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It’s quite clear what Midsommar aims to address, but I want to try and go deeper. At the beginning of the film, we are shown the protagonist, Dani, who suffers a trauma, losing her entire family. Dani's boyfriend wanted to leave her, but after the tragedy, he couldn't bring himself to do it. This is already interesting, as we notice throughout the film that she becomes a burden to him. We see that he is forced to invite her on his trip to Sweden; she doesn't want to get angry because he hid it from her. Dani doesn't want to be alone and goes to great lengths to be appeased, and on the other hand, he can't bring himself to tell her the truth because she seems depressed. We reach the point where the group of friends leaves for this trip to Sweden to study a community that celebrates Midsommar, a Scandinavian festival. The community is clearly a cult. As soon as they arrive, they take mushrooms for a psychedelic trip. At first, it seems to go well, even though they have no one to guide them through the trip. In fact, the mere word "family" is enough to send the protagonist, Dani, into a bad trip. I have had the chance to experience this firsthand, and I think the director captured that sensation very well. She tries to escape, both literally and metaphorically, from the bad thoughts and sadness she carries, but without success. The group arrives and is warmly welcomed. We are shown the tranquility and peace in which this cult lives. The cult appears to be at the Blue level of Spiral Dynamics; they have a conformist mindset, the individual is sacrificed for the good of the community, and tradition must be respected for any reason. Trying to be briefer, I want to focus on how this cult manages to prosper, because in this case, they are very closed off; they don't accept just anyone. The cult is very selective about who their followers must mate with outside the community. Dani is chosen as the May Queen. She is at a weak moment in her life; all she seeks is comfort, love, and a family. And that is precisely what they give her: they don't make her suffer alone, but instead, they suffer together as a single entity. This is my analysis. Let me know what you think and what your opinion of this film is.
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Lol so much binary thinking. The world isn’t as simple as capitalism vs communism. That was a peculiar reaction to Western feudalism that distorts human traits (individual gain vs communalism) and totalizes the system to bend to one principles over another without any nuance or complexity. Both are inhuman or end up inhumane. Non-Western civilizations had commerce, wealth accumulation, and contracts - but were disciplined by a higher authority when they grew too powerful. Capital itself was never the organising principle. The kind of capitalism that came out of the West was a much needed escape hatch from feudalism. But that creates and is potentially now creating a techno fuedal scenario where capital escapes the people - because when capital no longer needs labour (AI, automation) - how does labour (all of us peasants) obtain capital? Capital and property rights as its pre-requisite became sacred in the Western psyche because it literally was the escape hatch from a rigid feudalistic aristocracy that kneecapped upward mobility. This is why libertarianism, capitalism and communism emerged from the West in particular - but shouldn’t be universalised as if they are the global solution. A European family civil war became a global Cold War of retarded ideaologies that bring lopsided results. The West separated the state from church and monarchy but didn’t so cleanly from capital - and now capital cannibalises the system and commons. The reason it works better in Scandinavia is because instead of a loop where capital is taxed and re-invested into society - it’s funnelled out the system. Smaller, culturally cohesive societies keep the social contract intact - they see tax collection as an investment rather than taking something from “me” the “sovereign individual”. Also, the wealthy don’t pay tax in proportion to what they own or extract from society - they pay tax on the income they choose to declare. This isn’t malice but simply incentive - which is why the system itself needs a redesign - but that takes a cultural shift where capital isn’t the apex value. Check this:
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Daniel Balan replied to Ponder's topic in Society, Politics, Government, Environment, Current Events
This is spot on, unparalleled analysis. As I also predicted on my blog, I predict that the 21th century will be the bloodiest, most violent century to date. The most violent century thus far, the 20th saw the most horrific wars that mankind experienced. In the 20th century the population of the earth was 2 billion. Now it has 8 billion, 4 times more mouths and bellies to feed, 4 times more shelter needed, 4 times more resources needed for survival. The unchecked capitalism is largely responsible for tremendous wealth& resources inequality across the globe. The west has benefited tremendously at the expense of the 3rd world. And now it seems that the 3rd world countries led by China, Russia and others will want to rectify the injustices that the west and capitalism brought by their economic exploitation of the underdeveloped countries. For about a month I started working out everyday, something which I never done before. I began brutally training my endurance, speed and stamina. Also I am brutally working my body out to make it steel like. I must become strong as an ox ASAP. The population is 4 times the size it was during the bloodiest century of mankinds existence, this means that the next war will be 4 times more brutal and deadly. This is not a drill, this is the real deal. I am preparing for war! -
You could consider we bred dogs to bond with us from their original wolf form. We made dogs conform to humans over the span of 30,000 years. By conform in this sense, I mean to 'fit in'. For safety. Tribalism. Survival. We have probably somewhat genetically imprinted ourselves into conformity by default owning them (assisting them with survival and turning them to our will). As the bond is now a instinct: dogs literally live to serve and work with their humans. And anyone who has owned a dog knows there is some deeper bond going on than what shows on the surface. Owning one as a pet - the dog serves our needs for love, affection, attention, play, bonding. Owning one on a farm is still a dog serving a humans need as service animal. Similar to guide dogs. Fine lines of distinction.
