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ivan-fyodorovich-k · 4 months

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If you had to capture Silicon Valley’s dominant ideology in a single anecdote, you might look first to Mark Zuckerberg, sitting in the blue glow of his computer some 20 years ago, chatting with a friend about how his new website, TheFacebook, had given him access to reams of personal information about his fellow students:

Zuckerberg: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard Zuckerberg: Just ask. Zuckerberg: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS Friend: What? How’d you manage that one? Zuckerberg: People just submitted it. Zuckerberg: I don’t know why. Zuckerberg: They “trust me” Zuckerberg: Dumb fucks.

That conversation—later revealed through leaked chat records—was soon followed by another that was just as telling, if better mannered. At a now-famous Christmas party in 2007, Zuckerberg first met Sheryl Sandberg, his eventual chief operating officer, who with Zuckerberg would transform the platform into a digital imperialist superpower. There, Zuckerberg, who in Facebook’s early days had adopted the mantra “Company over country,” explained to Sandberg that he wanted every American with an internet connection to have a Facebook account. For Sandberg, who once told a colleague that she’d been “put on this planet to scale organizations,” that turned out to be the perfect mission.

Facebook (now Meta) has become an avatar of all that is wrong with Silicon Valley. Its self-interested role in spreading global disinformation is an ongoing crisis. Recall, too, the company’s secret mood-manipulation experiment in 2012, which deliberately tinkered with what users saw in their News Feed in order to measure how Facebook could influence people’s emotional states without their knowledge. Or its participation in inciting genocide in Myanmar in 2017. Or its use as a clubhouse for planning and executing the January 6, 2021, insurrection. (In Facebook’s early days, Zuckerberg listed “revolutions” among his interests. This was around the time that he had a business card printed with I’M CEO, BITCH.)

And yet, to a remarkable degree, Facebook’s way of doing business remains the norm for the tech industry as a whole, even as other social platforms (TikTok) and technological developments (artificial intelligence) eclipse Facebook in cultural relevance.

To worship at the altar of mega-scale and to convince yourself that you should be the one making world-historic decisions on behalf of a global citizenry that did not elect you and may not share your values or lack thereof, you have to dispense with numerous inconveniences—humility and nuance among them. Many titans of Silicon Valley have made these trade-offs repeatedly. YouTube (owned by Google), Instagram (owned by Meta), and Twitter (which Elon Musk insists on calling X) have been as damaging to individual rights, civil society, and global democracy as Facebook was and is. Considering the way that generative AI is now being developed throughout Silicon Valley, we should brace for that damage to be multiplied many times over in the years ahead.

The behavior of these companies and the people who run them is often hypocritical, greedy, and status-obsessed. But underlying these venalities is something more dangerous, a clear and coherent ideology that is seldom called out for what it is: authoritarian technocracy. As the most powerful companies in Silicon Valley have matured, this ideology has only grown stronger, more self-righteous, more delusional, and—in the face of rising criticism—more aggrieved.

The new technocrats are ostentatious in their use of language that appeals to Enlightenment values—reason, progress, freedom—but in fact they are leading an antidemocratic, illiberal movement. Many of them profess unconditional support for free speech, but are vindictive toward those who say things that do not flatter them. They tend to hold eccentric beliefs: that technological progress of any kind is unreservedly and inherently good; that you should always build it, simply because you can; that frictionless information flow is the highest value regardless of the information’s quality; that privacy is an archaic concept; that we should welcome the day when machine intelligence surpasses our own. And above all, that their power should be unconstrained. The systems they’ve built or are building—to rewire communications, remake human social networks, insinuate artificial intelligence into daily life, and more—impose these beliefs on the population, which is neither consulted nor, usually, meaningfully informed. All this, and they still attempt to perpetuate the absurd myth that they are the swashbuckling underdogs.

Comparisons between Silicon Valley and Wall Street or Washington, D.C., are commonplace, and you can see why—all are power centers, and all are magnets for people whose ambition too often outstrips their humanity. But Silicon Valley’s influence easily exceeds that of Wall Street and Washington. It is reengineering society more profoundly than any other power center in any other era since perhaps the days of the New Deal. Many Americans fret—rightfully—about the rising authoritarianism among MAGA Republicans, but they risk ignoring another ascendant force for illiberalism: the tantrum-prone and immensely powerful kings of tech.

The Shakespearean drama that unfolded late last year at OpenAI underscores the extent to which the worst of Facebook’s “move fast and break things” mentality has been internalized and celebrated in Silicon Valley. OpenAI was founded, in 2015, as a nonprofit dedicated to bringing artificial general intelligence into the world in a way that would serve the public good. Underlying its formation was the belief that the technology was too powerful and too dangerous to be developed with commercial motives alone.

But in 2019, as the technology began to startle even the people who were working on it with the speed at which it was advancing, the company added a for-profit arm to raise more capital. Microsoft invested $1 billion at first, then many billions of dollars more. Then, this past fall, the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, was fired then quickly rehired, in a whiplash spectacle that signaled a demolition of OpenAI’s previously established safeguards against putting company over country. Those who wanted Altman out reportedly believed that he was too heavily prioritizing the pace of development over safety. But Microsoft’s response—an offer to bring on Altman and anyone else from OpenAI to re-create his team there—started a game of chicken that led to Altman’s reinstatement. The whole incident was messy, and Altman may well be the right person for the job, but the message was clear: The pursuit of scale and profit won decisively over safety concerns and public accountability.

Silicon Valley still attracts many immensely talented people who strive to do good, and who are working to realize the best possible version of a more connected, data-rich global society. Even the most deleterious companies have built some wonderful tools. But these tools, at scale, are also systems of manipulation and control. They promise community but sow division; claim to champion truth but spread lies; wrap themselves in concepts such as empowerment and liberty but surveil us relentlessly. The values that win out tend to be the ones that rob us of agency and keep us addicted to our feeds.

The theoretical promise of AI is as hopeful as the promise of social media once was, and as dazzling as its most partisan architects project. AI really could cure numerous diseases. It really could transform scholarship and unearth lost knowledge. Except that Silicon Valley, under the sway of its worst technocratic impulses, is following the playbook established in the mass scaling and monopolization of the social web. OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and other corporations leading the way in AI development are not focusing on the areas of greatest public or epistemological need, and they are certainly not operating with any degree of transparency or caution. Instead they are engaged in a race to build faster and maximize profit.

None of this happens without the underlying technocratic philosophy of inevitability—that is, the idea that if you can build something new, you must. “In a properly functioning world, I think this should be a project of governments,” Altman told my colleague Ross Andersen last year, referring to OpenAI’s attempts to develop artificial general intelligence. But Altman was going to keep building it himself anyway. Or, as Zuckerberg put it to The New Yorker many years ago: “Isn’t it, like, inevitable that there would be a huge social network of people? … If we didn’t do this someone else would have done it.”

Technocracy first blossomed as a political ideology after World War I, among a small group of scientists and engineers in New York City who wanted a new social structure to replace representative democracy, putting the technological elite in charge. Though their movement floundered politically—people ended up liking President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal better—it had more success intellectually, entering the zeitgeist alongside modernism in art and literature, which shared some of its values. The American poet Ezra Pound’s modernist slogan “Make it new” easily could have doubled as a mantra for the technocrats. A parallel movement was that of the Italian futurists, led by figures such as the poet F. T. Marinetti, who used maxims like “March, don’t molder” and “Creation, not contemplation.”

The ethos for technocrats and futurists alike was action for its own sake. “We are not satisfied to roam in a garden closed in by dark cypresses, bending over ruins and mossy antiques,” Marinetti said in a 1929 speech. “We believe that Italy’s only worthy tradition is never to have had a tradition.” Prominent futurists took their zeal for technology, action, and speed and eventually transformed it into fascism. Marinetti followed his Manifesto of Futurism (1909) with his Fascist Manifesto (1919). His friend Pound was infatuated with Benito Mussolini and collaborated with his regime to host a radio show in which the poet promoted fascism, gushed over Mein Kampf, and praised both Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. The evolution of futurism into fascism wasn’t inevitable—many of Pound’s friends grew to fear him, or thought he had lost his mind—but it does show how, during a time of social unrest, a cultural movement based on the radical rejection of tradition and history, and tinged with aggrievement, can become a political ideology.

In October, the venture capitalist and technocrat Marc Andreessen published on his firm’s website a stream-of-consciousness document he called “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto,” a 5,000-word ideological cocktail that eerily recalls, and specifically credits, Italian futurists such as Marinetti. Andreessen is, in addition to being one of Silicon Valley’s most influential billionaire investors, notorious for being thin-skinned and obstreperous, and despite the invocation of optimism in the title, the essay seems driven in part by his sense of resentment that the technologies he and his predecessors have advanced are no longer “properly glorified.” It is a revealing document, representative of the worldview that he and his fellow technocrats are advancing.

Andreessen writes that there is “no material problem,” including those caused by technology, that “cannot be solved with more technology.” He writes that technology should not merely be always advancing, but always accelerating in its advancement “to ensure the techno-capital upward spiral continues forever.” And he excoriates what he calls campaigns against technology, under names such as “tech ethics” and “existential risk.”

Or take what might be considered the Apostles’ Creed of his emerging political movement:

We believe we should place intelligence and energy in a positive feedback loop, and drive them both to infinity … We believe in adventure. Undertaking the Hero’s Journey, rebelling against the status quo, mapping uncharted territory, conquering dragons, and bringing home the spoils for our community … We believe in nature, but we also believe in overcoming nature. We are not primitives, cowering in fear of the lightning bolt. We are the apex predator; the lightning works for us.

Andreessen identifies several “patron saints” of his movement, Marinetti among them. He quotes from the Manifesto of Futurism, swapping out Marinetti’s “poetry” for “technology”:

Beauty exists only in struggle. There is no masterpiece that has not an aggressive character. Technology must be a violent assault on the forces of the unknown, to force them to bow before man.

To be clear, the Andreessen manifesto is not a fascist document, but it is an extremist one. He takes a reasonable position—that technology, on the whole, has dramatically improved human life—and warps it to reach the absurd conclusion that any attempt to restrain technological development under any circumstances is despicable. This position, if viewed uncynically, makes sense only as a religious conviction, and in practice it serves only to absolve him and the other Silicon Valley giants of any moral or civic duty to do anything but make new things that will enrich them, without consideration of the social costs, or of history. Andreessen also identifies a list of enemies and “zombie ideas” that he calls upon his followers to defeat, among them “institutions” and “tradition.”

“Our enemy,” Andreessen writes, is “the know-it-all credentialed expert worldview, indulging in abstract theories, luxury beliefs, social engineering, disconnected from the real world, delusional, unelected, and unaccountable—playing God with everyone else’s lives, with total insulation from the consequences.”

The irony is that this description very closely fits Andreessen and other Silicon Valley elites. The world that they have brought into being over the past two decades is unquestionably a world of reckless social engineering, without consequence for its architects, who foist their own abstract theories and luxury beliefs on all of us.

Some of the individual principles Andreessen advances in his manifesto are anodyne. But its overarching radicalism, given his standing and power, should make you sit up straight. Key figures in Silicon Valley, including Musk, have clearly warmed to illiberal ideas in recent years. In 2020, Donald Trump’s vote share in Silicon Valley was 23 percent—small, but higher than the 20 percent he received in 2016.

The main dangers of authoritarian technocracy are not at this point political, at least not in the traditional sense. Still, a select few already have authoritarian control, more or less, to establish the digital world’s rules and cultural norms, which can be as potent as political power.

In 1961, in his farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned the nation about the dangers of a coming technocracy. “In holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should,” he said, “we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite. It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system—ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.”

Eight years later, the country’s first computers were connected to ARPANET, a precursor to the World Wide Web, which became broadly available in 1993. Back then, Silicon Valley was regarded as a utopia for ambitious capitalists and optimistic inventors with original ideas who wanted to change the world, unencumbered by bureaucracy or tradition, working at the speed of the internet (14.4 kilobits per second in those days). This culture had its flaws even at the start, but it was also imaginative in a distinctly American way, and it led to the creation of transformative, sometimes even dumbfoundingly beautiful hardware and software.

For a long time, I tended to be more on Andreessen’s end of the spectrum regarding tech regulation. I believed that the social web could still be a net good and that, given enough time, the values that best served the public interest would naturally win out. I resisted the notion that regulating the social web was necessary at all, in part because I was not (and am still not) convinced that the government can do so without itself causing harm (the European model of regulation, including laws such as the so-called right to be forgotten, is deeply inconsistent with free-press protections in America, and poses dangers to the public’s right to know). I’d much prefer to see market competition as a force for technological improvement and the betterment of society.

