I did not have this friend, so I had to become this friend.

Sadly, I still have no friends to share it with :(

I’m not hairy enough to be a bear. Forever without a box or label D:

Not really. There are nondualist traditions within Christianity. Meister Eckhart being the most well known. Nonduality isn’t the worshipping of other gods before Yahweh, it’s the belief that all that exists is within God. Panentheism isn’t incompatible with Christianity, it’s just a super niche trend within it, but with lots of historical precedent, even within large Christian organizations like the RCC. They never excommunicated Eckhart, and while he was controversial during his life, his thoughts on nonduality effectively forced the church to admit that it was not heresy.

Going beyond the RCC and into protestantism there is no unifying body to declare what is and isn’t allowed, so basically, screw that, imma do what I want.

But if you’re at all interested (not in a “Join us!” Way, more in an interesting historical knowledge way), there are tons of nondualist Christians, and I’d be happy to share.

One of my favorite ways this has ever been expressed is through David Graeber. Paraphrasing:

If you convince 100 million people that you can breathe under water, and you go sit at the bottom of a lake, you drown.

If you convince 100 million people you’re the king of France… Then you’re the king of France.

I come cheap! A small shack, some leftovers, and a decent internet connection are all I require!

Sadly I have yet to have found my hermitage :(

Fairly short read effectively, it’s never been made public what the loophole was/is, and all those who knew first hand are dead now. But it’s speculated to be a few different things, the leading theory (and the one I think is it) is article V, the process by which we amend the constitution. If we can amend the constitution, we can amend article V, meaning we can then make it easier to amend again later, in a downward spiral. We could also amend the constitution, do a bunch of fashy shit, then amend article V to make it so the constitution could not be amended ever again.

I remember when I found out that shit was plastic. I always assumed they were organic material of some kind, like the body scrubs with the crushed up walnut shell in it (which probably has fucking microplastic in it, too). So disgusting.

This is why we need to change how shit works. It shouldn’t go: company does some shit > fall out > government steps in. It should go: company has an idea > must get permission first from environmental agencies

Yeah, there’s a lot of damage the church has done. I don’t support the RCC. I just wish the RCC could be progressive and keep the liturgical/tradition side of things. Total pipe dream

Spiritual tradition, for starters. I also feel deep connection to liturgical traditions, and there’s a lot besides that I like about the RCC. I like that, generally, there’s someone at the church at any given time, that the building doesn’t stand empty for all but a few hours once per week. That I could go, and light a candle, and sit in contemplation, or speak with a priest. I like confession, I like a lot about the way the RCC functions. I just dislike the scandals, the bigotry, the, frankly, hatefulness that the church has proudly warn over the centuries. A big reason why I’m an Episcopalian is that it’s progressive, while also being liturgical. There are more progressive churches like the MCC, but they’re more congregational and remind me too much of the baptist churches I grew up in.

While it’s probably not important for a lot of people, for me, having that line of demarcation between the sacred and the secular, the robes and the chalices and the incense and bells, the line that says “this is a sacred space, one for meditation, contemplation, prayer” is important. It allows me to leave behind a certain mindset and enter a new one. Regardless of our ideas behind religion and spirituality, humans have been doing ritual for thousands, and potentially millions, of years. There’s a power behind it, even if it’s just in our heads. Nobody in Christendom does ritual quite like the Catholics. The episcopalians are good at it, but only on Sunday morning, and as much as I love the tradition, it lacks a lot of the spiritual tradition, like intercession of saints and a Marian ideology that I also crave. Anglocatholics are pretty good for that, but they tend to be conservative and anti gay, and most of them have moved to the ACNA, a schismatic group founded against the ordination of women and gay men.

There’s a lot to dislike about the RCC, and organized religion in general. I disagree with a huge chunk of it. The prohibition against marriage for priests has lead to so many problems. There’s too much to list, from the way nuns are treated, the prohibitions against birth control, LGBTQ+ issues, abortion, surrogacy… There’s a lot wrong with the institution. But I don’t think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. It’ll never happen, but I dream of a day when there’s major reform within the Church.

I just want a hyper progressive RCC with a married trans woman pope :(

Edit to add:

Feel a bit like I’ve misrepresented myself, so to clarify: I’m an Episcopalian, but I’m also a nondualist Advaitin (Hindu). I am not your average viewer or really anyone’s target audience, so don’t extrapolate my comments to the larger religious/gay community. Haha.

I once made a craigslist ad for a hermit seeking hermitage. I’ll have to see if I can find it. It was fucking hilarious. Got SO many emails off that thing

Edit: found it!

May your enema be forever empty, and may you have always just gained 3 pounds

There are also us gays who aren’t members of the church, but really wish we could be (but won’t, because of gestures wildly at the church with frantic, panicked eyes)

Honestly, you are depressingly correct :( but even so, misinterpretation, wilful or not, is only part of the reason I wish we’d go back to Liberation instead of Pride. I know the name doesn’t have to dictate the goals, but I feel like we lost sight of the movement when we made marriage equality the end-all-be-all, and there’s been such an abandonment of it since 2015. We’re not there for our trans and nonbinary siblings anyway, because gay men “got ours,” so to speak. A lot has improved in the last 60 years, but I wish the queer community still had the community part of things like we used to

Said it before, I’ll probably say it again: this is why we should never have changed the name from Gay Liberation. A movement based around human rights and liberation from oppression shouldn’t have changed its name from Liberation to Pride. Now we spend a solid 30% of our energy just explaining what pride is and why it should exist, and fending off the constant “why is there no X pride” bullshit. Call it liberation ans it’s very clear what it is, what it’s for, and why there isn’t a straight liberation movement-- it may even cause a few people to genuinely consider if they, the straights, need liberation, too, from the oppression of heteronormativity… Though that’s asking a lot of your average hetero

Curious, why do you remain registered as a Republican?

The lobstrosities are another reason I avoid the coast

100/10. The salt spray alone is incredibly dangerous. I had to move to the desert.

As a diabetic, can confirm. S’how this works

Currently drunk on bourbon street in NOLA, hooked up like 5 times, and just finished 2 of something called a swamp juice and another thing called a hand grenade… I definitely need water