Casey Finnigan posted:

hey man I'm not judging just make sure you use a clean towel

jarofpiss posted:

which one makes you remember to put the oil in?

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

Admiral Ray posted:

what the gently caress is a fae

Homeless Friend posted:

in the dresden series, harry potter or w/e his name is looks at a faes rear end for like a whole minute. i was like goddamn jim (author), calm down,

exmarx posted:

any way, seems like a waste of time to go after cspam's witches, magicians, etc. when there's a bunch of social democrats skulking around

twoday posted:

Lenin scorned religion. Yet, the rejection of the tendency of humans towards superstition and beliefs which are detached from material reality is itself a denial of the material condition of humanity, for it denies an intrinsic part of the human psyche.

The problem of eliminating religious belief was not one which the Soviet Union could solve - their patchwork solution was to replace the cult of Jesus Christ and the tsar with the cults of Lenin and Stalin, and to replace the utopic vision of an otherworldly paradise with a utopic vision of full communism, always just a few years around the corner. In effect, it was little more than the replacement of one religion with another. So many paintings and statues were made, just to serve as stand-ins for the paintings and statues which had come before. And what is the result? How did this new alternative religion fare? The statues are demolished, the paintings discarded, the ideals these were meant to promote now rejected and despised by so many they were taught to, quickly and easily replaced by the ones which had come before.

If we look at Poland we see that decades of Communist rule did little to eliminate Christianity there; the percentage of people there who are currently faithful to the Catholic Church is comparable to that in Italy. And when we compare modern Russia, which was run by Communists for 70 years, we find that they have just as many (if not more) Christians per capita as do countries in Western Europe which existed under liberal free market or fascist economic and social systems for that same period of time. It is said that the Russian Orthodox Church builds, on average, three new churches a day. So why did the Bolsheviks, who were so vocally opposed to religion, fail so miserably at wiping it out in a place where they held power for so long?

The problem was not that 20th century Marxism in practice disregarded the tendency towards religion and worship, far from it. In fact, they realized the necessity of such things, which is why so much effort was put into attempts to establish cults of personality, why so many images of Lenin were produced. These were, in the same way that mass-produced statues of the Buddha are today, designed to be objects of worship alienated from the original philosophy which they are supposed to represent.

The problem was not that 20th century communists failed to understand the importance of faith and ritual and imagery and symbolism within the human psyche. If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that the development of the mastery of symbolism and the mesmerization of the masses was one of the chief pursuits of the Soviet artists and propagandists, whether they were Leninist Constructivists, Stalinist Realists, or whatever else. The painting of Stalin on the wall came to function as a stand-in for the all-seeing eye of god, and socialist ideology was promoted not only as a system of thought, but an alternative to religion - an attempt to be its own opiate of the masses. Though often repeating Lenin’s words about religion being the opium of the masses, they did not eliminate religion in their society, they merely replaced other religions with a state-sanctioned religion of their own, which was (quite ironically) the cult of Lenin. Posters bearing bearing his face became as ubiquitous as images of Christ once had been, and just like Christ he was deified as a savior figure. Lenin lived, Lenin lives, and Lenin will live - immortal even after his physical death. Just like the pharaohs who had been worshipped as gods, so too was his body preserved, red carnations brought regularly to his tomb as offerings and signs of respect by the faithful.

The reason the Soviets did such a poor job of defeating religion was not because they underappreciated it, quite the opposite. The problem was that they had started playing a game that they were poorly equipped to win. They fundamentally held an overly simplistic understanding of the relationship between humanity and religion and other irrational beliefs. They thought that one could replace the images of Christ with those of Stalin, to replace the moralistic stories of the Bible with the precepts of the pioneer, the utopia of heaven with the utopia of communism, and expect the public to internalize it in the same way. If only it were so simple!

One reason that the cult of Lenin died out is because it was invented in the time of the revolution, and though it may have been impressive to proletariat masses of its time, it didn’t keep up with spiritual needs of the people as they evolved over time. Decade after decade, no further attempts were made to develop this pseudo-theology in the minds of the masses, and it quickly lost its sway. Having little to offer but the same repetitive images and slogans, it no longer had a meaningful connection to people’s daily lived experiences, and as the words started to ring hollow, many people felt alienated and became disillusioned with the socialist project, in the same way that one abandons a church.