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AION replied to Ponder's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Enlightenment doesn't have to do anything with transformation. Ralston is very clear on this. Enlightenment and transformation are two different things. Enlightenment has to do with perception and having a good perception doesn't mean you have good technical skills to defend yourself although the former can enhance the latter. Avoidance is not the right way to deal with low LOC people since they are everywhere anyway. One must advance in psychological warfare and frame control. I'm very capable of this because I had to deal with difficult people all my life. It is better to have this skill and not need it than not have it and need it because you will need it unless you live in a deserted place or something -
I wasn't specifically referring to you.
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Ellonek replied to Never_give_up's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Understanding is secondary to experience, sometimes we get it twisted... We should value understanding as far as it refines our experience, understanding for the sake of understanding is a dead end imo. -
bazera replied to SQAAD's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@SimpleGuy Yea I've seen it. The tricky part is distinguishing what is survival vs what is not in every day experience. -
I’m surprised you think that. So far they have almost all problems the west has but worse and with less of the benefits. Though to be fair a lot of it is the delayed result of stuff set in place by far less competent leaders and worse situations many decades ago.
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Only when you don't have those things you value them so for me it would be a great detox to go into the jungle. But when mongrels start interfering with my natural diet I wouldn't go well on that. I need latina meat.
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I analyzed myself and I proudly say that I do nothing out of conformity except qouting you on my BlueSky profile. Sometimes you say things that resonate with me so deeply that I find myself almost unconsciously copying the phrase that impacted me and pasteing it on BlueSky.
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This is also BS. I drank coffee only when I worked night shifts, now I work day shifts and I never drink coffee.
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@Natasha Tori Maru thank you tho. °❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:・♡ྀི
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Breakingthewall replied to Never_give_up's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Really? Then I didn't read properly your post, seemed to me that you said that what I said is absurd, without having understood it. -
Daniel Balan replied to Ponder's topic in Society, Politics, Government, Environment, Current Events
Wait, this has to be a joke. Then I should vote in the next election for the far right that is also far left candidate in the next election? That candidate wants to destroy liberal democracy, parliamentary system and replace it with a copy of the Chinese form of governance. One dictator, one party that governs the same way China does. Should I vote for that? Hell no! Fuck China, Fuck dictatorships, Fuck communism/socialism. I'd rather be a slave in a liberal democracy under capitalism than be a bit more prosperous in a dictatorship like China. Fuck that. -
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I think that most people drink coffee for conformist reasons. Plus, it can be so addictive. It is for me.
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Breakingthewall replied to Never_give_up's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Mystic vs material means nothing. Reality is not made of atoms. Atoms are made of protons and neutrons, which in turn are made of quarks bound together by gluons, which in turn are local vibrations of the quark field and the gluon field, and these fields are vibrational possibilities of reality, meaning they are fields of possible potentiality. Science can understand reality because, ultimately, the foundation of reality is the absence of limitations, from which coherent relationships arise. What is certainly impossible is a god who is bored and dreams dreams to live adventures, for many obvious reasons. The first one, that god would be limited to that will . -
Natasha Tori Maru replied to Never_give_up's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
It's not that I think I am smart - I just tried to unpack how I understood your statement so you could clarify further if there was something else do add, or I maybe something I missed in my interpretation? You know what? Don't worry yourself about it. It is more than evident you are not open to discussion. No offence was meant. -
Breakingthewall replied to Never_give_up's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
That's great that you think that you are so smart, shows good self confidence and it's very good, but maybe you should ask what I meant instead that's showing your teacher attitude. Are you sure that you have understood? Maybe not. - Today
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https://www.mako.co.il/mako-vod-keshet/the-next-star-s12/shorts/Video-551bd846db0ea91027.htm
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Yes. The problem isn't capitalism, private ownership, decentralized production: the problem is culture, laws, protections.
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The Chinese have an interesting and potentially viable alternative. Although it still has a lot of capitalism in it.
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SimpleGuy replied to SQAAD's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Survival = selfishness. Check out Leo`s 3 part episode on what is survival. -
You can be non-conformist even if you don't own them for the reasons you mentioned. You can just want to have them because you're fascinated by them and love them.
