I was thinking about a lot of things as many of us do and I was going through how amazing it is that nature balances itself perfectly. Out of all the chaos in the cosmos things came about so perfectly here on Earth that happened, life just kept on keeping on. Everything fell into its routine. From the setting of the sun and night to waking with the sun and changing of the seasons.

The thought that trigged the next was how awesome it all is. Then I thought how it would suck if it were all the creation of one being, a "god" if you will. Then I was thinking how horrible it is to tell people that, "yeah all this? God made it, and that's how everything is." I never realized how much of that type of thing cripples an imagination. It also makes people extremely hostile. In a lot of places in human history it was punishment in many ways to question the accepted creationism. Could cost you your life.

Not to dig at religions, but at the reality that there are ideas and beliefs out there that stifle imagination and wonder. You can stop a kid's imagination and curiosity dead in their tracks be reinforcing whatever religious doctrine you hold as fact. It takes work for a person to overcome that, and even I have trouble disassociating religious beliefs I grew up with.

Have you seen the new fantastic fungi documentary by Paul Stamets. It's very interesting how they frame the mycelial network to be the brain of nature and that most plants fungus and animals are naturally working together in a symbiotic relationship to stay alive and more importantly keep everything in balance. With so many people on this planet running rampant and trying to compete with others it is pretty obvious why so many people have lost sight of the true beauty that all of our reality is. Have you heard of the phenomenon of NON LOCALITY? I do not believe religions have it wrong. If you replace the word god with the word consciousness things start to make a lot more sense. When you start to think "WOW! If god is consciousness and everything is connected through this conscious experience we call reality, all of us would essentially be GOD. OH MY GOD! I cant believe it!!!" People dont like to think like this though because then they would have to be held accountable for their actions. They wouldn't be able to imagine a fairy tale man forgiving their sins and freeing them from eternal mental anguish for their own terrible mistakes. They would actually have to get off their ASH and help others with their problems instead of "sending thoughts and prayers" and whatever bullshik religious people come up with to ignore the suffering of others. I think this idea is something we've all come to terms with. I think it's cool that you're having these thoughts because it wasn't long ago that I was having the same ones. I honestly cant wait until you try a dose of mushrooms dude.

Like many things, religion can be a tool for liberation or a tool for oppression.

I think the real culprit here is power and control. Those who know how to leverage and maintain power know how to use religion as a means of control. Even how we think of greed is ultimately a lust for money as a tool of power and control in itself. Why else do people with more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime not just retire and live in luxury for the rest of their lives? Because then they would have to give up the power that they hold in their position.

Maybe people are afraid of parts of their own nature that they feel unable to control, so they project it onto the world around them? Maybe it's just the eternal push-pull of the id and super-ego and we're doomed to forever be enslaved by our own biological wiring in some way?

It's absolutely hilarious when you're able to identify it and laugh at it, not so much when you're being confronted by some meathead on an ego trip.

Sorry for taking you on a tangent

Talk like that will get you in a lot of trouble these days. There's an active effort to avoid all sorts of personal responsibility. It's always lay blame and make excuses not take ownership and action. Laziness is the default mode for a lot of people. What you said some would take as a personal attack. My favorite useless tradition is sending "thoughts and prayers." You'd think the world's problems would be well beyond solved already, but no they're only growing. Maybe they're more complex and require more complex or realistic solutions than people want to admit. Plus at this point so many people are beyond committed to their way of looking at things. You're asking them to let go of and reorient their entire worldview. They have to do that to just get back to square one. Of course we're talking about being "woke" and that has become religion for a lot of people. Although I suspect it's actually a small minority but because social media is an echo chamber they're just loud. But yes, any hard beliefs by nature stifle curiosity. They discourage exploration because then the illusion falls apart. We're no different than kids trying to figure it out. Truth is everyone is lying and doesn't have anything figured out. My favorite movie character Randall summed it up in Clerks. "I hope it feels so good to be right, there's nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the short comings of others." Religion, whatever it may be for peolle from politics to theology, gives people false bravado to control and hamper others. Mainly to feel good about themselves. Saying I don't know feels a hell of a lot better to me.