But in recent years, it has become clear that regulation is needed, not least because the rise of technocracy proves that Silicon Valley’s leaders simply will not act in the public’s best interest. Much should be done to protect children from the hazards of social media, and to break up monopolies and oligopolies that damage society, and more. At the same time, I believe that regulation alone will not be enough to meaningfully address the cultural rot that the new technocrats are spreading.

Universities should reclaim their proper standing as leaders in developing world-changing technologies for the good of humankind. (Harvard, Stanford, and MIT could invest in creating a consortium for such an effort—their endowments are worth roughly $110 billion combined.)

Individuals will have to lead the way, too. You may not be able to entirely give up social media, or reject your workplace’s surveillance software—you may not even want to opt out of these things. But there is extraordinary power in defining ideals, and we can all begin to do that—for ourselves; for our networks of actual, real-life friends; for our schools; for our places of worship. We would be wise to develop more sophisticated shared norms for debating and deciding how we use invasive technology interpersonally and within our communities. That should include challenging existing norms about the use of apps and YouTube in classrooms, the ubiquity of smartphones in adolescent hands, and widespread disregard for individual privacy. People who believe that we all deserve better will need to step up to lead such efforts.

Our children are not data sets waiting to be quantified, tracked, and sold. Our intellectual output is not a mere training manual for the AI that will be used to mimic and plagiarize us. Our lives are meant not to be optimized through a screen, but to be lived—in all of our messy, tree-climbing, night-swimming, adventuresome glory. We are all better versions of ourselves when we are not tweeting or clicking “Like” or scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.

Technocrats are right that technology is a key to making the world better. But first we must describe the world as we wish it to be—the problems we wish to solve in the public interest, and in accordance with the values and rights that advance human dignity, equality, freedom, privacy, health, and happiness. And we must insist that the leaders of institutions that represent us—large and small—use technology in ways that reflect what is good for individuals and society, and not just what enriches technocrats.

We do not have to live in the world the new technocrats are designing for us. We do not have to acquiesce to their growing project of dehumanization and data mining. Each of us has agency.

No more “build it because we can.” No more algorithmic feedbags. No more infrastructure designed to make the people less powerful and the powerful more controlling. Every day we vote with our attention; it is precious, and desperately wanted by those who will use it against us for their own profit and political goals. Don’t let them.

#artificial intelligence

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kingstylesdaily · 4 years

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Harry Styles Is the World's Biggest Young Rock Star. Why Won't Rock Radio Play Him?

If you were to invent an artist to keep the flame burning for classic rock in a musical mainstream increasingly unfriendly to the genre's traditions, they'd probably look and sound a lot like Harry Styles.

A dashing, long-haired, highly fashionable and occasionally gender-bending young Briton who dates pop stars and supermodels, makes free-love music videos, worships at the altars of Mick Jagger and Stevie Nicks and sells out arenas worldwide with his guitar-based, lightly psychedelic pop-rock? At times, Styles' superstardom almost feels fictional, like some character a middle-aged writer would draw up for Russell Brand to play in a slapstick comedy, despite the archetype being almost entirely absent from the last decade-plus of popular music.

But it isn't just real, it's still growing. Styles' sophomore LP Fine Line posted one of the best first-week numbers of 2019 -- moving 478,000 equivalent album units in its first week, double the first-week number for his 2017 self-titled debut -- and it's still in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart seven months later. While traditional radio success eluded Harry on his first album, Fine Line has seen two of its singles, "Adore You" and "Watermelon Sugar," wholeheartedly embraced on the airwaves, becoming his first two top five hits on Billboard's Pop Songs chart -- and his first two top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 since his solo debut "Sign of the Times" bowed at No. 4.

Yet for all his current success and acclaim, the world's biggest young rock star continues to be ignored at rock radio. While he appears well on his way to becoming a pop radio fixture, Styles has never even cracked any of Billboard's rock or alternative airplay charts.

Rock radio's initial reluctance to embrace Styles was hardly surprising, given his musical roots as one-fifth of the massively successful vocal group One Direction. Despite having their own fair share of rock-flavored hits, 1D was considered to be firmly in the pop lane, especially by radio. So have virtually all rock-leaning groups to fall under the "boy band" umbrella, even including acts like the Jonas Brothers and 5 Seconds of Summer who play some or all of their own instruments. Even though Styles' solo debut was clearly more indebted to David Bowie and Queen than Michael Jackson and ABBA, he was still very much "Harry Styles of One Direction" -- and like all the group's alums, had to prove himself as an artist outside of their well-established milieu.

However, at this point, Harry Styles no longer needs the "of One Direction" to establish his place in the musical mainstream -- he is very much a solo star in his own right, with his own identity (and plenty of his own fans) totally outside of 1D's massive shadow. And as his own artist, though many of his songs are pop-accessible, his chosen lane is obviously rock, as evident by his (oft-namechecked) classic rock influences, his full-band setup, and his predominantly guitar- and piano-driven songs. As traditional rock music continues to fade from contemporary relevance, and youth-appealing, streaming-embraced stars like Styles are in particularly short supply, there would certainly be good reason to embrace him as part of the format -- particularly at alternative radio, where many stations have already begun to stretch their playlists to include pop-approved, less traditionally rock stars like Billie Eilish and Post Malone.

There are few indications to this point, though, that many are interested in doing so with Styles. While "Watermelon Sugar" continues to climb at pop radio, only one station monitored by Billboard for our Alternative Songs airplay chart has attempted to play it: Alt 92.3 (WNYL) in New York, which gave it a paltry two spins in the prior tracking week. (WNYL declined to speak to Billboard about Styles for this story.)

Part of the reason for this is, simply, that Styles' label Columbia Records isn't actively working his songs to rock or alternative radio. Even in a streaming age where programmers don't need to literally be sent an artist's song to have the ability to play it, that still matters. Radio columnist Sean Ross (of the Ross on Radio newsletter) explains that songs not being promoted to a certain radio format "tends to be the number one explanation for, “Why isn’t anybody playing this?'"

"I wish radio, in general, showed more enterprise on music," Ross says. "But there’s no reason to expect that even the stations that play a quirky, pop-leaning version of the alternative format would go out of their way to play a Harry Styles song without being asked.”

It's also worth noting that pop radio has also been slow to embrace Styles -- even going back to the One Direction days, where despite the group's massive popularity, they only ever notched two top 5 hits on Mainstream Top 40 (as many as Styles has already as a solo artist). By choosing "Adore You" as an advance single from Fine Line -- following the more reintroductory first taste "Lights Up" -- Styles' team made their priorities clear. "Last time around, Harry Styles presented himself as a rock artist, and didn’t find a home at rock or pop radio," Ross says. "This time, he’s clearly pursuing pop radio with the singles that have been chosen."

One place on rock radio where Styles might have better luck finding a home is at Adult Alternative, where both "Sign of the Times" and "Watermelon Sugar" have received airplay. It's not a ton in either case -- "Watermelon Sugar" is currently only being played at two stations reporting to Billboard's Triple A listing, WCLX in Burlington, Vt. and KVYN in Napa Valley, Calif. But neither station views playing the song as all that out of character for their brand.

"It fits what we’re doing, and we don’t care where it came from," WCLX programmer Chip Morgan explains. "We like Harry... and that’s it. It’s a great summer song." Playing a song by a top 40 artist who comes from the pop world doesn't mean a ton to Morgan, because he says that they "don't pay attention to top 40" at WCLX anyway. "Before ['Adore You'], we didn’t really know that much about [Styles]," he admits.

Despite his younger-leaning core following, it makes sense that Styles might also appeal to more Adult Alternative listeners, because his older musical reference points are actually much more in line with traditional Gen X and boomer sensibilities than the millennials and Gen Z-ers that mostly comprise his fanbase. "On KVYN, it wouldn't be a rare thing to have a mix of music where Harry Styles was donuted in between Tom Waits and the Grateful Dead," explains Nate Campbell, director of music and programming for the station. "I'm sure other radio programmers would laugh at this, and that's fine with me. But that's how we are choosing to try and entertain our market. And reception has been good, I'd say."

It's unclear whether the rock radio world will ever fully accept Harry Styles as their own -- or if Styles' own team will see much advantage in pushing him as such, when they've already conquered the much-bigger pop world. But Morgan and Campbell agree that it's crucial for radio programmers in 2020 to be open-minded when it comes to filling their playlists, and not to be too influenced by what musical world an artist originally comes from.

"I may have some reservations in the back of my mind about 'credibility' when it comes to some pop acts," Campbell admits. "But I think it's important to quickly move past my own biases, based on my belief that [our genre's defintion] IS amorphous now -- it's a completely different listening world now in this streaming era. And it's important to take that into consideration when trying to blend your radio station in with that listening landscape."

via Billboard

#kingstylesdaily #Harry Styles #hs: article #hs: billboard #July 2020

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strangenewfriends · 4 years

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Part of the reason for this is, simply, that Styles' label Columbia Records isn't actively working his songs to rock or alternative radio. Even in a streaming age where programmers don't need to literally be sent an artist's song to have the ability to play it, that still matters. Radio columnist Sean Ross (of the Ross on Radio newsletter) explains that songs not being promoted to a certain radio "tends to be the number one explanation for, “Why isn’t anybody playing this?'"

#just thought this was interesting #despite some of the tone of this #and that dating popstars and models paragraph lmao #billboard

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ofcloudsandstars · 4 years

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Hi again! This is the faith questioning anon. Thank yo so much for taking some time for me - please respond whenever you have the energy or time, I'm in no rush. So. This might be a bit of a doozy. When I first started practicing witchcraft back in late 2016/early 2017 I felt this sort of longing for devotion and faith, but wasn't sure where to go with it. I did the bare minimum of research (my bad) and started looking the norse pantheon. I thought Thor sounded the most genuine/kind of... (1/4)

(cont) ... the gods, so I prayed to him. I set up a little altar, I gave offerings on his feast day, and at one point I'm POSITIVE I had a vision from him. He appeared with red hair and a red beard, dressed all in black. He smiled and said "So you think I look like a rockstar, huh?" and just as suddenly as the vision started, it ended. As much as it was wonderful, I don't feel I NEED a direct relationship like that to worship, but I digress... Over the past few years, my relationship with the Norse pantheon, and Thor specifically has gone from very direct signs and omens to being... Pushed? The last surefire sign I received from Thor was the distinct feeling of being lead elsewhere, as though he was dropping me off and parting ways. I'm not upset. It's quite beautiful in a way. But now I don't know where I am. I have a close tie to dragons (a whole different thing) but I've been dreaming of horses. Every time I meditate I see the same set of cliffs, overlooking the sea. I was OBSESSED with Scotland and Scottish culture in my teens, and being dropped back off in celtic lands by Thor seems... Fitting? Appropriate? Like a historical echo. I don't know how to reach out to the gods of the Celts, be it the Gaelic, the Brythonic, the Gaulish, or what have you. I'm not sure where to go for readings or signs for help. I'm just so confused.

Hey! Sorry again that this did take a day for me to get back to but it's my first day off! :)

That's interesting that you wanted to build your faith in 2016/17 cause that's when Saturn was transiting Sagittarius. It was a time for me to really add structure to my craft and learn more about it too.

However instead of looking to the next set of gods to devote your energy to, you should look into why you would like a deity connection in the first place? What relationship are you looking for? Also it seems like you would be better off trying to connect with the land or realm then a specific deity. I feel like deities are reflections of nature or divine archetypes that exist in all of us or in the nature surrounding us. If the Celtic realms in the UK are calling you then maybe you should try to visit or do some ancestral work if you have ancestry from there. Maybe look into magical traditions from there. Often when you work with the physical realm in a spiritual way, the energetic/magical realm follows close suit. You could find a deity to connect with naturally through that practice as you develop a relationship with the land or those qualities within yourself. Thor may have tried to help you find that by guiding you back to a part of nature that made you feel free and ecstatic (like the symbolism of horses).

My advice here, especially during Neptune Rx where our connection to symbols and ideas may feel stripped away and we can find the root meaning of our faith within ourselves or reality around us, is to try to reconnect with the land, your ancestry if it comes from something Celtic or your inner child when you were obsessed with that culture. It could have been for a genuine reason like something in that land was from a memory that's still apart of your soul or you are meant to do work there or gain wisdom from going there or incorporating the practice that can help others.

I hope this insight helps!

