Ashley Danowski's Footblog

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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QuantumBalance
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Post by QuantumBalance »

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
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Post by QuantumBalance »

Heres a quote to help you with that world view.

Potent Quotable
The property of those higher on the hierarchy is more valuable than the lives of those below. It is acceptable for those above to increase the amount of property they control--in everyday language, to make money--by destroying or taking the lives of those below. This is called production. If those below damage the property of those above, those above may kill or otherwise destroy the lives of those below. This is called justice.

Derrick Jensen in EndGame
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Post by QuantumBalance »

I hope you read this:



Memes and the sociology of religion - how religious beliefs propagate and maintain themselves within social groups.

Among many anthropologists and sociologists, it has recently become fashionable to dismiss all religions as memes - parasitic mental processes which propagate in the same manner as chain letters [Dawkins 1989, Dennett 1995]. In this view, religious belief is a self-perpetuating delusion.. A meme (rhymes with 'dream') may be defined as any self-referential belief system which contains within itself the instructions for its own propagation. Memes are often accused of being the social equivalents of computer viruses - useless or sometimes harmful mental processes which use their hosts to infect others.

A meme has exactly the same psychological motivation as a chain letter - "If you propagate me then something nice will happen, if not then something horrible will happen".

In order to justify themselves against attack by reason, religious memes place absolute reliance on faith, which is seen as being superior to reason. They also contain self-referential or circular claims to the truth such as "This meme says it is the divine truth. Since it is the divine truth whatever its says must be true. Therefore it must be divine truth because it says so and all competing memes must be the work of the devil".

These two types of self-referential statement "propagate me" and "I am the only truth" provide the driving force for memes to invade the minds of their hosts and spread thoughout susceptible populations. In addition, many memes contain the instructions "Help people who believe in this meme, attack people who do not". These commands being the ultimate cause of all religious wars throughout the centuries.

The general defining features of all memes can thus be seen to be self-referential 'closed-loop' type of circular statements, and a strong tendency towards intolerance. The sociological study of memes, and how they propagate (or fail to propagate) themselves is known as memetics (by analogy to genetics - how biological entities propagate themselves).

More detailed analysis will usually show the following features:
Like a virus or parasitic worm, a successful meme must perform two actions:

- Ensure it takes up long-term residence in its host.
- Bring about the conditions for its spread.

To establish itself in the mind of its host it will use some or all of the following mechanisms:

[1] Promise heaven for belief.
[2] Threaten eternal punishment in hell for disbelief.
[3] Boost the believers' egos by telling them they are 'chosen' or superior to believers in false memes. This also works to promote peer-pressure, social cohesion and co-operation in the infected population.

[4] Disable the faculties of disbelief ('immune response') by claiming that faith is superior to reason.

[5] Establish itself as the One True Meme, usually by some sort of holy book containing a circular self-referential argument such as:

X is the one true meme. We know X is the one true meme because The Source of Universal Truth has approved X. We know The Source of Universal Truth has approved X, because X contains statements which say so. We know what X says is true because X is the one true meme.

Once it has parasitised the mind of its host, a meme needs to propagate itself. A successful meme will contain instructions for some or all of the following:

[6] Holy war - convert or kill all unbelievers .
[7] Intimidation and terrorism - threaten and discriminate against unbelievers.

[8] Enforced social isolation or even death to apostates. (An apostate is a host which has cured itself of a meme-infection. Apostasy within the community of believers is especially dangerous to the meme because it might encourage meme-resistance in others).

[9] Fecundism - encourage true believers to breed faster than believers in false memes.
[10] Censorship - prevent rival memes from reaching potential hosts (a theological doctrine known as 'Error has no rights').
[11] Disinformation - spread lies about rival memes. Demonise them - the bigger the lies the more likely they are to be believed. The disinformation may even include instructions for the meme to lie about itself!


It is evident why many students of the sociology of religion regard meme-driven faiths as being essentially sociopathic.


