therapeutic. Living in a world where chatting with their philodendron helps it thrive helps them thrive.      It's not delusional to want to live in such a world. And if it helps someone heal, then it's a beautiful thing. No one who talks to their plants insists on laws and jail time to force other people to converse with flora. It's simply how they choose to live, and helps them find balance in an often unbalanced world.     How many beliefs have we once held tightly to, only to now barely remember, or have forgotten completely? Things that in the moment seemed extremely important, that are now just faint memories. Some were beneficial, and helped get us through, led us to better ways to be. Others we only know of now from the shape of the ...

     The only thing that is more painful than loving everything, is not.     The heart was made to love. To give. However many layers of ego and hurt and lies and desires you layer over that, it doesn't change the fact it exists to love. The sun continues to shine behind the clouds, even if you put an entire planet between you and the sun, it is still there, still shining.     And what does that have to do with turning lead into gold? In the spiritual sense, the concept of transformation, is just about letting go. It is a mental process of understanding, your heart is always shining, it is always the sun, you can close your eyes to it, but you can't stop it. The lies we tell ourselves, the illusion that we can be less than what we inherently are, are the impurities. They don't prevent us from being gold, they convince us that we are lead in spite of the fact there is only gold.     Your heart is generating compassion for all things. It is con...