#pantheon #deities #witchcraft #neptune retrograde #ask

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childofthetheoi · 5 years

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my religious journey - hellenic polytheism

this is going to start when i started on the hp path because before that it was a MESS yall. but uuuuh here we go!

edit: uh holy shit this really got away from me - i’m really not kidding when i say i could write books about this stuff. there’s a tl;dr at the bottom

here’s an attention-grabbing summary: my path has had a LOT of bumps and pain and sadness but im in a really good place right now!

okay, so my hp path began when i was 16-17 ish (i’m 22 now). i was raised presbyterian and wasn’t personally christian, but i liked the idea of having something to believe in and help guide my life.

my high school years were some of the darkest of my life second only to freshman year of college, and i felt like i was floundering and needed an anchor. i started thinking about religion, but i just Wasn’t Christian, so that wasn’t a path for me. i had dabbled a little in general paganism, doing some things here and there, so i started turning my attention to the theistic forms of paganism. i followed a lot of people who were very open about their faith, and i think that really helped me feel comfortable with taking the first steps - i wasn’t weird for being pagan.

at first, i looked to the kemetism. i had a lot of interest in it as a kid, so i thought that was as good a place as any to start... but nothing ever really clicked for me. i felt pretty bummed about that, because i was just so desperate for SOMETHING (you’ll find this is a common theme here lmao). so i went back to being unsure, until i started to take a hard look at things that felt powerful to me and special. i’m someone who is incredibly drawn to the ocean and the night sky, but also fire in any form. so, i started looking into those things individually. i’m not really sure how, but i eventually ended up reading a bunch on hellenic polytheism - this is around age 17-18.

nothing still quite felt right that i was reading, but i really liked hekate. i started trying to reach out - i built an altar, made offerings, said prayers, the works. i now do think she was there with me, but i was so caught up on needing Big Signs and Religious Moments that i just discouraged myself when that didn’t happen. i stopped working with hekate at age 19 - i was upset, mostly with myself for my own perceived failures. i went back into sadness and desperation, and continued to read about hellenic polytheism and following blogs on tumblr about it. i was frankly jealous of everyone else, because they seemed to have these intense, special relationships with these deities. i think part of my downfall is that i am an extremely skeptical person - and i tend to be a bit dense and miss the little things. i had (and have, at times!) SO much doubt in me, and i just didn’t see the whole religion thing happening for me.

finally, at the end of 2017 (age 19) i met one of my best and most special friends sarah. i honestly don’t remember how i found out she was a hellenic polytheist, but i don’t think it was until 2018? anyway, i asked her a bunch of questions and was just generally excited to actually meet someone IN REAL LIFE who was pagan like me. she is... a very patient person, and answered any question i asked her (and still does - bless you) about her experiences. something that sarah said off-handedly at one point really changed the game for me.

there’s no right way to do or experience religion. WHAT? i had lived my whole life thinking there was One Right Way to do everything, and she crumbled that impression with just one sentiment. i don’t think i’ve ever actually mentioned this to her - but it really opened me up to realizing that things may turn out right for me, and i’d find where i belong in religion.

i spent a lot of 2018 in a lot of pain and upset about not being able to figure out religion, and it all came down to new year’s. i had been talking for months about wanting to find my place, and a deity (or several) to worship and maybe even dedicate myself to. i told her about how much it hurt to feel like i was lost, searching for my anchor. she did a tarot reading for me about my path, and told me about where i was and where i was going. she told me she felt someone extremely excited to meet me, almost like they were outside a window - pointing and jumping in my direction, and going “I CHOOSE THEM! I WANT THEM!” this absolutely flabbergasted me. a deity, excited about meeting me? excited about having me in their followers? surely that couldn’t be right.

i took this experience to heart, and began trying to reach out and soul search about who could be reaching out. i hit a lot of brick walls, but i kept reminding myself that i was strong, and that it would happen with time if i just kept myself open.

and then it happened. i was in my room, doing a general prayer, basically just talking out loud about how badly i wanted to ‘meet’ this deity. then hermes hit me like a brick wall. i feel like this is a universal experience for people who worship hermes, lmao.

i did a ton of research, started directing my prayers at hermes, and i realized that he was in every facet of my life. i felt him when i worked out, i felt him when i was in class, i felt him on the road, i felt him when i was at my lowest points. and, honestly? he really was excited to have me. i had someone on my side.

i’m not sure i can even begin to put how happy, overjoyed, satisfied, and peaceful i feel now that i have been working with hermes, worshipping him, loving him. his presence in my life is honestly one of the best things that has ever happened to me, and i cannot express how thankful i am for him.

TL;DR: i had an extremely bumpy path throughout my religious life, and when i stopped putting pressure on myself to be perfect, i finally came to the new beginning i was looking for.

if you’re curious about any part of my story, or want to know more about my worship with hermes, or even about random things like how i think my christian upbringing affects my current religious path - PLEASE send them my way! i would love nothing more than to share.

i may make another post soon about more specific things - the things i have experienced working with hermes, my particular relationship with him, my doubt, other things like that in various posts. i’d really like to share more in the future, because i know it’s important to me to try and help others religiously - i pray that my stories can help anyone like others have helped me.

i hope you enjoyed reading this, and maybe it brought some kind of new perspective to your worship or your path ♥

#hermes #hermes*#hermesdeity #hellenic polytheist #hellenic polytheism #hellenic pagan #hellenic witch #paganism #theoi worship #theoi #mine

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confrontingbabble-on · 5 years

Link

“On a Sunday afternoon, humanist chaplain Greg Epstein stands in front of about 90 people in an MIT auditorium. It’s an eclectic group, with young kids and college students, thirty-something parents and gray-hairs all attending because of a shared disbelief—no one here has faith in God.

“People who don’t happen to believe in a god, or affiliate with a traditional religion, still want to support one another in living out our positive values.”

”Religion isn’t just fading from campus, though—all throughout the city, faith is dying out. It’s a notion that once seemed unthinkable. Not so long ago, religious institutions permeated city life, forming communal centers for the pious and the profane alike; they simply were the community. Increasingly, though, religion’s power is giving way to the church of scientific inquiry. Religion’s importance in people’s lives is on the decline across the country, but the Bay State is on the trend’s leading edge, tied with New Hampshire for the official title of least religious state, according to the Pew Research Center. Massachusetts is tied for third in what statisticians call “religious nones,” people who say they’re not affiliated with any religion, at 32 percent of residents. Compare that to the 33 percent who said religion is “very important” in their lives. Or the 40 percent who told Pew in 2014 that they’re “absolutely certain” they believe in God—the lowest among the 50 states. Or the scant 23 percent who attend a religious service every week.The result of all of this is that Boston—the cradle of Puritanism in Colonial America, known as the most Catholic city in the nation during the 20th century—has become a secular town in the 21st. Many people, young and old, are concluding that religion doesn’t fit their ethics or their lives. They judge religion for the times it’s created conflict rather than bridging divisions. They believe in equality for women and LGBTQ people, and they won’t join patriarchal or anti-gay religions. New belief systems now dominate the city: higher education’s critical thinking, science’s demand for evidence, technology’s drive for results, liberal politics’ notions of progress and social justice. Some of this is a reaction to national politics—an expression of Boston’s sense of itself as a besieged liberal bastion—but it’s also a rejection of the Old Boston, the Irish-Catholic city on a hill.

“Prior to 2002,” ...“the archbishop of Boston had a direct line to any Massachusetts politician he wanted to talk to.” That time is long gone, says Margaret Roylance, vice president of Voice of the Faithful, a group of lay Catholics formed in 2002 to press for church reforms. “I don’t think the church is the 800-pound gorilla that it was. Politicians are not afraid to support something the church opposes...”

There was a time, of course, when religion and the church taught Bostonians morals and how to treat one another. Scripture, from the Bible to the Koran, provided foundational guidelines for humanity and social justice, not to mention the basis for the Golden Rule. Church leaders also taught us the value of hard work and kept us in line. Not so much anymore. “Catholic church leaders used to have a kind of moral force in Massachusetts,” says Stephen Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University. Big civic debates in Boston, such as whether to host the Olympics, would have included the Catholic leadership’s opinions. Now they don’t.

“In the olden days, you’d always go to Catholic leadership,�� Prothero says. “Nowadays, I just don’t see why you would. They used to matter. I just don’t think they matter anymore. I think the moral capital has been spent.”

Even many Catholics who’ve stayed in the church don’t much care what the leadership thinks anymore. “Catholics, whether on the progressive or conservative end of the scale, none of them really trust the bishops to do the right thing,” Roylance says. The sex-abuse cover-up “made us look at them differently...”

The sex-abuse scandal may have hurt all churches in Boston, not just Catholic ones, says Stephen Kendrick, senior minister at First Church Boston, a Unitarian Universalist congregation. He recalls talking about Catholic clergy sex abuse in one of his first services after taking over First Church in 2001. “I said it’s going to affect us, because it makes a whole generation of people feel distrustful of authority and particularly religious authority,” he says. “I think that’s a particular challenge in Boston. That is a wound that is not healed. And it affects every religious institution in this city.”

As shattering as the sex-abuse scandal has been, it’s hardly the only reason people are leaving Catholicism—in one national survey, only 32 percent of former Catholics named the scandal as one of the reasons they left. In fact, among the religiously unaffiliated in general, 60 percent said they left their childhood faith because they simply stopped believing in the religion’s teachings.

Friday night comes as a time to relax instead of attend Shabbat services, and Sunday brunch beckons the family instead of a 9 a.m. service. In other words, Kendrick says, “What happened to the Catholic Church in the last 20 years didn’t just happen to the Catholic Church.”

They’ve seen the surveys that show the number of religious nones exploding and the number of professed Catholics declining. “The power of the Catholic Church to move a civic agenda or political agenda is much reduced...”

From...https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2018/12/11/boston-given-up-on-god/

#nonreligious #atheist #agnostic #secular humanist #skeptic #Religion #Christianity #religious insanity

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trinitysmagick · 6 years

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The Witch Challenge

Saw this going around, figured I’d poke at it... keep it going with your own answers and enjoy!

1. Are you solitary or in a coven? Can I say both? I practice with my coven and I also practice as solitary - to better myself and for magick or intent that I cannot share with others.

2. Do you consider yourself Wiccan, Pagan, witch, or other? Pagan… witch...

3. What is your zodiac sign? Pisces (Sun and Rising) Sag (Moon)

4. Do you have a Patron God/dess? Yes, Cerridwen.

5. Do you work with a Pantheon? Yes - a couple actually. I work closely the Welsh/Celtic pantheon, but I also work with Greek and Norse gods as well. I’m eclectic at heart, so I am open to any of the god/desses that call to me.

6. Do you use tarot, palmistry, or  any other kind of divination? Yes - tarot, astrology, mediumship are my go to’s.

7. What are some of your favorite herbs to use in your practice? (if any) Rosemary, Cedar, Mugwort

8. How would you define your craft? Eclectic at heart, and it has morphed over the years. Right now, it seems to be a form of Celtic Shamanism with a dash of Strega (which surfaced over the past year as I started to study where exactly I came from).

9. Do you curse? If not, do you accept others who do? This seems a rather personal question and in my honest opinion, is only the business of the practitioner… that being said, I do accept others that do, as long as they do responsibly.

10. How long have you been practicing? Actively practicing, 10 years - although I did start dabbling closer to 20 years ago.

11. Do you currently or have you ever had any familiars? Yes… he’s a black and white ‘water’ cat - his name is Boo. :)

12. Do you believe in Karma or Reincarnation? Yes. Both.

13. Do you have a magical name? Yes, a few actually - know to most as Trinity, initiated as Cerridwen Cauldronborn in March of 2017 - and the other names are only know to those in my closest circle.

14. Are you “out of the broom closet”? Yeah, for the most part...

15. What was the last spell you performed? Feb. 16… well after ritual that night.

16. Would you consider yourself knowledgeable?

Yes, but with still countless things to learn.

17. Do you write your own spells? Yes.

18. Do you have a book of shadows? If so, how is it written and/or set up? Yes, have a family BoS and 2 personal ones. Family book is wood bound, personal one is leather and the other a 3 ring binder. Not all that organized except to the people who use them.

19. Do you worship nature? This seems like a silly question...

20. What is your favorite gemstone? Septarian

21. Do you use feathers, claws, fur, pelt, skeletons/bones, or any other animal body part for magical work? Yes - hair, feathers, bone, cat claws and whiskers - all naturally ‘given’.

22. Do you have an altar? Several.

23. What is your preferred element?

Water.

24. Do you consider yourself an Alchemist?

Yes.

25. Are you any other type of magical practitioner besides a witch?

As in what exactly? A witch is a magick practitioner - there are categories and types of magick, but if you practice magick, you’re some type of witch.

