I think that the pictures are not the point

I agree that inflicting violence on others is not universally morally traumatic, human history being what it is, which I point out. There’s no shortage of people who love killing, never has been. But there is a motive behind dehumanizing propaganda, to make people who have been conditioned to otherwise abhor it to see it as a righteous thing when directed at the demonized other.

@curativeconsciousness8283 fair point. It does help to sway the manipulated masses' opinion to support, or at the very least condone the violence against whichever group the manipulators want to target. Are you completely pessimistic about organized spiritual practices?

I think awaking is a lonely business. Sure, some monastics live in community and may become enlightened. With the exception of explicitly non-dualistic traditions, it seems like most traditions have dualistic and a non-dualistic expressions of themselves. The latter being mystical and much smaller. Fellowship and corporate worship is probably less integral for the practitioners who seek to open themselves up to the palpable truth. That said, religious institutions can enrich people’s lives. But not everyone has good things to say about their experience. The fact is that most people are unconscious, even if they believe in a creator. They have a head full of noise that hides something they seek but don’t know they’re missing. They seek things to fill the void, some harmless, some not. If you get a group of people large enough, there’s gonna be some who are doing horrible things to other people. Unconsciousness is what gives rise to that, whatever sick tendencies people have, they are maintained by obsessive thinking. The neuropathways that make this person that way are maintained by thoughts of the obsession. If identification with their subject is lost, those mental paths are abandoned for a lack of anyone to inhabit them. People ruminate on what they really want to do. Congregations around Dunbar’s number can be excellent support systems for their members.

@@curativeconsciousness8283 you have a talent of putting complex interwoven ideas into a coherent stream of verbalized or written thought, palpable to even the uninitiated, should they express deliberated interest. Very insightful. I fully agree on the unconscious remark, and fear attempting to amend that is a futile pursuit, but I guess there's no room for disappointment once you're prepared and know what you're dealing with from the start

Same. This channel doesn't even show up when I search for it, had to use CD's link in description.

Clematis