The reason that Christianity, Islam, and even paganism have been rising in popularity in many countries of the former USSR is because those faiths have evolved over centuries to respond to the realities of lived human experience and the human psyche as we struggled to make sense of the world, and these religions lived on in the minds of people alongside them and to guide them in everything that they did. This was achieved through the actions of countless thousands of religious leaders, who not only prescribed to the faithful how they should live their lives, but who also observed their existing practices and determined how to absorb existing rituals and practices into their own belief systems, and most importantly tried to connect to them via their lived experiences of human spirituality.

Surely we know better by now than to listen to such leaders, but the nature of humans in matters of belief is to take up the ideological system which most thoroughly explains their world and lived experience. If one wants to firmly plant into the minds of people a doctrine of dialectical materialism, one shouldn’t resort to brute force in supplanting their irrational and ancient beliefs. That doesn’t work very well. Such an approach is short-sighted. In order to convert people, to make them believe for generations that they must work together for the improvement of their common material conditions and the construction of a socialist society, their faiths and folk customs must not be supplanted, but subsumed, and absorbed into the broader socialist project. This is even the official policy of the CCP when dealing with Buddhists in Tibet now, if you know anything about the next Dalai Lama.

Because by understanding that, one can understand the irrational tendencies that motivate their fellow human beings, and use that knowledge to improve their own understanding of the human psyche, and use that understanding in turn to spread dialectal materialist beliefs, and work towards improving the material condition. Especially if you live in a culture where more people believe in horoscopes and good luck charms than in the immortal science, have you never considered that your belief system might have something to learn from that rival one, in the very least in terms of how to appeal to also many of the poor unenlightened souls who surround you?

Soviet attempts to popularize a Marxist belief system in any lasting way in the USSR also failed because they were based upon a fallacy - the presupposition that a human being is a rational actor, and that the human mind is only capable of entertaining one set of beliefs at a time. One must believe either this or that. One must either be a Marxist or be religious. Yet, one could argue that the artists, poets, and others who worked to deify Lenin were, in effect, both Marxists and religious. We observe hypocrites daily, people who seem to earnestly believe one thing, yet act in seemingly incompatible ways. One can know there are no monsters in their house at night, yet still feel afraid of the dark. This is the sad reality of the human condition - that we are by our nature complex, imperfect, and self-contradictory. And of course, even Marxists are capable of entertaining two contradictory sets of beliefs at the same time. If this weren’t the case, the process of dialectical synthesis would be impossible.

Thus, in order to understand humanity, in order to work towards the betterment of humanity, in order to effectively spread an understanding of the philosophy which can achieve that goal, one must acknowledge this contradictory nature of the human mind. It is a fundamental aspect of being human. We are not infallible beings operating solely upon logic and theory, we are just as much apes motivated by irrational desires and beliefs. Regardless of our social conditions, this is how our brains are wired, and thus it is a material condition of the human existence. And failure to acknowledge the material reality of the human condition won’t get you very far as a Marxist, will it?

So I say, if they want to, Marxists can learn to interpret symbols, devise and perform rituals, meditate, go into trances. Why not try your hand at all the irrational things that are meant to make your ape brain tingle with hope and fear? If it’s not done with the goal of abandoning your mind to nonsensical beliefs, but to develop a better understanding how your mind works, both the rational parts and the irrational ones, then it is not incompatible with Marxist beliefs. Embrace all facets of your contradictory human psyche and come to understand yourself and others as thoroughly as you can, irrational beliefs and all. Develop an understanding of the human mind, of human experience, and use that knowledge to improve the material condition. Even if these experiences seem to stand in contradiction to firmly held Marxist beliefs, you shouldn’t fear that those will replace them. If you truly believe in dialectical reasoning, then you know that you are capable of experiencing simultaneous contradictory thoughts, and also just as capable of resolving the contradiction.

The synthesis of religion and logic, of ritual and reasoning, and the resolution of these supposed conflicts, are even necessary if one wants to enjoy the complete range of human experience. For how else can one ever hope to feel the wisdom of a prophet, the compassion of a savior, the conviction of an apostle, the determination of a saint, all while being certain that there is no god, and no other worlds besides the material one. To do so is verily what it means to “be one’s own sun,” and “to pluck the living flower.”