26. What got you interested in witchcraft? The husband - he grew up Pagan. And my folks never really liked him because he identified as a witch and, you know, that’s bad. So, after we got married, I figured, well he can’t be all that bad and did some research. Nothing has ever resonated more with me in my life!

27. Have you ever performed a spell or ritual with the company of anyone who was not a witch? No.

28. Have you ever used ouija? Yes, often.

29. Do you consider yourself a psychic? Yes.

30. Do you have a spirit guide? If so, what is it? A couple actually - my animal guide is an otter.

31. What is something you wish someone had told you when you first started? I don’t really know - don’t have an answer to this one.

32. Do you celebrate the Sabbats? If so which one is your favorite? Yes - the slope of Mabon/Samhain/Yule - those are my favs.

33. Would you ever teach witchcraft to your children? Yes, and I do.

34. Do you meditate? Yes.

35. What is your favorite season? Fall.

36. What is your favorite type of magick to preform? Invocative, Sympathetic, and Divinatory

37. How do you incorporate your spirituality into your daily life? Meditation, almost daily. I also have crystals/herbs and other magickal items placed throughout and outside of the house for various magick things. I also do a lot of candle work, at least once a week.

38. What is your favorite witchy movie? Mists of Avalon

39. What is your favorite witchy book, both fiction and non-fiction. Why? Nonfiction is a toss up between Crone Magic and Cauldronborn… fiction, I enjoyed Harry Potter and the Witch and Wizard series.

40. What is the first spell you ever performed? Successful or not. It was a banishing - and it was successful.

41. What’s the craziest witchcraft-related thing that’s happened to you? When I was researching Paganism, trying to decide if it was horrible or not, I put a call out to the Goddess - told her, if she wanted me, she would have to give me some kind of undeniable sign. That night, I woke three different times, to a woman’s voice yelling my name. My husband heard nothing. That’s when I decided to dedicate myself to the work of the Goddess.

42. What is your favourite type of candle to use? All of them, I’m really not prejudice ;) I’m a candle maker myself...

43. What is your favorite witchy tool? Again, all of them - I don’t use anything for my Craft that I don’t love.

44. Do you or have you ever made your own witchy tools? Yes.

45. Have you ever worked with any magical creatures such as the fea or spirits? Yes, all the time.

46. Do you practice color magic? Yes.

47. Do you or have you ever had a witchy teacher or mentor of any kind? Mostly books and experience - and the husband, who simply just let me explore.

48. What is your preferred way of shopping for witchcraft supplies? Shopping small biz!

49. Do you believe in predestination or fate? Yes, but I also believe it can be changed.

50. What do you do to reconnect when you are feeling out of touch with your practice? This usually happens when life gets busy and I don’t make time to meditate - and I need to just get back into it.

51. Have you ever had any supernatural experiences? Yes, quite a few actually

52. What is your biggest witchy pet peeve? The hypocrites… those who claim to be a witch just because it’s trendy or they’re a rebel. Those who walk around like they know everything there is to know, and and look down their nose at others because they’ve practiced longer/trained in whatever/older/younger/different path/etc.

53. Do you like incense? If so what’s your favorite scent? Yes, but I usually make my own - love frank and myrrh resins tho!

54. Do you keep a dream journal of any kind? Yes.

55. What has been your biggest witchcraft disaster? Doing magick during a voc moon - smoke alarms blaring at midnight, almost set ablaze my altar!

56. What has been your biggest witchcraft success? This is a tough one, and there’s a few that come to mind… but I think the biggest ‘success’ is me. As I get to know myself and better myself, the stronger I become, and with magick, that makes all the difference!

57. What in your practice do you do that you may feel silly or embarrassed about? Not really - I have my practice, you have yours. I don’t judge others, and could care less if they judge me.

58. Do you believe that you can be an atheist, Christian, Muslim or some other faith and still be a witch too? Indeed!

59. Do you ever feel insecure, unsure or even scared of spell work? I used to, not anymore.

60. Do you ever hold yourself to a standard in your witchcraft that you feel you may never obtain? I hold myself to getting better with every ritual/spell.

61. What is something witch related that you want right now? Tattoos… looking to get a Celtic knot cuff on my wrist and the bard symbol on the back of my neck with “Ní neart go cur le chéile” - There’s no strength without unity.

62. What is your rune of choice? Jera

63. What is your tarot card of choice? The Fool

64. Do you use essential oils? If so what is your favorite? Aromatherapist here! My favorite is clove.

65. Have you ever taken any kind of witchcraft or pagan courses? Yes - online and in person.

66. Do you wear pagan jewelry in public? Yes.

67. Have you ever been discriminated against because of your faith or being a witch? Yes.

68. Do you read or subscribe to any pagan magazines? Yes.

69. Do you think it’s important to know the history of paganism and witchcraft? Yes.

70. What are your favorite things about being a witch? Everything...the freedom to just be yourself.

71. What are your least favorite things about being a witch? The instant fear in someone’s face when they find out I’m a witch...and then the preaching that follows.

72. Do you listen to any pagan music? If so who is your favorite singer/band? Yes - Damh the Bard/Blackmore’s Night

73. Do you celebrate the Esbbats? If so, how? Yes - with coven when they have ritual and at home during the full moon. We light up the candles, make offering to the nature spirits, re-ward and cleanse the house, sit out crystals in the moonlight and sometimes sing to the moon herself.

74. Do you ever work skyclad? Yes, but only at home.

75. Do you think witchcraft has improved your life? If so, how? Yes - I’ve done A LOT of self work in my Craft, not that I’m anywhere near done! My confidence has improved greatly, ,my understanding of people and the world in general has shifted, I’m empowered, I’m a healer, and I am free, spiritually. I’m still working thru physical and mental health issues, but it’s easier now - and I have a family that supports my growth.

76. Where do you draw inspiration from for your practice? My daydreams, walks out in nature, and late nights - after a certain hour, I’ve found that I think and perceive things a little different… and I’m more comfortable with myself as well.

77. Do you believe in ‘fantasy’ creatures? (Unicorns, fairies, elves, gnomes, ghosts, etc) Yes.

78. What’s your favorite sigil/symbol? Triquetra

79. Do you use blood magick in your practice? Why or why not? Yes, and just began recently - not for just anything tho. It started because someone gave me an idea, so I did my research and tried it. Blood magick is a powerful tool and it works, so I use it when needed.

80. Could you ever be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t support your practice? No.

81. In what area or subject would you most like your craft to grow? Right now, my magickal goal is very personal.

82. What’s your favorite candle scent? Do you use it in your practice? See, I make candles, so this is a rough one :/ I have one called Witches Brew, which is a blend of amber and ylang ylang,,, that’s probably my favorite… and yes!

83. Do you have a pre-ritual ritual? (I.e. Something you do before rituals to prepare yourself for them). If so what is it? Bath or shower with salts/oils/incense

84. What real life witch most inspires your practice? I don’t really have one.

85. What is your favorite method of communicating with deity? Invocation/channelling

86. How do you like to organize all your witchy items and ingredients? Drawers and boxes - organized so that I know where everything is and disorganized enough so that others can’t ;)

87. Do you have any witches in your family that you know of? After a bit of research, I found a few on both sides of my family - but my family did a decent job hiding it, to the point where I’m not even sure my parents know about them.

88. How have you created your path? What is unique about it? Tbh, I believe everyone’s path is pretty unique - and yes, I do not follow a particular path because I’m eclectic. My path shifts and changes when the need arises… kinda like that river thing, you never step in the same river 2x because it’s always moving and changing? That’s kinda what my Craft is like.

89. Do you feel you have any natural gifts or affinities (premonitions, hearing spirits, etc.) that led you toward the craft? If so what are they? Empathy and premonitions are things I grew up with and evolved naturally into my practice. Spirit communication, energy healing and divination came very easy to me, once I woke up to them.

90. Do you believe you can initiate yourself or do you have to be initiated by another witch or coven? It’s a personal decision, really. I believe it can be done either way.

91. When you first started out in your path what was the first thing or things you bought? Candles

92. What is the most spiritual or magickal place you’ve been? Sedona, AZ

93. What’s one piece of advice you’d give someone who is searching for their matron and patron deities? Let them come to you - meditate and pray, keep an open heart and mind - then do your research!

94. What techniques do you use to ‘get in the zone’ for meditation? Not a lot, noise cancellation headphones work well tho (don’t even need the music, just the silence)!

95. Did visualization come easily to you or did you have to practice at it? Visualization comes very easy to me.

96. Do you prefer day or night? Why? Late night; it has been my experience that the mind works better the later it gets.

97. What do you think is the best time and place to do spell work? Dusk; outdoors

98. How did you feel when you cast your first circle? Did you stumble or did it go smoothly? Well, I clearly remember feeling the shift - whether or not it was ‘smooth’, I have no idea lol - but I considered it a success when I felt the shift.

99. Do you believe witchcraft gets easier with time and practice? Yes.

100. Do you believe in many gods or one God with many faces? Both.

101. Do you eat meat, eggs and dairy? Yes to meat, no eggs or dairy (mostly because I have crappy reactions to them)

102. What is your favorite color and why? It’s a toss up between midnight blue and forest green… and it’s just because I like them really.

103. What is the one question you get asked most by non-practitioners or non-pagans? How do you usually respond? So, what do you do exactly? And tbh, the answer all depends on who’s talking to me...

104. Which of your five senses would you say is your strongest? Toss up - hearing/smell. 105. What is a pagan or witchcraft rule that you preach but don’t practice? Are there really rules? And I try not to teach/preach things I don’t practice...and when I do, someone promptly throws my words back at me!

#pagan #wicca #witch #witchcraft #witchblr #magic #magick #goddess #knowthyself #aboutme #spirit #spirituality #spiritualgrowth

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apostolic-fashion · 6 years

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As I was looking for topics to write about I came across one that said to share your playlist and I thought that was a great idea. Recently I received an email from Spotify showing me my top songs and genres and it was really interesting to see which ones I listened to the most. I'm going to share my top tracks of 2017 with you now and hopefully you can enjoy them too. Also, these aren't in any specific order but I really loved all of these songs this year.

Sinking deep - Hillsong

Even if - MercyMe

While I'm waiting - Travis Greene

What a beautiful name - Hillsong

Backseat driver - TobyMac

Saved - Eddie James

Covered - Planetshakers

O Come to the altar - Elevation worship

Hallelujah Chant - Ultimate call ft Eddie James

Crossover - Travis Greene

Do it again - Elevation worship

Greater things - Faith worship arts ft John Dreher

Made a way - Travis Greene

See the light - Travis Greene

Your great name - Todd Dulaney

Here as in heaven - Elevation worship

Great God - Tasha Cobbs

Take me there - Anna Golden

We dance - Steffany Gretzinger

Reckless love - Cory Asbury

Hills and valleys - Tauren Wells (acoustic)

Grateful - Ted Winn

Wanna be happy? - Kirk Franklin

Breakthrough - Eddie James

Joy - Vashawn Mitchell

Magnify - Eddie James

Lights shine bright - TobyMac

I'm getting ready - Tasha Cobbs

What were your top songs this year? Feel free to suggest some songs to me in my inbox, I'm always looking for new music.

Anyway, thanks for reading my post and I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to suggest any topics you'd like to see me write about. God bless!

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starlight-otter · 6 years

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Thank you!

@mandafails (I think that’s right, please correct me if I’m wrong) sent this lovely card to me as part of my Witchy Wishlist, and she also sent me a packet of tea! So unexpected and I shall save it for a special occasion, it looks delicious. Inside the card was a letter, which I will reply to here as I can’t send anything back at the moment and other people might be interested to learn more about me.

What is my area like at the moment?

Cold and dreary, to put it bluntly. There is no snow but there is rain which is making things rather icy in the mornings, sometimes all day (the bird bath on my patio keeps freezing over so I have to go out and stomp on the ice to break it). But in town there was a Christmas market which I looked around this week and all the lights and decorations are up, which made things feel rather festive. The photo below is of the Christmas lights just outside my town’s shopping center.

Why did I become Pagan?

I’ve always had an interest in ancient history and when I learnt about the Egyptians and the Romans when I was between the ages of 7-9 in school it was the gods and goddesses that I really connected with. But it was taught with an air of ‘nobody worships these any more, they are from dead religions’ so I didn’t think I could move my interest into anything more. I was 15-16 when I finally researched into nature based religions and found paganism. It just clicked, especially Celtic based paths, as it tied neatly with my interest in British pre-Christian archaeology. In fact I love that period of history so much I took archaeology as my degree! It opened up such a connection to my (very, very) distant ancestors by handling the tools they made and visiting the sites that they had once lived.