Not sure about mushrooms. I think acid may be in the future. A friend is providing some soon.

Yeah we all find ourselves in echo chambers at some points in our lives. This is troublesome but at the same time you can resonate some great ideas that way. LSD is great though btw. In nature it is absolutely wonderful. Make sure to bring a pen and journal with you. You will have great insights.

Between LSD and acid the time you're in it. From what my friend tells me I'll to schedule some time to do either. The commitment time to put to those lengthy trips I shouldn't even think about. To me it sounds like a pain in the, you know. But it's not like either isn't manageable to make happen. I'd move mountains to get some lesser stuff done.

I don't think being woke is a religion by any means, I just think it resonates with a lot of younger people and younger people can be, by nature, passionate, idealistic, and over-simplistic about things.

I have a lot more respect for a cringe-y teenager on TikTok or whatever than, say, the PR department at Nike saying Black and Brown Lives Matter while having black and brown children half a world over stitching together several hundred dollar sneakers in sweatshop conditions for pennies a day. There's levels to all this, yeah? Heart of Darkness and all that.

Anyway I was trying to avoid turning this into a critique of capitalism as I'm not sure I want to be any more on a list than I probably already am. Carry on!

My initial thought to what you wrote was that the the belief that it would suck if imagination was crippled by a belief in god is actually the perfect balance of nature which you described in the previous paragraph. I personally don't make a hard distinction between human ideas and technologies and nature. Anything we manifest through our actions and thoughts is a manifestation of nature. Artificiality, is an illusion, a natural illusion. Even if it seems like we're out of balance, we're not (at least if the fundamental assumption is nature is and will always be a perfectly balanced system). If there is some way nature can get out of balance with itself then I guess we can argue that human actions might be contributing to this. Although, this seems like an arbitrary distinction to make (very human centric). All sorrow and joy are the mental, emotional experiences of natures balance playing itself out. Oppression of ideas, subjugation of peoples and freedom to explore and express are this process playing itself out in perfect unity with itself.

I think we all come from nature and therefor will find a balance. It may not be in the way we would frame as positive, but it will balance it self eventually. The whole cosmos is not to be understood as this would make everything boring. Enjoy the mystery of why. The imbalance you currently see is a measure of where we are as a humans. We have much to learn, much knowledge to pass on as best we can. I always feel like when I judge the human race that I discount it in some way, as valid as it may seem, that does nothing but feed into the stigma or perception of the world in which we were handed down. Just passing the boat down the river. It is no one person's fault that we lost touch with nature or our own perhaps say divinity or higher self. It is not a fault, no more than some kid stealing some candy because the kid didn't know any better.

Some of us are well aware of the dangerous nature of the human kind. Well aware. Unfortunately, your ripples carry only so far, but let this not dissuade you from venturing further. All is well on this adventure we all are doing this TOGETHER. If you want a different point of view, go and find it. Life is what you make of it. It can be a drag, it can be great. Make a choice in your view. It is entirely up to you. It is perfectly fine to be angry about it, in fact I salute you for pointing it out. This world is uncomfortable for many right now, you are not alone in how you feel!

We can only change ourselves and our perspective on how we choose to view everything in life. You can be mad about what the human race is doing, that shows the direction. There is not any easy answer for bringing us back to balance with nature. It will sort itself out. Worry is a misuse of time I think someone wise once said. It is true.

We are not perfect and yet we are. It is working itself out. For better or worse we have to accept the decisions the human race has made and go from there. Worrying does nothing. Realization is what will change things. The fact that you are bring it up goes to show that light is on this topic. It will find a way to balance one way or another. I admire the passion in your statements and don't fault you in the least. It is nice to know others feel uncomfortable with the course we are on as a human species.

It is what it is. We can only change ourselves. Imbalance within and imablance without. So above, so below. Accept what we have now is the only way forward. We are learning and I know we will learn to live in balance. We just have to fall on the playground and scuff a knee or elbow a few times. It's all good and everything will be ok.