I like to lean into contemporary mythologies via comic books:

Enter Cyborg from Teen Titans. Boo-yah.

I get the impression it’s good to consider this phenomenon in a nonlinear way - “the cyclops” as an archetype or trope is on my mind, and in Futurama, the pilot of the delivery ship is a cyclopian woman.

That’s fun! What deck are you using? What spreads? Is there some way to build it so that the program uses their “left hand” to draw the cards?

I would encourage her to pick up on an activity that you’d be okay with her sharing online - like creative writing or music (as opposed to showing photos/videos of her face/body, which is my guess is your biggest and rightful concern).

The main attraction for “kids these days” from my perspective is a desire to compete (and connect) with one another. In terms of platforms that are about social expression, imo this is best channeled through creative expression on the platforms. You could also encourage her to get a boyfriend and then very quickly she’ll need to learn what she’s okay with sharing while the esteem of a young man she cares about is at stake.

It’s not oppressive to want to protect your daughter. She likely needs some creative competitive/connective outlet. Something that defines her from others while endearing her to others still - something that helps her form an identity. Plus, she might learn a skill that turns into something meaningful - whether as a “job” or just a meaningful reprieve when life gets tough.

I think differentiating between kindness and niceness like this confuses the point more than defines an outcome. I prefer the understanding “love thy neighbor” as being “truthful, honest and impartial.” Ascribing an ideal emotional outcome on the part of the recipient may always result in a capacity to withhold information; if you make the idea to always avoid possibly inflicting pain on yourself a reality, you could avoid even trying to scratch an itch that might bring immense relief.

Does it count if you’re reading books on self-hypnosis and spend 20 minutes a day trying to climb a tree…

Comedy as a genre is about manners and morality. The direction of American comedy that you reference is what I refer to as “blockbuster comedy” and the story is typically about someone who is a loser/idiot/buffoon/jerk who has a singular (usually small) moral conviction and gets transformed into a hero who would die for their conviction and the character that it’s transformed them into and typically they have one last great idiot-scheme that highlights the heroism of their idiocy while elevating their conviction.

My favorite movies that highlight this arc are Tommy Boy, Happy Gilmore and Legally Blonde…I’ve written extensively (unpublished) on the genius of Legally Blonde - how Elle doesn’t need a makeover like in so many pettier female led comedies (Miss Congeniality, Princess Diaries) but instead goes through a moral transformation (like Cher in Clueless). A moral makeover, an idea I really love these days.

Anora is one of these comedies that cares more about style and petty laughter than realizing the goal of subconsciously inspiring or motivating the audience into embracing themselves the way they are (idiot/jerk and all), so long as they follow what they care about.

Each person deserves an outlet to express their humanity. For some women, this may be baking or sewing. For others, it may be the pursuit of a high art. Still, some may need the stimulation of working with a high volume of people or numbers. And others, like this author, need to criticize the choices of other mothers to find fulfillment outside of her children.

For me, a simple idea is that if life is but a dream, how do I live a life worth remembering when I wake up?

If you do not have some intellectual reasoning to mystical experience, or if you cannot divine a logic that guides you to understanding, it can drive you mad. We need to reason through our experiences so we know how to act, and what is right or wrong for us and impart that information to others so they do not needlessly suffer through spiritual psychosis or otherwise live bereft of spirituality. The belief systems we have derive from countless unnamed people who did the same.

Does anyone else think Wikipedia entries are getting too opinionated? Like, it doesn't feel like an encyclopedia anymore - it feels like people trying to play whack-a-mole with whatever they disagree with.

He’s the master for a reason.

Shakespeare, since his death, has in the throes of western civilization re-moralizing itself occasionally been raked through the coals for his “pagan” plays.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre is about a pagan prince cursed because he married a princess who had an incestuous relationship with her father. Pericles, his queen, and their daughter, the princess, are cursed.

The daughter is sold as a whore and keeps her virginity through stunning every John with sacred words. She eventually earns a job as a sacred dancer and singer in Diana’s name and keeps her purity. The family is miraculously reunited and the king forgives his father in law.

In Evangelion, the joke is made that Americans are "really concerned about their unemployment rate"...Is there a single American comedian who could make such an decent joke about the Japanese?

Man may not be able to prevent suffering, but if those who are able do not take upon themselves to protect, shelter, and comfort those who are suffering from further exploitation and violence, they fail both Krishna and Jesus Christ.

In many of Ovid's stories of transformation in the Metamorphoses, those who transform do so for protection. Is it a hopeless dream to believe that man can invent tools and even "authorities" (organizations of people) which protect people from exploitation and suffering? Is it wrong to believe that man can transform nothing into something which protects those who are less fortunate? To deny that possibility is, to me, an intolerable regression of the definition of the potential of the human spirit.

There must be some room for the evolution of language, else those without hands through deformity or maiming risk losing human rights, the same as the unborn risk not having rights until their hands are formed and perhaps functional…further, are our rights at stake when we lose function of our hands through injury or if we do not have function of our hands through disability? I thought the documentary Tell Them You Love Me was fascinating and it fits neatly into this discussion…ultimately those who can exercise serious reasoning must protect those without hands as we are discussing them and uphold protection.

As I have the house to myself, I had the idea to give Evangelion another try… https://youtu.be/fShlVhCfHig?si=EDHjflNR4wqw5xFa

Have you ever noticed any tension in your jaw?

I could relax more.

I’m getting more serious with my meditation practice. Went down the Buddhist book rabbit hole and came across the idea of the jhanas as a next step after a metta practice, read this article, and given some patience, miraculously entered the first jhana if only for a few moments…it is next level

I haven’t been this excited about Buddhism in a while