Do I like reading?

Yes, I’ve usually got at least one book out of the library at a time, although I do have some books that I own that I haven’t read yet! I usually read books in themes/series - previously I started reading through M. C. Beaton’s ‘Hamish Macbeth’ series and now I am reading though my library’s stock of Doctor Who novels. At the moment I’m reading ‘The Undertaker’s Gift’ by Trevor Baxendale, a Torchwood tie-in, which is just as creepy as it sounds. I’m glad I wasn’t reading it around Halloween/Samhain!

Your books sounds interesting too, I shall have to look it up and see if I can get it in my local library, I love anything with a bit of supernatural in it.

Do I have any Yule/Christmas traditions?

Yule is only celebrated by me in my house/family so it is a rather quiet affair. I decorate my altar, think back over the previous year and the future one and do a tarot reading or two.

Christmas on the other hand involves the eight of us in my family going to one of our houses for Christmas Day and having a big meal and family get together, opening presents, ect (the rest of my family are atheists so the day is just a family togetherness day with no religious overtones). The only other thing that must happen on Christmas Day is watching the Doctor Who Special - thankfully, though they are not really interested in it, my family let me watch it, even if it pushed the time of the evening meal back a little. They know I’m a massive Whovien.

@mandafails I hope you have better 2018 than 2017, a blessed Yule and a happy new year. Thank you so much for sending me this lovely card. <3

#witchy wishlists #witchy wishlist 2017 #witchblr #witchy wishlist #Yule #about me

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kootenaygoon · 4 years

Photo

So,

The dancers didn’t realize it, but they were on fire.

I gazed silently across the grass from my fold-out camping chair, watching the kids dance barefoot in the purple glow, and found myself transitioning between the music being played onstage at Kamp in 2017 and the worship concerts I used to sit through back at Camp Qwanoes. How long ago was that now, 17 years? I could see the filthy sandals on my feet, the ethereal glow of the projector, the band calling out for holy fire to descend on the chanting congregation. Becca was nowhere to be seen, so I was slowly submerging into this mushroom-induced reverie, flashing through all the different times I’d ever opened my voice up to God.

Refiner’s fire, my heart’s one desire is to be holy. Set apart for you, Lord.

When I was in high school I spent years writing and re-writing a novel that was supposed to be my testimony. It was called The Way Things Are. The main character Jethro ran away with his girlfriend Charity to rob gas stations, fleeing her abusive father, then ended up coming to Christianity after a bunch of criminal hijinks. It was more interesting than my real testimony, which was that I’d become the pseudo-son of our youth pastor Trent and devoted my life to becoming his disciple. Of all the kids in the Powerhouse youth group, I was his favourite. Trent had a special connection with God, a calling, and that’s what I wanted for my life. I didn’t want to be some boring suburban kid without a purpose. I wanted someone to hand me a light sabre.

I took a sip of my drink and felt my mental circus shift, dislodging me back into the moment. My feet felt like they were kissing the dew, making out with the slick blades of grass, and I sighed with satisfaction. The last time I got this high off mushrooms I ended up swimming in the Gulf of Thailand, talking to the moon as if it was my mother. I always learned things from these trips, even if it was something dark.

It was during one mushroom trip that I named my blog Literary Goon.

“Do you remember you used to promise that you would give me your first born child? As payment for all those Chinese lunches, those trips to the mall? Do you remember we made that deal?” Trent asked, sitting down in Becca’s spot.

“You thought we were kidding around, but I was dead serious.”

I sat up straight, pulling my knees to my chest. I was a teenager again and Trent looked exactly like I remembered him, though he was haggard from being in prison for 11 years. “I was a kid myself, man. I didn’t know what I was saying. I didn’t even think I was going to get married.”

“You wanted to be my Padawan apprentice.”

I took another sip of my drink, trying to man-handle my mind. Maybe I could get somewhere a little less dark, a little bit less fucked up. “You know they found child pornography on your computer? The Delta Police. They found it on your computer in the youth trailer.”

He frowned. “I know.”

“And Vick told me about that picture he found, of a naked boy, in your leather jacket. He said you talked your way out of it. Said it wasn’t yours. But who has pictures of naked boys in their pockets?”

He looked up at the Kamp performers. This guy Frase was performing while his girlfriend Emily break-danced. Becca was in the thick of it. She seemed to know everybody here. “But you know me, Will. You know I would never hurt anybody.”

“Maybe not. You were definitely gay, and all repressed about it, and you definitely crossed some lines. Maybe not in Canada, but in Mexico? In Mexico, I think you’re guilty. I think you did something you can’t even admit to yourself. You fucked those kids, Trent.”

He hung his head. “There’s no such thing as perfect people.”

There was no turning back now. I was emotionally invested in this conversation, and I’d been yearning to have it for over a decade now. “I built my whole worldview around you, do you understand that? My whole Christian belief system was based on the things that you taught me. So when they arrested you, I lost it all. I lost all my faith, Trent. What do I have left now? I’m just this fucking loser shit-head who doesn’t understand the goddamn universe.”

Tears trickled down his face, making him look Christ-like. “I told you: don’t let my situation be an excuse for you to turn your back on God. I can suffer through lots of things, but I can’t know that I was the reason you lost your faith in God.”

I stood up. “You know what? Fuck God. Tell Him I said that.”

Right at this moment Becca appeared, her face glistening from dancing. Purple fire danced in her eyes. Frase’ soundscape surrounded us like a giant bubble, a glistening planet-like orb that contained us in this forest. I didn’t want to do any more time traveling, didn’t near to scour my emotional landscape right now. I just wanted to have fun. But sometimes I felt like I didn’t know how to have fun anymore, didn’t know how to interact with real people.

Refiner’s fire, my heart’s one desire is to be holy.

“You’re being so lame, you should come dance,” Becca said. “It looks like you’re sitting back here talking to yourself like a crazy person.”

I shook my head. “I can’t deal with movement right now. The mushrooms are kicking in and I just need to hang tight, okay? I need to stay in control of this.”

She laughed, then spun away into the darkness. Had she even really been there? I turned and Vick was beside me, jostling, as we stood in line to approach the front of the St. David’s sanctuary. There had been an altar call, and Trent was calling believers to the front railing to experience the Holy Spirit. The kids who went sprawling backwards when he touched their foreheads were considered “slain in the spirit” and volunteers jumped up to lay pink blankets over them as they seized in holy bliss.

“Do you think it feels like getting high?” Vick whispered, vibrating with excitement. “They say it’s like electricity going all through your body.”

“It’s never worked for me. I didn’t feel it.”

“This time will be different. This time you’ll feel it. Trust me.”

But now we weren’t in line for salvation, we were in line for mushroom milkshakes in Thailand. They tasted like chocolate milk that had gone bad. My soul sluiced through the realities of all these different Will Johnsons, bringing me from one insane mind orgasm to the next. These were the sorts of revelations you couldn’t put into words, the kind of experiences that thunder out their meaning for years after they’ve died. All this time I’d been hunting rapists with Andrew Stevenson and the truth was staring me blunt in the face: Trent. I wanted to forgive him.

He was the key to everything. When they’d first arrested him in Tijuana, as we raced through those labyrinthine streets in our gleaming white van, I prayed to God like I’d never prayed before. The Devil had surfaced, had revealed his skeletal face, had swept Trent out of our lives. There was some special purpose he had for my pseudo-father, down there in Hell, preaching to the heroin-addicted denizens of a gulag I would never see. Back then I prayed for a machine gun, for a helicopter and a SWAT team with the fire power necessary to break him out of prison. We were Eminem and Dr. Dre. He’d saved my life, now it was time to save his.

“So you think he’s guilty?” Vick asked, watching the purple fire consume the Kamp dancers. He took a long drag of a joint, then passed it to me.

I was annoyed. “Everyone says ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire’. And there’s so much fucking smoke, Vick. Anybody with eyes can see it. I think back to our relationship and I’m pretty sure I was being groomed, right? Like I was probably inches away from getting molested by this guy.”

Vick squinted. “But he never touched you?”

“He put his arm around me when we watched movies sometimes. He tickled me. I mean, we were affectionate. And I knew he was weird, but I’m weird too.”

“Yeah, but you’re not a pedophile. You’re not a goof.”

I sat back down in my chair and rubbed my eyes until I was back in the Thai ocean, the water lapping around my face as I monologued to the sky. I felt like everything was worth it so I could experience this moment. This was the reason I was born, this was what all those years were leading up to. My mother had beckoned me down to Earth and now she was shimmering benevolent in the heavens.

“I understand it now, Mom,” I said, beginning to laugh. “I understand everything.”

The Kootenay Goon

0 notes

johnchiarello · 7 years

Text

KINGS 13

Jeremiah 6:27

I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

1Kings 13:1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.1Kings 13:2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.

Kings 13-

https://youtu.be/twt47Xhpa84

https://vimeo.com/238755846

http://ccoutreach87.com/10-13-17-kings-13/

http://ccoutreach87.com/10-13-17-kings-13-2/

ON VIDEO-

.Prophet pronounces judgment on authority

.The same dynamic in my current Acts study

.Authority figure goes after the prophet

.The authority figure gets judged

.The prophet prays for him

.The false prophet shows up

.Did he know he was prophesying a lie?

.Or was he just comfortable with religious ‘speak’?

.The money gospel

.Death Penalty case

Numbers 24:17

I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the��children of Sheth.

NOTE- I commented on the death penalty case of a brother of a girl I know- At the time I made this video- I thought there were 2 different brothers that were put to death. I have since commented about it on my roll-outs and clarified it- this person who was put to death had a stay of execution in 2015- he was put to death last week- the same brother.

I taught this chapter years ago and will post that below-

Just a few notes-

We see a young prophet speak the Word of the Lord to Jeroboam- and it comes to pass now- and then.

Yes- there was the sign of the broken altar that happened this day- and some 300 years later the person the younger prophet spoke about- by name- Josiah- will fulfill the rest of the prophecy.

We also see an older prophet- who will ‘prophesy ‘a lie.

The older prophet might have even believed the lie- but it was not the Word of the Lord.

I shared how this dynamic is seen in our day- with some TV preachers who seem to say ‘the Lord is saying…’- and it usually applies to calling their phone line- and giving money- on some sort of a deadline.

I think they do not see they have become too comfortable saying ‘the Lord says’- and in this chapter that's what we see with the older prophet.

Yet he will also prophesy the truth- which was a judgment on the younger prophet- for listening to the false prophecy of the older prophet!

Yes- the old prophet will actually function in the true gift of prophecy- right after he ‘functioned ‘in a false one.

These are just a few things I covered on the video- I’m not even sure if I taught that in my past teachings below-

I usually just add those sections from my old teachings- and don’t have time to review them.

God bless all-

John

PAST POSTS- [verses below]

https://ccoutreach87.com/house-of-prayer-or-den-of-thieves/

KINGS-

https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-kings/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/29/kings-2/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/12/kings-3/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/27/kings-4/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/04/kings-5/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/25/kings-6/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/17/kings-7/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/05/kings-8/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/18/kings-9/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/08/01/kings-10/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/08/22/kings-11/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/09/15/kings-12-3/

(1062) 1st KINGS 13- Jeroboam is confronted by a prophet as he is worshiping at the idol/altar in Bethel. The prophet gives a significant word, he mentions by name a future king [Josiah] who God is going to raise up to institute reform in the nation. When someone’s name is prophesied before their birth, that is a special anointing. Both Jesus and John the Baptist had stuff like this surrounding their births. Now Jeroboam stretches out his hand against the prophet, God curses his hand and the prophet prays for him and he gets healed. Jeroboam invites him to stay for a meal and the young prophet says ‘no, God told me not to stay and eat here’. On his way home an older prophet invites him to come back and eat with him, he tells the young prophet ‘I too am a prophet and the Lord told me for you to “eat and sit at my table’” [a type of fellowship]. Now, the old prophet lied, why? It seems as if he did not do this on purpose, he heard the story about the young man, possibly remembered the glory days of old and simply wanted the fellowship. As the young prophet ‘sits at the table of deceit’ the word of the Lord comes to the old prophet and says ‘because you disobeyed and stayed and ate, you will die’. The old prophet gave a true word and the young prophet leaves and is killed by a lion. His ‘movement’ died prematurely because he ‘sat’ at the table of deceit and disobeyed God. A few things; many years ago as I saw certain things going off track with certain movements [prosperity] I saw things that seemed to be fake, brothers sharing dreams and prophetic words that seemed false. Yet I felt these brothers weren’t doing this on purpose, that in some way they fell into a trap of wanting to be involved and accepted by their peers. And when confronted by real reproofs, they simply retreated into their own groups and refused the reproof. There are things like this happening now with certain elements of the modern prophetic movement. In the above story, the older prophet meant no harm, but yet harm was done! The younger prophet wasn’t there [in Bethel] to rebuke the old man, he was simply carrying the torch of prophetic rebukes that were needed at times. The mistake the younger generation made was being too willing to ‘sit and eat’ at the old mans table. I believe that certain elements of the older ‘prophetic’ movements need to be abandoned and left alone to die [false doctrines, not people!]. Those who walk in wisdom and obedience will refuse to ‘sit and eat at the old mans table’ and those who decide to stay at the table will die prematurely [that is their ministries and movements will be cut short] which group are you in?