As the old saying goes, “Man makes religion, religion does not make man.” So I say, make your religion, perform your rituals, go forth and spread the good word, convert others to your faith. There is no reason a Marxist can’t do so, and there’s no reason that religion couldn’t be Marxism. But take the story of the cult of Lenin as a warning - if you chose to make your religion based upon an incomplete understanding of the human psyche and the human condition, if you neglect the irrational and contradictory nature of human beings, if you devise an inadequate religion that doesn’t seize people at their core, that can’t even accommodate their simple rituals, that fails to catch on, that is quickly replaced by others - well, there will be no gods for you to curse when it all falls apart. That’s on you.

exmarx posted:

any way, seems like a waste of time to go after cspam's witches, magicians, etc. when there's a bunch of social democrats skulking around

Mandoric posted:

That's my point, I'm someone who came within half a hair of riding the gifted kid brokebrains train all the way to Fishmechville, and "Annie's thirsty" is still an easier way for me to remember which reservoirs to top off. It's no way to build a coherent functioning picture of the world, but division of labor is such that we must do things we have no coherent functional picture of, and I'm not sure what improves on "know what we don't know and just don't actively prognosticate about the implications of our story".

Dixon Chisholm posted:

hah twoday believes in god what a loser

Homeless Friend posted:

i blame the fall of the ussr because the leaned the whole thing on a short guy. that make sense to you?

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

lol wtf

Vladimir Lenin 5′ 5″
Josef Stalin, 5'5
Nikita Khrushchev 5′ 3″
Leonid Brezhnev 5′ 8″
Mikhail Gorbachev 5′ 9″

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

lol wtf

Vladimir Lenin 5′ 5″
Josef Stalin, 5'5
Nikita Khrushchev 5′ 3″
Leonid Brezhnev 5′ 8″
Mikhail Gorbachev 5′ 9″

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

lol wtf

Vladimir Lenin 5′ 5″
Josef Stalin, 5'5
Nikita Khrushchev 5′ 3″
Leonid Brezhnev 5′ 8″
Mikhail Gorbachev 5′ 9″

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

lol wtf

Vladimir Lenin 5′ 5″
Josef Stalin, 5'5
Nikita Khrushchev 5′ 3″
Leonid Brezhnev 5′ 8″
Mikhail Gorbachev 5′ 9″

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

lol wtf

Vladimir Lenin 5′ 5″
Josef Stalin, 5'5
Nikita Khrushchev 5′ 3″
Leonid Brezhnev 5′ 8″
Mikhail Gorbachev 5′ 9″

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

anyways that is a dumb little essay that says nothing. religion and spirituality will always serve reaction, marxism is inherently in conflict with superstition and mysticism. blaming the collapse of the Soviet Union on the failure to build an alternative to religion instead of the 70 year assault by the actual REAL forces of capitalism, imperialism and reaction is antimaterialist lib nonsense.

Probably Magic posted:

Taller than all those bitches. Pathetic!

Xaris posted:

Donald Trump 6' 9"

Marzzle posted:

yeah being picky about who you're willing to date instead of giving milquetoast lipservice to whatever mad poo poo someone believes in so you can get your dick wet is probably a basic dating skill and basic level of development for being a decent human being

Scrub-Niggurath posted:

naw dude Tauruses just loving suuuuck

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

lol wtf

Vladimir Lenin 5′ 5″
Josef Stalin, 5'5
Nikita Khrushchev 5′ 3″
Leonid Brezhnev 5′ 8″
Mikhail Gorbachev 5′ 9″

a Loving Dog posted:

Short kings

Show idea: The Bitcher posted:

So theres this guy that goes around with two different personalities at his disposal to slay bitches with a bitch medallion that alerts him when a high level thot is nearby. He drinks various intoxications that will make him more confident in his bitch pursuits and sexual slayings. His hair is white from being misogynistic in trying to argue and put sense and logic and reason into these bitches. He tries to help the more intelligent ones and hits and quits the dumber bitch monsters.

reignonyourparade posted:

Why the gently caress is the "make fun of witchcraft" thread getting retitled to a witchcraft thread. Pretty sure that's just going to result in the witchcraft people whining when they get made fun of in the make fun of witchcraft thread.

reignonyourparade posted:

Why the gently caress is the "make fun of witchcraft" thread getting retitled to a witchcraft thread. Pretty sure that's just going to result in the witchcraft people whining when they get made fun of in the make fun of witchcraft thread.

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

suffer not a suffer not a witchcraft thread to live thread to live

quote:

How to cleanse obsidian necklace pendant?

I have seen a few methods such as salt bath and leaving it out in the moon but don’t know which one to use. Where I live it has been very cloudy lately, plus I already missed the full moon( don’t know if that matters), and I heard when doing a salt bath the salt can get stuck in cracks and ruin the pendant over time. There is also sage but I don’t know if I can get away with it in my bathroom. Any help would be appreciated!