So is Buddhism just another meme?
Does the meme critique apply to Buddhism? Is Buddhism yet another intolerant, irrational, self-referential mind-parasite?

Taking the above points in turn:

[1 and 2] There are no threats of hell or promises of heaven attached to being a Buddhist as opposed to being a non-Buddhist. The term 'Buddhist' is a mere label and has no inherent existence. The condition of future lives is determined by actions of body, speech and mind and not by religious affiliation. If our religion encourages positive actions and states of mind then it is doing its job. If it causes hatred, division and pride then it isn't working and maybe we should try something else. Buddhism does not make use of the psychological blackmail techniques which are said to be characteristic of memes.

[3] Just sticking the Buddhist label on yourself doesn't automatically make you superior to non-Buddhists. In fact, in most forms of Buddhism the belief that one is superior to others, for whatever reason, is seen as a dangerous delusion.

[4] Buddhism does not attempt to suppress reason by dogma. Unlike most other religions, Buddhism isn't so much about things to believe, as things to do. It is a technology of mind improvement. This is why Buddhists often refer to themselves as practictioners rather than believers. The Buddha told his students to trust their own experience of the effectiveness of the teachings, and not believe things just because he said so.

[5] Buddhism does NOT claim to be the one and only valid spiritual path (a teaching known as 'exclusivism' in other belief-systems). It is NOT based on claims of divine authority. Buddha never claimed to be divine or sent from God. His teachings are to be judged by their effectiveness in promoting peace and spiritual realisations, rather than unverifiable claims to their origin.

Exclusivism

Most religions teach that they are the one true path to salvation and all unbelievers are cast into hell. This is a doctrine known as exclusivism. Buddhism is not exclusivist. Any person guided in their activities by compassion is regarded as following a beneficial spiritual path.

Unfortunately, in Christianity exclusivism went to extreme lengths with many denominations (at one time) claiming that they were the one true faith and the other denominations of Christianity were corrupt (or even in league with anti-Christ). This situation has improved during the past 50 years, but 'Extra ecclesiam nulla salus ' ( No salvation outside (our) Church) is still the official policy of the Vatican.

However his does raise an interesting scenario. Presumably a Salvation Army officer who devoted her life to rescuing drug addicts and alcoholics would be regarded as damned for all eternity by traditional Catholic theologians. A Buddhist, on the other hand, would regard such a person as an advanced spiritual practitioner - a Bodhisattva or possibly even a manifestation of Buddha Tara . (One of the more surprising teachings of Mahayana Buddhism is that Buddhas can appear in whatever form is beneficial to sentient beings, and Buddhas needn't necessarily be Buddhist!) . So, taken to its logical conclustion, Christian exclusivism would require one Christian to regard a fellow Christian as damned, while a Buddhist would recognise her as a saint.

As a further antidote to exclusivism, Buddhists are required to rejoice in the virtues of all beings - Buddhist and otherwise.




[6,7 and 8] Buddhism does not believe in using war or terrorism to further its cause and does not persecute former Buddhists who have changed their religion.

[9] Neither does it encourage ecologically disastrous population policies (or lack of policies).

[10 and 11] Buddhists have no need to suppress, censor or misrepresent the teachings of other religions, as Buddhist philosophy is totally rational and quite capable of withstanding criticism from other belief systems. In fact, Buddhism appears to be the only spiritual system which can provide counterarguments to the corrosive ideology of Western secular materialism.

Fanaticism
Buddhism recognises that one of the most destructive delusions is excessive attachment to any view, which will thus appear virtuous and right for all people. The harm that can be done by excessive attachment to ideologies and abstractions is far greater than that caused by attachment to wealth or material objects. As a consequence, Buddhism is one of the few religions which has never attempted to propagate itself and exterminate its enemies by war, terrorism or tyranny. A fanatical Buddhist is, by definition, a deluded Buddhist.