(1289) 2ND KINGS 23:1-28 Josiah institutes the reforms that he learned when ‘re-reading’ the lost law of God. He tore down all remaining vestiges of the idolatrous high places. He reinstituted the Passover celebration and he dug up the bones of the false prophets and burned them on their own altars [ouch!]. A few things; in the New Covenant the Passover represents the new community life that we all share in Christ. In Corinthians Paul says ‘Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us’ and when he teaches the Lord’s supper he does it in a communal way, it’s not just a liturgical Mass type of a thing [or a Protestant time for grape juice servings!] but the Lords meal was more of a buffet type atmosphere and the idea was based on a community model. So I think one of the lessons we learn from the reforms of Josiah is God wants to restore ‘the communal Passover- meal’ or that God is challenging many current concepts of church and as we ‘re-read’ our New Testaments we are seeing the church [ecclesia] again ‘for the first time’. Number 2- it sure seemed a little drastic to have dug up the bones of the false priests and to have burned them on their altars! As we went thru this Kings study we covered the fact that Israel permitted certain wrong things to exist for various reasons. Many people eventually associated their worship of God with these idolatrous practices. These were good people who received these wrong ideas from previous ‘leaders’. Josiah fulfilled a prophecy given 300 years earlier that someday the bones of the false priests would be burned on their altars. To me this represents the need for believers in our day to be willing to look at some of the erroneous doctrines of past movements [remember, idolatry in the new Testament is covetousness, people who love and seek wealth!] and to realize that many of these un balanced teachings came from wrong things that were taught and accepted in the past. Things taught by good people, people who meant well, but wrong never the less. The ‘digging up of the bones’ represents the process of going back and doing a little history on some of these things and finally once and for all setting the record straight. All in all Josiah instituted more reform than any other king before him, he was the only king to restore the Passover, he had the courage to see things for the first time and to act in a righteous way before God. His reforms were great, but they came too late in Judah’s history to prevent final judgment, as a nation they dug themselves too deep of a hole and they were going to suffer for it whether they liked it or not. God is merciful, his mercies are new every morning, but when nations go down long paths of disrespecting human life; of mocking God and Christian principles [not right wing stuff!] then we can’t keep thinking that all will go well, that the recession will turn out just fine. No, there are many things not ‘just fine’, as an economy it is foolish to think that we can have 10.2 % unemployment and still have a jobless recovery. When the jobless rate is that high, and going up, then who are all the people that will be buying and spending and working and doing all the things that are part of a recovery? We are kidding ourselves when we think like this. Josiah did some good stuff, but the people needed to change course a long time ago, it was too late to avoid some national consequences.

(1291) I LOVE THAT COW! 2ND KINGS 23:28-37 Pharaoh, king of Egypt, sets up one of the sons of Josiah as a puppet king and gives him a new name. The people pay taxes to this new king and to Pharaoh, but their dominator does not totally dismantle their self rule. I have mentioned this before; that one of the primary ways one kingdom would take over another was to allow them the freedom to run things on their own, but let them pay tribute to their new ‘world order’. In the New Testament you see the kingdom of God grow this way, Jesus and the disciples were making followers of the king. But they did not see this as a means to make people totally co-dependent to the point where they did everything for them. In modern church planting scenarios we see ‘church planting’ as setting up places where people will meet. Providing a regular weekly preaching service. The ‘church/corporate entity’ will meet the needs of the people and the people in turn will ‘pay tithes to the storehouse’ we really have a very limited idea of church planting. It would be more effective if we led people to this new kingdom of God, but didn’t make them so dependent on a particular system, let them grow and govern themselves under the reality of them being servants of the king, this style allows people to experience God in a greater way. Okay, as I have been reading some of the parables of Jesus from the message bible, the one on the treasure hidden in a field spoke to me. The message bible says the kingdom is like a person accidently stumbling across a buried treasure in a field, when he realizes what he’s got he sells everything else and buys the field. At the risk of being crude this reminds me of a joke form the King of Queens, Arthur [Jerry Stiller] is dating Doug’s aunt [Doug- Kevin James] and Doug doesn’t like it. And obviously they are sleeping together and all. So Arthur falls in love with the aunt and informs Doug that he is going to propose marriage to her; Doug is furious. Arthur tells Doug ‘I know you’re wondering why I want to buy the cow if I’m getting the milk for free, well I love that cow, that’s why!’ Arthur was willing to give up everything for ‘the cow’. In essence he wanted to commit to the new found treasure, in a way this is what happens to people when they find the kingdom, you don’t have to set up systems to make people loyal to the kingdom [modern concepts on church membership that have all sorts of ways of trying to instill loyalty into people] when people realize the true value of the kingdom they are willing to give up everything in their pursuit. They will continue to function in society, you don’t have to go build places for these people to meet, let them meet wherever they were meeting before they were brought to the kingdom [homes, etc.] Just do your best to present the kingdom to them in its truest form, let them see the true riches that come with the kingdom. Don’t worry about gaining their loyalty, once they see the treasure they will sell all for it.

VERSES-

1Kings 13:1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

1Kings 13:2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.

1Kings 13:3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

1Kings 13:4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.

1Kings 13:5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

1Kings 13:6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

1Kings 13:7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.

1Kings 13:8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:

1Kings 13:9 For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.

1Kings 13:10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.

1Kings 13:11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.

1Kings 13:12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.

1Kings 13:13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,

1Kings 13:14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.

1Kings 13:15 Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.

1Kings 13:16 And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:

1Kings 13:17 For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.

1Kings 13:18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.

1Kings 13:19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.

1Kings 13:20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back:

1Kings 13:21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,

1Kings 13:22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.

1Kings 13:23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

1Kings 13:24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.

1Kings 13:25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

1Kings 13:26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him.

1Kings 13:27 And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.

1Kings 13:28 And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.

1Kings 13:29 And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.

1Kings 13:30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!

1Kings 13:31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:

1Kings 13:32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

1Kings 13:33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

1Kings 13:34 And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

2Kings 23:1 And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

2Kings 23:2 And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.

2Kings 23:3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.

2Kings 23:4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.

2Kings 23:5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

2Kings 23:6 And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.

2Kings 23:7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.

2Kings 23:8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

2Kings 23:9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.

2Kings 23:10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

2Kings 23:11 And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

2Kings 23:12 And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.

2Kings 23:13 And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.

2Kings 23:14 And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.

2Kings 23:15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.

2Kings 23:16 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

2Kings 23:17 Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.

2Kings 23:18 And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.

2Kings 23:19 And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.

2Kings 23:20 And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.

2Kings 23:21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.

2Kings 23:22 Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;

2Kings 23:23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.

2Kings 23:24 Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

2Kings 23:25 And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

2Kings 23:26 Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.

2Kings 23:27 And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

2Kings 23:28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

2Kings 23:29 In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

2Kings 23:30 And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.

2Kings 23:31 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

2Kings 23:32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

2Kings 23:33 And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

2Kings 23:34 And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.

2Kings 23:35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh.

2Kings 23:36 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

2Kings 23:37 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

1Timothy 6:1 Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.

1Timothy 6:2 And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.

1Timothy 6:3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;

1Timothy 6:4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

1Timothy 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

1Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

1Timothy 6:7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

1Timothy 6:8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

1Timothy 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

1Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

1Timothy 6:11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

1Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

1Timothy 6:13 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;

1Timothy 6:14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

1Timothy 6:15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

1Timothy 6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

1Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

1Timothy 6:18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

1Timothy 6:19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

1Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

1Timothy 6:21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.

MY SITES

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com [Main site]

https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5?ref=bookmarks

https://ccoutreach87.com/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ4GsqTEVWRm0HxQTLsifvg

https://twitter.com/ccoutreach87

https://plus.google.com/108013627259688810902/posts

https://vimeo.com/user37400385

https://www.pinterest.com/ccoutreach87/

https://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=hb_logo

http://johnchiarello.tumblr.com/

https://medium.com/@johnchiarello

http://ccoutreach.over-blog.com/

https://www.reddit.com/user/ccoutreach87

https://ccoutreach.yolasite.com/

https://ccoutreach87.jimdo.com/

https://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/jchiarello

Note- Please do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on- Copy text- download video links [Wordpress- Vimeo] make complete copies of my books/studies and posts- everything is copyrighted by me- I give permission for all to copy and share as much as you like- I just ask that nothing be sold. We live in an online world- yet- there is only one internet- meaning if it ever goes down- the only access to the teachings are what others have copied or downloaded- so feel free to copy and download as much as you want- it’s all free-

Thanks- John.

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#BIBLE #religion #God #christianity

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thedisneywitch · 7 years

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Some Thoughts on Worship, and Why I'm Hesitant to Try Again - Journal 7/28/2017

So, Amphitrite and I are considering working with each other. I’ve never worked with a deity before, and honestly, I’m a little wary of the whole thing. I mean no disrespect, but I have negative experiences and connotations with the word “worship.” I’ll try not to make this post too long.

I’m 17 years old, and was raised Roman Catholic. My parents, thank heavens, are not Super Christians™. However, they did decide to send me to Catholic school from K-8, where I was, honestly, scarred. My parents had the best intentions for me, but Catholic schooling was hell and traumatizing for me.

When I was in kindergarten, we had Religion class, where we learned about Catholicism, and Jesus, and the Apostles, and God. My whole class was content, and participated in the weekly mass. I refused. I would look away from the teacher in class, plug my ears, and refuse to do my worksheets. I didn’t believe in the Christian God. I distinctly remember my kindergarten teacher, pulling me aside, and saying, “[Rylie], you need to believe in God.” I asked, “Why?” She stumbled, and gave me platitudes. I said no. The teacher called my parents. We had conferences about my unwillingness to believe. I was held inside from recess, forced to do worksheets. I refused to pray.

Then first grade came. My teacher had heard of me, and was determined to make me believe in God. I was held inside to do Religion classwork, I wasn’t allowed to go to lunch until I prayed. I was tired of being held inside from recess, and I was a little scared of my teacher. She had a mean streak. And so, slowly, I decided to conform. I recited the prayers, mindlessly filled out the worksheets. She told me how proud she was of my progress, and finally finding God.

And for a few years, I was content believing my own lies. Then I started growing older. I was given excuses for sexism, classism, and other horrible things. They ingrained in me that there was One God, and even though God is genderless we use masculine pronouns because feminine pronouns would be a disgrace to God, confess your sins, people who believe other religions will burn in hell despite not knowing anything else, etc. I started demanding answers to questions they wouldn’t respond to. I slowly felt myself drifting away, but scared to do anything about it. I would fidget in Church, feeling uncomfortable but not knowing why. I didn’t dare express my thoughts or feelings to anyone. I prayed. Nothing changed. I got social media in 7th grade, started being more aware of the world outside of Catholicism.

When I was 14, I realized I wasn’t straight. When I was 15, I realized I wasn’t cisgender. When I was 15 ½, I realized I didn’t believe in God. I wanted out of Catholicism.

My mom, bless her, let me out. I only go to Church on Christmas and Easter to appease my dad. I don’t pray unless I’m with my dad before a meal. And I’m happy, no longer being a Catholic, or even a Christian. I was content being agnostic.

When I was 16, I discovered witchcraft. I don’t even remember how I stumbled across it, but I started looking into it, and was entranced. I was excited. I’ve been a witch for almost a year now. A few weeks ago, Amphitrite reached out to me while I was meditating. I was shocked, and slightly terrified. I didn’t know whether or not to be honored. I had no intentions of working with a deity. I was happy as a clam. Now, I’m questioning my path. We’ve spoken a few times since then, and and She has made it clear that She would like to work with me. I’m scared of what that may entail, though.

I like Amphitrite. I like Her energy, Her voice, Her prescence. I would like to try working with Her. But She is a goddess. And goddesses are worshipped. And I’m just not comfortable with that. I’m still healing from the scars of Catholicism. Maybe I never will. But I just don’t think I have it in me to worship any deity. It brings back such negative feelings and associations. It makes me anxious just thinking about it.

