VioletFlame

@Leo Gura Oh trust me I was long gone by 18 haha. I actually had the opportunity to move to Ireland for a few years at that age, which was a blessed life changing experience for me. My parents tend to throw a cheap guilt trip on me every now and then however when they bring up who is supposed to be taking care of them when they get older, which is something I worry about sometimes.

@Leo Gura This is brilliant. That Anthony Bourdain line gave me the chuckles, it's quite the comedic seller. I also love what you said about not being able to convince someone out of ignorance. Thank you. Because you know, there are people in my life who I care for deeply but they also have one-dimensional thinking and just aren't willing to look at things from an aerial perspective, no matter what, they just aren't willing to step out and see all of the colors, the mosaic of life and all of its beautiful eccentricity. They won't invite anyone else's perspective in aside from their own. Personal evolution and self-improvement is marginalized. They can be cynical and patriotic and stuck in the order of traditional mediocre values. They are racist. They are shallow materialists, rehashing over historical division and pride, trapped inside the Industrial Revolution. It's a personal challenge for me, still to this day, to not allow my immense worldview disagreements I have with my family clutter my energy. Because observing their viewpoints and behaviors has only helped me recognize my own values growing up, so I am grateful for their values in that sense. Because I learned a lot about myself and about what I truly care about in life, about my own path, what I don't want to become and what I do want to pursue, and that's to live life as spiritually, passionately and authentically as possible, and totally from the heart and soul. But here's where things are messed up. Regardless of all the things I strongly disagree with them about and all the things that have made me cringe, the total different wavelengths we are on, I still accept them and do not abandon them, out of unconditional love. But I know for a fact if I ever dated someone of a different race or culture, I would be disowned. So the sanctimony and hypocrisy is painful indeed, and beyond comprehension. But I am finally realizing now that they are the only ones that can change, and they have to actually want to first and foremost, but it seems hard for most people to even acquire this desire. I guess this is where Bob Ross and happy emerald Green trees must come in.

I have not shared my personal thoughts about this with him because he gets too volatile and defensive when others try to give him advice, or share their own opinion. I also don't want to hurt him. I wish he would allow others to help him not live in so much hate and misery but he's not willing to be open to these kinds of things. I accept some some people aren't willing to change for themselves and for the world around them.

Hello everyone. I've been contemplating something for quite some time now. So my father definitely exhibits major signs of a Stage Blue personality. He can be rather xenophobic and hypersensitive to the thought of terrorism (except only blindly and ignorantly terrified by terrorism existing in this country alone.) To me, he lives in so much fear of suffering that it only seems to counteract what he truly wants, what everybody wants, peace & happiness. Living in constant worry, panic and fear over potential attacks and catastrophes only brings him closer to suffering and less close to living. He follows political talk show people and podcasts as if they were his gods and saints, politics for him has virtually become his religion, which is sadly the closest I think he'll ever get to "religion", which is a diametrically opposed domain in my eyes and it's the last thing he ought to be focusing on when it comes to his sanity and peace of mind. So here's where my theory comes in. At his house, he has assembled this separate "market" thing in the basement in which he spends more money on this emergency supply of canned food than of legitimate things he and his 90 year old mother requires on a weekly basis, but then complains about having no money. He is so lost in the grasping of comfort and luxury that the very idea of something coming to remove that from him and his precious country is not to be accepted, never does he go deep and ask himself why, only blames and stigmatizes outside factors instead. So in Witchcraft, when one is casting a spell, or preparing a ritual, one starts with a clear Intention on what they are aiming to manifest. One will proceed to hold that Intention in their mind and in the form of visualization, imagining it, feeling it and sensing it in full detail. Theoretically, I believe my father's fixated ritual of accumulating food, drinks and emergency supplies is him basically casting an accidental or unconscious spell, so to speak. I have witnessed him reciting powerful words while preparing this spell, also cursing political incantations while performing this ritual. As he's gathering and stacking all his ingredients on the shelves for his alleged prophetic occurrence. It's almost as though he wishes upon it, the idea energizes him, and it enrages him but I think there is a massive fear and paranoia behind the act. His emotions are powerful, so it's not like his tone was dull, he was raising his energy, a negative, low consciousness energy, but an energy which I witness only coming back to him in return, as a result. A positive result really, if he was only able to become conscious of the fact that that's all he's really doing is Willing negative consequences to happen to himself, until that one day actually meets his vision, then it's having positive results. He's not deliberately performing a ritual to help him HEAL from the torturous fear of destruction and War, to detach from that fear but instead in a way he is preparing himself as if his perceived calamity already happened and is happening, which is the direct process of manifestation. If this ritual is helping him stay secure and internally safe, which it doesn't seem like it is, then perhaps he is manifesting that day itself in which he WILL NEED those things to survive. I'm 21, he is in his early 60s, and still kind of stuck there, exhibiting many post-psychological symptoms as a citizen during the Vietnam War.

I love this topic. Perhaps I might as well share my latest creation/original song. There's much more to come!

I can resonate. When I first began practicing yoga it was quite the challenge of course because I had so much built up trauma stored in my body that it caused me to have deep emotional/physical reactions in which I had to overcome. Trembling, rapid breathing, slideshows of random uninvited memories. Such things like EMDR and inner child meditations, conquering the Shadow of my childhood also created similar experiences like this, but which ultimately felt like I was unraveling into cathartic bliss.

@Leo Gura

I sense a hue of Pantheism. One thing I am for certain is I am very fond of the symbolical God-like energy that reveals itself through the construction and deconstruction of nature. I love embracing both the fragile, loving and intimate aspects, as well as the dark, chilling aspects of nature and all of its irrevocable power as an equal representation of a higher consciousness, or almost sometimes as a separate emotional species, so to speak. I think the mystery of life is God as well and part of nature and I feel it's highly important and often undervalued, perhaps by the rational mind(?) What's unexplained and what's to remain unexplained is invaluable to me because it sustains our metaphysical curiosity. Our very purpose in Life is to seek our own personal Truth and Magic. To not search for mathematical equations and codes to solve this Universal mystery but to melt into it and experience it instead, through our own consciousness. To surrender to the mystery and accept that we may always leave room to question everything, but may not always need the answers to everything...at least on this level of existence. I love knowledge and learning but I also love not knowing everything. Especially when it comes to the end of the tunnel. I'm pretty sure that's like the best part right? (And I like wild surprises.) I believe there are clues and symbols to our questions though, acting all around us everyday, we just aren't willing to see them. This kind of shit excites me however because it reminds me of embarking on a spontaneous cosmic treasure hunt. If there was a such thing as one concrete answer for all of us, well I think our existence would potentially lose touch with our sense of spiritual exploration, fascination, and purpose, and I don't suspect there would be much to look forward to.

This is exquisite. When I look at this I see Tarot all the way. Perhaps the 8 of Cups, which refers to transition and having that readiness to explore not only the day but also the night. To enter a new journey, inwardly and outwardly and independently, but also as One with the Universe, and to discover the Truth deep within the psyche as well as within the psyche of the Universe. For those of you who don't read Tarot, this image could be of good use for you.