Talking Point..........

sinnerjohn said:
Worries me when people take things as being real though.
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I tend to agree, too many people mistake the map for the territory.
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On the other hand, my sister quoted someone (don't know who) to me only yesterday.
If religion was made illegal (like sex and booze) until people are18 and free to choose for them selves, almost no one would believe in God.
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A lot of what we know, think, feel and believe are laid down by early experience and changing that in later life often isn't wanted, easy or trivial, specially when that experience has the weight of our family, community, culture and history behind it.
Of course, cults, fascists and bad actors can badly damage a person and society but having loving, kind, well meaning people leading you can somehow make it harder to tell the difference between interesting philosophical standpoints and bat s**t crazy.
 
sinnerjohn said:
Yes I get it, I'm just a realist, I shouldn't criticize and I don't really fit in with the arty crowd, so I'll :zip:
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I picked crows because I like them and they seem to listen to me and talk back. It’s a nice fantasy. The first time I heard about animal guides was on Star Trek Voyager. I’m a bit of a sceptic myself. Besides, I also saw The Birds 100 times. o_O
 
sinnerjohn said:
Just like they believe in Jesus Christ, Allah, Heaven and Hell, ghosts spirits and pixies. Each to their own I guess.
But what the heck does a spirit animal do anyway?
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sinnerjohn said:
You may be onto something there :lmao:
But sorry, seriously? Can anyone give me a rational explanation of 'spirit animals'? Don't get me wrong, I love living animals, I live with a dog and a cat and fully realise what joy they bring to my life. I just don't get the point of have some imaginary tiger or whale or owl or whatever guiding me through my difficult times.
So please, someone, give me an adult explanation of why we need imaginary animals, when there are millions of very real animals in the world.
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sinnerjohn said:
Well yes, I've read fantasy novels most of my life, but I realise dragons are not real and the Avengers aren't really going to come and save us from Thanos.
If you're saying spirit animals are a bit of 'fantasy' to help people through difficult emotions, just like religion is, then I get it.
Worries me when people take things as being real though. But officer the 800lb gorilla told me to rob the bank, he said it was my path. :rolleyes:
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Don’t take it personally. Animism is central to many cultures‘ ways of making sense of the world (aka ‘existence’, aka ’life, the universe and everything’). Not just animals, anything (trees words stones) are imbued with a soul or spirit or human-like thoughts/feelings. Think Greek mythology, Norse, Celtic Catholic Buddhist . . . Afaik most if not all* indigenous peoples have powerful animistic language practices rituals. There’s a kind of animism at work when we westerners eat cows but not the family cat — and when indigenous groups ritually hunt and eat an antelope, with gratitude for the qualities of the antelope that they take on in the process.


*is there an anthropologist in the house?
 
My understanding of “Spirit Animals” isn’t that the animal is in ‘spirit form’ but rather that ‘my’ spirit connects to the spirit of a very much living animal. My buzzards return here every year, upon their return, they dive and swoop low into my yard, right outside my windows. Once I notice them (usually through peripheral vision) and look up and then acknowledge mentally that I’ve seen them; give them a warm welcome home and tell them how much I’ve missed them; they elevate their flight path back up into the sky where they perform the most amazing ballet type dance in the air. I mentally hear their chatter as they tell me how happy they are to be ‘home’.
When I speak to them mentally, they respond. If I ask them to come closer, they do. If I ask the, to leave me feathers, they will land, pluck a feather from their wing or tail, look at me and then drop the feather where I can get to it, then fly away. Somehow, I ‘know’ they bring me healing energy and they refill my spirit which allows me to make better choices. They get my attention and spend time with me every day they are here. In the fall, they always grab my attention before they leave. I know they are saying goodbye before they migrate south.
They always leave the crows in charge while they are gone and my 3 buzzards change out for 3 crows through the winter. They act in similar fashion to the buzzards except crows are chattier.

I had an interaction with an elephant at a circus years ago. She spoke into my mind, she reached through the fence and petted me with her trunk and then hugged me. At no point in this exchang was I ever frightened (though ‘I should’ve been, she was huge) and her handler was stunned and gasped, “I don’t know what happened, she’s never done that to a stranger before! She really likes you!” And I have to say that her voice was warm and much like thickened honey, she was serene and a little sad, but assured me she was treated well. She explained how we were safer with her than anywhere else and she filled me with love. I’m probably not explaining it well or doing justice to the event. She spoke to me off-and-on for years. Her voice went quiet a few years ago and a heavy sadness settled over me. It felt like other voices joined me and mourned her passing. It was an odd experience...but one i wouldn’t trade for anything.

This is my understanding of what a spirit animal is. It’s the ‘other’ lives that cannot be ignored because they are seen so often it becomes impossible not to notice them; a ‘spirit-to-spirit’ communication that takes place between you and a life form that doesn’t speak your vocal language. It’s like when you look across a room and meet someone’s eyes...there’s a recognition and knowledge that you’ve seen each other that is almost electrical and you know, without any doubt, that you had ‘a moment’ with that person... you absolutely’know’ they weren’t looking beside you or before you, but right at you and you connected.

I hope this makes sense...and gives any who need it a different understanding of Spirit Animals.
 
zenjenny said:
Then what do you do with the stainless steel mesh filter when it's no longer functional? Steel isn’t compostable.