TL;DR Is it possible to work with a deity but not worship them? Due to negative experiences in mentally/emotionally abusive environments growing up, I am unwilling to worship any being. Amphitrite has expressed an interest in working with me, which I am also interested in. But Idon’t want to offend Her. If She asks me to worship Her, what do I do?

I would be okay giving Her small offerings every once in a while, but I don’t really want to set up an altar, or pray. Would that be offensive to Her? And how do I go about explaining this to Her? What if I explain all this, and She still wants me to worship her? Will She be mad if I say no?

Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated!

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wooowthanks · 7 years

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Reflection

I know this post is going to give out a very Mulan-esque, looking into the water for answers kinda vibe, but you know me. I can’t find a physical body of water to do that and singing at my reflection would just make me laugh so writing it out is the second best way.

In leader’s training, we learnt about our reflections, or more specifically, how we must ensure that our exteriors - our actions and words - mirror the real selves inside of us. And I’ve always wanted to do that - to be my true self consistently, to strangers and friends alike, but it has always been so hard because I don’t even know who I am.

It’s just like those English essays at the beginning of the school year, isn’t it? Who are you? I am Samantha Shim. I know who I want to be, what I want to be. But if you want to know about 2017 Samantha, you should build a time machine.

We decided to do an impromptu worship rally on Saturday, after we were done with practice, I don’t know what came over us, but when we were singing in practice, I felt that it was the right thing to do. Of course, later I went home and regretted it cause one, I was super scared we wouldn’t pull it off (practice was okay but not really smooth, per say) and two, I was technically the worship leader for that Sunday, and the probability of me screwing up? Very high.

Words come naturally to me, but only through writing. I knew that during p/w itself, that I would stutter, that I would open up my mouth and nothing would come out (which happened, obviously HAHA). I knew that during the p/w I would feel conscious of the words coming out of my mouth, whether it be my voice for singing, or during free worship.

I chose the song “All on the Altar” by Planetshakers for a couple of reasons. One was because the song is beautiful and simple and I love it, and two, because of the lyrics: Spirit fan into flame, this passion in my heart/ All I am is yours, all I am is yours/ Spirit breathe deep within me, everything you are/ All I am is yours, all I am is yours/ And I won’t hold myself back from you/ No I won’t hold myself back.

I hold back; I hold back constantly. I am holding back, right now, when I sit around college, I constantly hold back during worship, when I want to just sing, or to say something, but the words. Just. Don’t. Come. Out. I hold my true reflection back from strangers, sometimes from friends, and often from God, even though he knows me better than anyone in the world possibly could.

The pastor in Hope City talked about making our “disabilities” or weaknesses into “assets”. And in a way, my awkwardness has become an asset, because it made me start writing, and go into the media team and eventually pushed me into leadership. But now, maybe I should use that awkwardness to speak up, to push down the door that holds my true self back.

Perhaps, soon or eventually, my reflection will show who I am inside.

A disclaimer: I don’t know who I am, but I am obviously not Mulan.

+ The worship rally went well, though! Yass. Hope we can do one again, next time, maybe with a full band.

#25/4/2017 #journal #2017 #church #another post from a classroom in Sunway College

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emilyontap-blog · 7 years

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Emily Picks The Oscars 2017

This time last year I was getting ready to go to the Academy Awards. This year I’m in bed sipping coffee still dreaming of the day I will meet Leo...

If you’re wondering if I will find a way to work Titanic into *every* Oscars blog the answer is YES because DUH and also it’s been 20 years and a more iconic film has yet to be made.

While 2017 still did not give us a more iconic film (though La La Land came VERY close) it was another great, if otherwise depressing, year in the movies. As of this morning, I have seen every film nominated. Yes, even the shorts. YES, even the ANIMATED shorts.

Below are my picks for tonight’s winners, ft. a few upsets for you gamblers plus my unsolicited and entirely unreliable industry commentary.

CHEERS!

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Emily’s Pick: Viola Davis, Fences

Will Win: see above

Upset pick: Do not even dare.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Emily’s Pick: Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water

Will Win: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Unsolicited industry commentary: Moonlight is a very important and relevant movie, and Mahershala Ali’s performance as Juan was lovely. However, for me, his 5 minutes of screen time was not enough to justify all the buzz, and I was left with a feeling of “That’s it?” Meanwhile, Jeff Bridges quietly dominating role in Hell or High Water has been largely overlooked, in a movie that I think will one day be a classic. Feelings aside, I’m not dumb, and anyone can see Mahershala will nab this one. So what I’m saying is ignore me and don’t go picking anyone else on your ballot.

Sidebar: Sunny Pawar should have been nominated for Lion and not Dev Patel.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Emily’s Pick: Emma Stone, La La Land

Could Win: Isabelle Huppert, Elle / Natalie Portman, Jackie

Unsolicited industry commentary: I was very torn about this category, as these three performances were all incredible, but so wide-ranging they are difficult to compare against each other. In the end, I gave the edge to Emma, who gave the performance I believe we’ll all remember in 10, 20, 50 years even though “she can’t sing” “she can’t dance” that’s NOT EVEN THE POINT PEOPLE! DON’T LET THE HATERS FOOL YOU!! NOBODY WILL FORGET LA LA LAND!!! *end rant*

Sidebar: OK rant *not over* Meryl Streep?? Are you f*cking kidding me with Meryl Streep??!?! Sure, we all worship at the altar of Queen Streep, but Florence Foster Jenkins was a terrible film by ALL STANDARDS, much less Meryl Streep standards. And at the expense of performances like Annette Bening in 20th Century Women and Amy Adams in Arrival?!?!?! FOR SHAME.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Emily’s Pick: Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic

Should Win: Denzel Washington, Fences

Probably Will Win*: Casey Affleck, Manchester By The Sea

Unsolicited industry commentary: Captain Fantastic was hands down my favorite movie this year (yes, even more than La La Land) and also one of the best I’ve *ever* seen. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading this and go watch it!!! Viggo Mortensen is extraordinary, and I was so glad to see him earn this nomination. It slightly makes up for the fact that Captain Fantastic didn’t get the Best Picture nomination it deserved. However, even though Viggo gave my *favorite* performance by an actor this year, Denzel gave the performance of a lifetime in Fences and should win this award. Casey Affleck was also phenomenal in Manchester, just not Denzel-level phenomenal. But people out here think Denzel doesn’t deserve it because he already got the Tony for the same role in the play, but also people out here are very upset about Casey’s assault problems* (which doesn’t really make him a better/worse actor but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) and maybe those will cancel each other out and so *throws hands up in air and pencils in Ryan Gosling to win*

DIRECTING

Emily’s Pick: Damien Chazelle, La La Land

Could Win: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

Unsolicited industry commentary: I had the pleasure of attending a Q&A with Damien Chazelle, Justin Hurwitz and Ryan Gosling after an early screening of La La Land (brb going to go look at myself in the mirror for several hours and wonder how I became an insufferable Los Angeles cliché...) Hearing them talk about how everything came together in a college dorm, and the years they spent jumping through hoops to actually get it made, and the inspirations and visuals that Damien brought to life so successfully, it’s hard to imagine anyone else deserving this more. Again, Moonlight was groundbreaking in its themes, and a beautiful film, and I’m so glad Barry Jenkins gave us that story. But La La Land is an instant classic, and Damien's ambition will be rewarded.

BEST PICTURE

I mean, have you been paying attention?

Emily’s Pick: La La Land

Could Win: Moonlight

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

Emily’s Pick: Moonlight

Unsolicited industry commentary: This will be a consolation prize for no Best Picture/Best Director. Also, it’s simply beautifully constructed.

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

Emily’s Pick: Manchester by the Sea

Unsolicited industry commentary: While I’d love to see 20th Century Women get at least one award, and while The Lobster truly embodied the term “original” here, Kenneth Lonergan is a masterful storyteller and he’ll get this because he deserves it, but also as a consolation prize for no Best Picture/Best Director.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Emily’s Pick: Zootopia

Could Win: Kubo & The Two Strings (which I actually liked more, but longshot)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Emily’s Pick: The Salesman

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

Emily’s Pick: 13th

Could Win: O.J.: Made in America

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT FORM)

Emily’s Pick: 4.1 Miles

Likely Win: Joe’s Violin

Could Win: The White Helmets

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Emily’s Pick: La La Land, Linus Sandgren

Upset: Y’all La La Land was filmed in Cinemascope technicolor. Don’t be getting any crazy ideas.

COSTUME DESIGN

Emily’s Pick: Jackie

Could Win: La La Land

Cinderella pick: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

Unsolicited industry commentary: The reproduction of Jackie’s iconic wardrobe - particularly the infamous pink Chanel suit - was extraordinary. But the completely original wardrobe choices for La La Land that straddled somehow both modern and classic Hollywood looks is also impressive. Likewise, to create costumes for the 1920s is one thing. But to create 1920s costumes for a fictional, magical world - like those for Fantastic Beasts - has no precedent.

FILM EDITING

Emily’s Pick: Hell or High Water

Will Win: La La Land

Could Win: Arrival

Unsolicited industry commentary: If Hell or High Water is gonna get one award tonight it will probably be for editing. The way the two sides of the story in the movie run parallel and converge at the end was, in my opinion, brilliant. The editing of Arrival was also critical to the unfolding of the film’s narrative. However, La La Land seems to be the frontrunner for...all of the awards. So.

MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Emily’s Pick: Suicide Squad

Probably Will Win: Star Trek Beyond

Unsolicited industry commentary: Seriously, there was no more iconic look in 2016 than Harley Quinn and IMO that deserves an award. But I’m sure it will go to Star Trek because aliens -_-

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Emily’s Pick: La La Land

Upset: Do you have eyes tho?

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

youtube

Emily’s Pick: La La Land

Upset: Do you have ears tho?

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

youtube

Emily’s Pick: “City of Stars” La La Land

Unsolicited industry commentary: As much as I want Lin-Manuel Miranda to get one step closer to that EGOT, and as much as I actually preferred the “Audition” song from La La Land, for logical reasons everyone has latched onto “City of Stars” and tbh I support anything ft. Ryan Gosling being wistful and romantic.

SOUND EDITING & SOUND MIXING

youtube

Emily’s Pick: Hacksaw Ridge

Unsolicited industry commentary: I learned recently what these categories actually mean — and no, just because La La Land is a musical doesn’t mean it will win them. Here is a great explainer in case you’re confused. I selected Hacksaw Ridge because its soundscape of war and battle and trying to be quiet in holes overnight in a trench surrounded by the enemy filled me with a sense of complete and utter nauseating visceral horror and I’m still not okay.

VISUAL EFFECTS

youtube

Emily’s Pick: The Jungle Book

Unsolicited industry commentary: You guys, literally nothing in this movie was real except that kid. NOTHING. I watched this video and I still don’t get how this happened. Unreal.

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

Emily’s Pick: Piper

Could Win: Pearl

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

Emily’s Pick: Silent Nights

Likely Win: Ennemis Intérieurs

-----------------------------------------------

Best of luck everybody!! And ICYMI, Jimmy Kimmel has his work cut out for him tonight because Mulaney and Kroll gave the best opening monologue OF ALL TIME at the Spirit Awards yesterday. Legal Disclaimer: your laughter at this video will awake sleeping roommates and disturb neighbors.

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#oscars #oscars 2017 #la la land #movies #awards #jimmy kimmel #titanic

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shirlleycoyle · 4 years

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Everything Is Innovative When You Ignore the Past

This article appears in VICE Magazine's Stupid Issue, which is dedicated to the entertaining, goofy, and just plain dumb. It features stories celebrating ridiculous ideas, trends, and products; pieces arguing that unabashed stupidity can be a great part of life; and articles calling out the bad side of stupidity. Click HERE to subscribe to the print edition.

Anthony Levandowski is a very smart man who has said and done a lot of dumb things. Once a brilliant young engineer, Levandowski established himself as a pioneer in the area of self-driving cars, long thought to be the next big thing. In the mid-2000s, he helped build a self-balancing motorcycle that could drive itself (poorly) and spent close to a decade at Google working on Street View and the self-driving-car teams.

Every profile of Levandowski produced a nearly identical quote from a former superior attesting to his brilliance. A representative one from his adviser at UC Berkeley, Ken Goldberg, went as follows: “Anthony is probably the most creative undergraduate I’ve encountered in 20 years.”

Never mind that Levandowski has taken shortcuts while operating experimental software on public roads that put people’s lives in danger and injured a coworker. The crash, and every other line he crossed, was just another “invaluable source of data” in his quest to change the world and handsomely profit from it.

