https://hypernotepad.com/n/47d234e4ac57a6b0

Here's a guide for anyone interested in dipping their toes into spirituality, without having to immediately jump into any specific religion. Plenty of resources on teaching yourself to think critically of any propositions you may run into and how to get started with actual spiritual practice. Also covers things to look out for when you consider joining a spiritual community.

On Lemmy, there are a couple of religious communities but they are kinda quiet. I did connect with the mods of these though, meaning the communities aren't entirely abandoned (at the time of writing this):

• ![email protected]
• ![email protected]
• ![email protected]
• ![email protected]
• ![email protected]

Other:

• [email protected]

You can search for more of course but many are dead. If you mod a religious community, do send me a message and I'll add it - provided that your space is inclusive.

There's also a general spirituality community on Beehaw but the instance is more selective about who they federate with:

![email protected]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/47021727

Crossposted from https://lemmy.world/post/45492994

From 365 Tao: Daily Meditations by Deng Ming-Dao.

Another post reminded me of this movie trilogy and my gripe with how people at best draw the "the world is a simulation" idea from it. The directors have been clear about the influences of eastern philosophy. Which only gets more personal for them with the subtext of also exploring the experience of being transgender, and how genders are just social agreements with no inherent, fixed reality.

There are pretty pretty heavy hints in the movie (including the last one having an Upanishadic mantra in the soundtrack:

Asato mā sad gamaya (from the unreal, lead me to the real)

Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya (from darkness, lead me to the light)

Mṛtyor mā’mṛtaṃ gamaya (from death, lead me to immortality)

Unpacked here (a bit, but it’ll correct the likely, immediate misconceptions people unfamiliar with eastern philosophy would get)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoEcSc064YY

The irony is that despite its philosophical depth, The Matrix became shorthand for "what if life is a video game," which to me seems like a convenient escape from the harder questions around how we perform reality, how we cling to narratives as if they’re absolute. The Wachowskis didn’t just reference Eastern thought. They used it to ask, what can you actually truly know to be REAL?

Just wanted soapbox for a bit because I don't wanna lecture in the other thread...

(oh and let's not even get into how incredibly badly the "Red Pill" symbolism got corrupted to be the polar fucking opposite of what it was in the movie...)

I am just curious if anyone knows of some active communities on lemmy that are similar to this one? I am also interested in more esoteric subjects like astral projection, shifting, synchronicity, awakening, etc...

This touches on spirituality, and it's interesting how Stoicism, independent of Indian thought, also had the idea of the Logos and Pneuma, which kinda parallel Vāc (though the Wikipedia article isn't great, the in-depth Vāc teaching is a bit esoteric) and Prāṇa.

I think it's also worth highlighting the idea that a "word" is what gives rise to material universe. As indeed is my experience, true reality is prior to words. Words are never the thing itself, except for the word "word".

(Also, Stoicism really needs to be washed clean of Broicism)

Do you employ a consciousness-altering practice? Partake of a hallucinogen? Dance till exhausted? Near death experience? Ritual sex? Mortify your flesh? Walk in the dark? Sacrifice squirrels? Read an old book? Something else?

What's your thing?

I meditate.

It's pretty great.

I shikantazate.

As some may have noticed, I took over the sub from the absent admin. This was purely to put a stop to one user starting to post obviously AI generated blog posts of little value.

I talked with, and requested @[email protected] became another mod as they are the most active poster here.

We'll try to do our best to keep the community pleasant, and free of spam. To that end I did add some hopefully sensible rules to the sidebar:

This is a space for exploration, not proselytizing. Share your truth, but leave room for others to discover theirs. Rational discourse and lived experience is welcome; dogma and demands are not.

RULES

1. No dogma. Whatever system you want to follow is yours to follow as you feel best but don’t try to impose it on others, or otherwise shame others for not doing things your way. Discussing the tenets of your system is fine but know the difference between “this works for me”, “this is the only correct way” and “this is what the teachings say”.

2. No bigotry, hate, racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia etc. 0 tolerance policy.

3. No AI slop, or spam. No paywalled content. Limited self-promotion is fine but it shouldn’t be your sole reason of posting here. Active posters engaging positively get more leniency.

4. No soliciting or offering services of any kind.

I realize the community is rather quiet and frankly I'm fine with that. Not looking to impose dramatic changes, though I figured I could write a bit of a guide to general, non-dogmatic and rational spirituality for beginners. It's getting away from me a bit but hopefully it'll be done within a few days.

Hi everyone! I recently came across this sub-Lemmy and also recently became aware of a newish podcast that I have been enjoying. Just sharing it here in case others may also enjoy it. Feel free to recommend any other podcasts as well.