solxyz's recent activity
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Comment on Now political polarization comes for marriage prospects in ~life
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Comment on What does your spirituality mean to you? in ~humanities
solxyz (edited )LinkI initially read the question as asking something like how I define spirituality. When I saw that the question was meant in a broader sense (it's place in one's life, specific kinds of meaning...I initially read the question as asking something like how I define spirituality. When I saw that the question was meant in a broader sense (it's place in one's life, specific kinds of meaning that is brings one, etc), it still made sense to me to try to explain my spirituality by starting with my understanding of what "spirituality" is all about.
So, to me, spirituality is all about one's relationship with one's ground.
What does that mean?!?
Well, we all have what we could call a conventional sense of self. Exactly how we identify this varies a bit, but the general outlines are the same: this particular body, life story, personality tendencies, and location in a network of social relationships. This complex is what we generally mean when we say "I" or "me." This conventional self is a totally valid thing to keep track of and important to take care of, but from a spiritual perspective there is something much deeper or truer about who/what we really are. The deeper truth is that we are not just this particular, independent, self-existing object called "me."
The way that different spiritual traditions think about this deeper nature is where paths tend to diverge. Earth centered paths tend to emphasize our existence as a network of relationships in a greater life/cosmic process. Non-dual traditions emphasize the immediate, here-and-now fact of awareness that does not have any particular identity. Western theological traditions tend to emphasize the fundamental beingness which is the real root of my being. However we may approach it, this ground - that from which "I" emerge, in which "I" appear, and into which "I" later return - is the truth at the core of my being. Spirituality, then, is the art and practice of remembering and returning to a clarity about this.
Personally, spirituality has been the enduring passion of my life - from long before I could have offered such an articulate definition of what I was after, spiritual traditions in their many forms are what I was attracted to. I have been rewardingly engaged at different times (and often overlapping) with Catholic, Theravada Buddhist, Lakota, Orthodox Christian, Vajrayana Buddhist (in some sense my core tradition), and various western occult traditions. I love their ritual, art, theology/philosophy, and the heart guidance of the elders and masters of these traditions. I love exploring their variety, recognizing their distinct strengths, understanding parallels and differences, and I have spent time engaging seriously with their practices, getting at least a sense of where they go, and clarifying my own heart in the process.
I'm a new tildes user and have been looking for a long time for a place where I can engage meaningfully and in depth with people about their paths and traditions, so I hope to connect with more of you here, and if anyone wants to talk about anything, whether personal experiences and challenges or the theological nuances, hit me up.
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Comment on AMA with u/spez going on right now - "Addressing the community about changes to our API" in ~tech
solxyz Link ParentThe FB era may be dead now, but there was a long time period during which a lot of people did want a facebook replacement. My impression is that people hated and kept using facebook far more than...The FB era may be dead now, but there was a long time period during which a lot of people did want a facebook replacement. My impression is that people hated and kept using facebook far more than people hate reddit. The fact that the replacement never happened is a warning that the reddit replacement may never happen.
I guess we'll see.
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Comment on AMA with u/spez going on right now - "Addressing the community about changes to our API" in ~tech
solxyz Link ParentI hope you're right, but the problem here is that overcoming the network effect is hard. People have hated facebook since forever, and it took a long time for that place to collapse, even after it...I hope you're right, but the problem here is that overcoming the network effect is hard. People have hated facebook since forever, and it took a long time for that place to collapse, even after it had become clearly horrible. Making a superior facebook alternative is trivial, but FB is where everyone was, so that is where everyone stayed. If people wanted a reddit-like experience with 20 other users, they can - right now - join one of the lemmy instances that are being promoted as a replacement. But that is not what people want. So if people are going to migrate, it mostly has to happen en masse. The arrival on the scene of a viable replacement isn't enough. There has to be coordination amongst users to change, which seemingly only happens when there is a catalyst event. And, to make this problem even more challenging, there seems to be little motivation to create a suitable replacement, since the odds of people picking the new option over reddit is quite low, so when catalysts do come along, there are no replacements available. Facebook has basically never been replaced, it has just slowly lost steam as people shift to other kinds of social media altogether (tiktok, etc).
Where are you seeing that? I didn't see any data in that article that was tracking the extremeness of anyone's political views. Everyone who was "distinctly" liberal or conservative was lumped together, and anyone whose political views were only "slight" or "moderate" were simply excluded.