Levandowski’s creativity extended to his finances. While at Google, he licensed or used products from companies he also owned, the kind of financial subterfuge more befitting a Trump administration cabinet member than a Google engineer. He also set up a self-driving truck company called Otto, which he sold to Uber for $680 million just months after cashing out and quitting Google, even though Otto was barely a year old. Waymo, the self-driving car subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, sued Uber and Otto for stealing trade secrets. (The suit was settled in 2018.) In August 2019, Levandowski was indicted by the federal government for that alleged theft. (He pleaded not guilty and has contended he did nothing wrong, and the case is awaiting trial.)

This is Levandowski, the poster boy of Silicon Valley hubris. In a 2018 profile, the New Yorker deemed him “an exemplar of Silicon Valley ethics,” an oxymoronic and backhanded compliment if there ever was one.

The publication was, of course, referring to his alleged felony and financial chicanery, which left him astoundingly wealthy because his repeated duplicity was constantly excused by his superiors as a regrettable side effect of world-altering intelligence. He was another difficult man in a world of difficult men.

But that’s not the sole or even most important reason Levandowski is an emblem of the industry that made him rich. Levandowski is an avatar for the tech industry’s foibles because of his obsession with the future and disdain for the past, a consistent refrain at the center of the Valley’s beating heart. If the past has no relevance, everything is innovation.

As with everything else, Levandowski doesn’t go about it half-assed. In 2015, he started a church called Way of the Future, shortened to WOTF, just one letter off from the more appropriate abbreviation. WOTF worships a divine artificial intelligence being called “the Godhead.” The idea here, as Levandowski told Wired in 2017, is to ease humanity’s transition from the smartest species on earth to mere pets of our AI overlords in a positive manner.

“We believe in progress,” WOTF’s official website states, noting that it wants to be on the Godhead’s good side when the technological rapture arrives. “Change is good, even if a bit scary sometimes.”

About a year after Levandowski talked to Wired about WOTF, the New Yorker ran another long feature on Levandowski and his escapades at Google and Uber and the ensuing lawsuit. Levandowski told the writer Charles Duhigg not only that the future is all that matters, but that he didn’t care much for history either:

“The only thing that matters is the future,” he told me after the civil trial was settled. “I don’t even know why we study history. It’s entertaining, I guess—the dinosaurs and the Neanderthals and the Industrial Revolution, and stuff like that. But what already happened doesn’t really matter. You don’t need to know that history to build on what they made. In technology, all that matters is tomorrow.”

Levandowski may say it more harshly than others, but he is hardly alone in the belief that the past is irrelevant for those obsessed with the future.

“Tech, historically, has been deeply uninterested in looking backwards,” said Margaret O’Mara, a history professor at the University of Washington and the author of The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America, a history of Silicon Valley. When tech companies do invoke history, she pointed out, it’s often closer to mythology. Consider the Tale of Two Steves of Apple in a garage. Otherwise, as she asked rhetorically in the book’s introduction, “Why care about history when you’re building the future?”

This anti-history bias is not merely a curious quirk of a group of people that has drastically shaped the modern world. It is a foundational principle. Like Levandowski’s church, it is the very basis for a belief system.

But O’Mara argues that this altar of progress is a distortion of what really made Silicon Valley what it is. “When you actually study history,” O’Mara said, “things get really messy really fast.” None more so than the history of the tech industry itself.

This hostility toward the past has deep roots in internet culture. In 1996, the Grateful Dead lyricist and early internet evangelist John Perry Barlow wrote “A Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace.” The second sentence is: “On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.” Wiping the slate clean with the digital era paved the way for the kind of ignorance techno-utopian narratives traffic in.

Whether intentional or not, reformatting the tech industry’s memory around the proliferation of the internet helped perpetuate a myth that the nascent industry sprang up from the brilliant minds of a chosen few without anyone else’s help. In turn, this story became the justification for a limited government that didn’t interfere with the independent spirit and economic structure that made the web great. Too bad it wasn’t true.

History does a lot of telling us what we don’t want to hear. It disposes of the progress myth we are taught in schools— which is also also a foundational principle of Levandowski’s AI church—that things just keep getting better, even as it feels like they are only getting worse.

To be sure, there were many brilliant minds working in tech, but they had help, and lots of it, from Uncle Sam. O’Mara painstakingly details such events in her book: Federal grants accounted for 70 percent of the money spent on academic research in computer science and electrical engineering from the mid-1970s to 1999; the fruits of that research were often spun off into some of the biggest and most influential tech companies of the day. Hell, the actual internet, at the time called ARPANET, was named after the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a government agency that provided it with about $1 million in funding. Starting in 1994, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and DARPA (the successor to ARPA, which focuses on defense projects) gave $24 million to six computer science departments to figure out the best way to index and search the internet. Two grad students at Stanford University named Sergey Brin and Larry Page substantially benefited from this program, which “supported much of Brin and Page’s work,” O’Mara writes. That work soon became Google. If DARPA were a venture capital fund, it would be one of the most successful in history.

This important context is either downplayed or avoided entirely when the tech industry talks about its roots. Steve Jobs, one of the greatest storytellers in modern times, excluded the government’s role in seeding many tech companies of note when evangelizing for his—and other—companies during a publicity wave of cover stories in the 1980s. Jobs, by the way, was hardly immune to the lure of government largesse. He once spent two weeks walking the halls of Congress lobbying the federal government for tax breaks for computers donated to schools; he failed in Washington but succeeded in California, putting his products in front of thousands of California children for pennies on the dollar.

As O’Mara pointed out, ignoring your own history or writing an altogether new one can be a great business strategy. “We see a lot of this in mid-20th-century America,” she said, where companies embraced narratives of “we’re marching toward the future.” Business leaders realized it’s a great public relations gambit with investors, politicians, and the general population to spin a yarn about progress and possibilities, “making the world more open and connected,” and brushing aside inconsistent facts. History was just another marketing tool, sometimes literally. An Apple ad campaign from the 1980s featured actors dressed up as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, and the Wright brothers holding Apple IIs. One of the taglines read: “Don’t let history pass you by.”

It’s traditional for cultures of innovation to regard history as more or less worthless. Considering Levandowski’s interests, it’s ironic that the Valley’s predecessor here is none other than the automobile industry. To take just one prominent example, for the 1939 World’s Fair, General Motors commissioned an exhibition called “Futurama” looking 20 years into the future, featuring vast, automated, congestion-free freeways. When the World’s Fair returned to New York in 1964, GM did it again with similar vast, automated freeways.

It was a good story, and good for business. In 1953, President Eisenhower appointed GM’s president and CEO Charles Wilson as secretary of defense to oversee, among other things, the planning of a federal highway system, a 100 percent government-funded program to the tune of some $100 billion that helped cement the automobile as a necessity for nearly all American families.

But this wasn’t merely about business. Charles Kettering, a GM engineer and perhaps America’s greatest inventor since Thomas Edison, was prone to decidedly Levandowskiesque pronouncements about history’s irrelevance. “You never get anywhere looking in your rearview mirror,” he once said. The future, Kettering added, was all that matters, because “we will have to spend the rest of our lives there.”

Kettering’s attitude was not only representative of the automotive industry around that time, said the Virginia Tech history professor Lee Vinsel, but of American business more broadly, which believed unflinchingly in American dominance and progress. Vinsel pointed out that one of the most infamous quotes about history comes from an American automotive titan, Henry Ford. An ardent isolationist, Ford said “history is more or less bunk” in a contentious 1916 interview with the war-hungry Chicago Tribune about whether the U.S. should get involved in World War I. The remark went virtually unnoticed for three years. (This and other details come from a 1965 Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society paper by Roger Butterfield that investigated the history of this quote.)

Later that year, Ford sued the Tribune for libel, demanding $1 million after the paper called him an “anarchist” and an “ignorant idealist.” The case went to trial in 1919 and the judge made clear the issue at hand was not whether Ford was an anarchist, but whether he was ignorant. Ford spent eight days on the witness stand as Tribune lawyers pelted him with questions in an attempt to prove Ford was an ignorant man, and the press wrote up every juicy exchange. One such exchange regarded just how much contempt Ford had for history.

Ford won the case, but only just. The jury awarded him six cents in damages. Shortly thereafter, he wrote to his secretary Ernest Liebold that he was going to start a museum “and give people a true picture of the development of the country.” He vowed to collect and preserve artifacts in service of this mission because the only history worth observing is “that you can preserve in itself.”

“We’re going to build a museum that’s going to show industrial history,” Ford wrote to Liebold. “And it won’t be bunk.”

And it wasn’t. The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village complex in Dearborn, Michigan, is one of the largest collections of American historical artifacts. The guy responsible for one of the most famous anti-history quotes in our language came to care a tremendous deal about history.

This tends to happen. We get older and realize we may live the rest of our lives in the future, as Kettering said, but much of our time is spent in the past, too. As we age, the ratio flips. Great chunks of us become history. And one day, we will be too. The past no longer seems to be an abstract, irrelevant tale but something that happened to us, to people we know. It’s something we made, some- thing we did.

This is partly why O’Mara thinks we’re at the beginning of a shift in which Silicon Valley will start to care about history. She’s been invited to talk about her book up and down the Valley, in front of audiences of all ages. The industry is now mature enough that parts of it are history itself.

But it’s not mere nostalgia—or, less charitably, a dif- ferent form of hubris—that makes history important. Even historians disagree on why history matters. Some stress that its cyclical nature—“history doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes”—is the business case for learning history, so one does not repeat the mistakes of the past.

There’s something to this, but history’s relevance runs deeper. Learning it can be almost spiritual, a kind of therapy. It’s oddly comforting to learn about times when people thought they were experiencing unprecedented circumstances, when they were scared out of their minds about what had become of their society, when they were afraid they had lost all con- trol over events. Things may be different today, but not that different.

History does a lot of telling us what we don’t want to hear. It disposes of the progress myth we are taught in schools—which is also also a foundational principle of Levandowski’s AI church—that things just keep getting better, even as it feels like they are only getting worse.

The three historians I talked to for this article stressed that history disabuses us of these easy “progress narratives.” Instead, it presents a much more challenging yet honest view of humanity.

Patrick McCray, a historian of technology and science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told me that the story of humanity is not one of linear progress, but of spurs and splits, fits and starts, progress and backpedaling. For his scientific history course, one of his main goals is to show students this. But it’s no easy feat, especially for students in science and technology, fields entirely based on progress narratives and finding clean solutions to difficult problems. “It’s really hard to get them out of that mindset, because they really have this view that science is this ever-improving thing and we’re just simply knowing more and more and more,” McCray said.

This is hard stuff, and acknowledging it comes with a corollary: We, as a society, are not particularly special. Vinsel, the historian at Virginia Tech, cautioned against “digital exceptionalism,” or the idea that everything is different now that the silicon chip has been harnessed for the controlled movement of electrons.

It’s a difficult thing for people to accept, especially those who have spent their lives building those chips or the software they run. “Just on a psychological level,” Vinsel said, “people want to live in an exciting moment. Students want to believe they’re part of a generation that’s going to change the world through digital technology or whatever.”

Perhaps no single human embodies the concept of digital exceptionalism more than Levandowski. In an anecdote from a 2013 New Yorker profile, he showed the writer Burkhard Bilger his collection of “vintage illustrations and newsreels on his laptop” of the failed attempts to have cars drive themselves in the past. Levandowski may not be a student of history, but he’s hardly ignorant. For all his bluster, Levandowski may be more like Henry Ford than he lets on.

When Vinsel tells his students about the importance of history, he references the philosopher Harry Frankfurt’s classic work On Bullshit, which experienced a brief resurgence in 2016. Frankfurt argued that bullshit is not about lying so much as simply not giving a shit about truth. Bullshit is saying whatever you need to get elected or to build hype around your product or get that next round of venture capital funding or win that government contract.

“I think history leads you to be a bullshit detector,” Vinsel said. He supposes this may be the fundamental incompatibility between tech companies, which disseminate an awful lot of bullshit, and their disdain for an honest reading of history. Perhaps, he thought, they might see a little too much of it in themselves. After all, Vinsel added, “there’s not a lot of innovation in bullshit.”

“We didn’t come up with this idea,” Levandowski once said of cars driving themselves. “We just got lucky that the computers and sensors were ready for us.” He believes this time is different, just like everyone before him believed their time was different. It’s a gigantic downer to be told otherwise. In many ways, that’s what history is.

Editor's note: After this article was finalized for print publication, Levandowski declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy following a court order to repay Google $179 million.

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