My DH and I muse on the ‘lesser of two evils’ thing every now & then. Do I use a lot of water to wash out a peanut butter jar so I can recycle the glass jar? Do I feed paper filters to the worms in my bathtub )farm, which breaks down [lots of stuff] and eventually enriches the soil - or do I use a plastic or steel mesh filter, give the grounds to the worms and make a small, relatively infrequent contribution to land fill ? From there, it’s a short distance to ‘how do I contribute meaningfully on a community / global level? How much do these meaningful etc contributions offset my great big clumsy western footprint? (Cue migraine :lmao: )

Segue: I love that I can support these guys via my clinic and at home :D
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I can so relate to that especially after the extreme water restrictions I experienced during Cape Town’s drought. We went through tons of wet wipes (and paper towels to save on washing towels). Cafes used paper cups to save on washing up. We sometimes used paper plates for barbecues. Tons of plastic tubs and buckets were bought so that people could stand in them. You showered in a tub then transferred the water to a bucket next to the loo to chuck down the loo when necessary. I feel guilty now when I clean a mayonnaise jar under a tap for recycling.

I believe recycling in one area sometimes causes pollution in another area. It’s like when they stopped traditional light bulbs for ‘long life‘ which required mercury. Seriously?
 
  • Are you usually early or late? Early, I’ve had to learn to be calm when the DH is making us late even if it’s 5 minutes.
  • What songs can you sing from memory? Nursery rhyme songs - I must have driven my parents insane.
  • What’s your spirit animal? A bird
  • What lie do you tell most often? Oh that, I bought it ages ago.
  • Did you get enough sleep last night? Yes
  • What if there were no hypothetical questions? I’d be like my sister and make the most disastrous mistakes.
 
Ryn S said:
Mairzy Doats “Mares Eat Oats”
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OMG!!! You took me back! When I was a kid, my dad (jazz piano player), me and my three brothers would be sitting at the dining table waiting for my mom to plate our meal/bring food to table. Dad would have us sing songs while we waited and this was one!!! ❤️ Along with My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, K-k-k-Katie, Hold Tight.... really fond memories. :inlove:
 
rizole said:
I tend to agree, too many people mistake the map for the territory.
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On the other hand, my sister quoted someone (don't know who) to me only yesterday.

A lot of what we know, think, feel and believe are laid down by early experience and changing that in later life often isn't wanted, easy or trivial, specially when that experience has the weight of our family, community, culture and history behind it.
Of course, cults, fascists and bad actors can badly damage a person and society but having loving, kind, well meaning people leading you can somehow make it harder to tell the difference between interesting philosophical standpoints and bat s**t crazy.
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I would not include the belief in spirit animals or other “new age” thoughts in the same category as religion.
 
Ryn S said:
My understanding of “Spirit Animals” isn’t that the animal is in ‘spirit form’ but rather that ‘my’ spirit connects to the spirit of a very much living animal.
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Yes... and they act as our guides through life.
 
Ryn S said:
My buzzards return here every year, upon their return, they dive and swoop low into my yard, right outside my windows. Once I notice them (usually through peripheral vision) and look up and then acknowledge mentally that I’ve seen them; give them a warm welcome home and tell them how much I’ve missed them; they elevate their flight path back up into the sky where they perform the most amazing ballet type dance in the air. I mentally hear their chatter as they tell me how happy they are to be ‘home’.
When I speak to them mentally, they respond. If I ask them to come closer, they do. If I ask the, to leave me feathers, they will land, pluck a feather from their wing or tail, look at me and then drop the feather where I can get to it, then fly away. Somehow, I ‘know’ they bring me healing energy and they refill my spirit which allows me to make better choices. They get my attention and spend time with me every day they are here. In the fall, they always grab my attention before they leave. I know they are saying goodbye before they migrate south.
Click to expand...
Ryn S said:
I had an interaction with an elephant at a circus years ago. She spoke into my mind, she reached through the fence and petted me with her trunk and then hugged me. At no point in this exchang was I ever frightened (though ‘I should’ve been, she was huge) and her handler was stunned and gasped, “I don’t know what happened, she’s never done that to a stranger before! She really likes you!” And I have to say that her voice was warm and much like thickened honey, she was serene and a little sad, but assured me she was treated well. She explained how we were safer with her than anywhere else and she filled me with love. I’m probably not explaining it well or doing justice to the event. She spoke to me off-and-on for years. Her voice went quiet a few years ago and a heavy sadness settled over me. It felt like other voices joined me and mourned her passing. It was an odd experience...but one i wouldn’t trade for anything.
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Wow.... these stories are AMAZING. Gave me chills. ❤️
 
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Belief...interesting concept all on its own. Isn’t everything a matter of belief? Quantum physics can lead to the ‘belief’ that we create all that is just by imagining it into reality...that nothing exists until we perceive it and once we perceive it, we create it in reality (such as it were) because in true actuality everything is just frequency. We must tune our individual receivers to be able to perceive the frequency which then we translate into some semblance of physical form because we agree to perceive it as such. I’ve only begun to grasp some of the theories in quantum physics & quantum entanglement but they’ve opened up my thinking and explained some of my experiences.
 
RoseCat said:
OMG!!! You took me back! When I was a kid, my dad (jazz piano player), me and my three brothers would be sitting at the dining table waiting for my mom to plate our meal/bring food to table. Dad would have us sing songs while we waited and this was one!!! ❤️ Along with My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, K-k-k-Katie, Hold Tight.... really fond memories. :inlove:
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I’d forgotten My Bonnie lies over the Ocean! That’s another one! :thumbs:
 
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