A testable psychological technology.
Buddhism is not dependent for its existence on self-referential statements. Buddhism is sometimes described as a religion and sometimes as a philosophy. Both these terms are a partial description, but what is often overlooked is that as well as being a set of beliefs, Buddhism is also a technology. Buddhism is a set of tried and tested methods which are used to develop the mind by producing altered states of awareness. In effect it is a psycho-spiritual applied science.

A Buddhist teacher will teach her students meditational and other techniques which will generate definite mental states (known as realisations). The methods of mental development are designed to free the mind from the accumulated delusions of millennia, and lead to a state of peace and tranquillity. Buddha Shakyamuni intended his teachings to be personal advice for his students, which is why Buddhists tend to refer to themselves as practitioners rather than believers - emphasising the practical intention of putting Buddha's teachings to work, instead of passively accepting them as revealed truth. Buddha always encouraged his students to gain understanding of his teachings by putting them to the test of personal experience, and not just relying on his authority. In fact the Buddhist idea of authority has much more in common with the idea of scientific authority than it does with ecclesiastical authority. Buddhist authority carries with it the idea of the possession of knowledge which can conveyed to others and confirmed by of reproducible experiences. In Buddhism there is none of the attitude 'Here are umpteen unsupported statements which you must believe unquestioningly'


Meme-busters
Susan Blackmore (who has written extensively on memetics) has remarked that if a meditational system such as Buddhism is a meme, then it is actually a very peculiar one - a meme-dismantling meme.

A novel view of meditation might be that it is like running a virus check on your mind. Lurking memes, such as rubbish left over from childhood indoctrination, can be brought to the surface and examined. Residues of self-referential belief systems - those driven by fear, guilt, wanting to conform, wanting other people to conform, or alternately pride in being better than non-believers - can be recognised for what they are and cleared out.
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Post by QuantumBalance »

And the point of all this is NOT that God is fake or god doesn't exist. The point is that god is hope and hope is within ourselves. I hope you understand.
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Post by ashleyd »

I had one of my best sessions to date today. I was hitting things that I havent hit in a while like ducking pdx mirage. I also am learning to relax more when Im playing, and I can tell its helping my posture out. I'm ALSO trying to keep my mouth open while playing, so i can make sure I'm always breathing.

So basically everythings going well, how about you?
Ashley Danowski

"As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well spent brings happy death."
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Post by QuantumBalance »

3 Square was very fun today :)
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Post by QuantumBalance »

See you tomorrow.
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Post by ashleyd »

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Ashley Danowski

"As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well spent brings happy death."
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Post by ashleyd »

So my life has been very different from what it used to be. I haven't been on the computer much because I don't have much time.

So catch up...
I just had my four year anniversary of playing footbag with david. It makes me wish I used my time more wisely, but Idk, I also went through alot. I'm just amazed at davids level and proud of him. It just gives me some incentive to work harder.

Sam is back, and I haven't been this happy since before he left. We are both experiancing new feelings with each other and having to deal with new things. It can be a little stressful, but we are doing just fine. Today we sessioned at this cool park that sam took me to. It was pretty chilly outside today, making it a little less fun for me. Then we played two square where Sam beat me. Hes pretty good, and he loves it. After the session we walked over to this playgound that had the springiest(i dont think thats a word) floor. Seriously it was like walking on mini springs. So I tried playing footbag on it, and I was like 8O . Dude, if you got used to playing on that type of floor, and then like went to some compitition w/out it, you would be screwed. Its fun though, and very helpful with ripwalks. Sam then climbed this huge tower rope thing. Scary. I swung on the swings.

After the playground, we ate some good chinnese, and I had 3 great fortunes. Then > sam's house> cuddle/talk > walked me to the car> went home and I will probably crash out very soon.

More on footbag:
I had a shitty session today, and its just now bumming me out. I can't wait to make up for it tommarow. Worlds is going to be sick.
Ashley Danowski

"As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well spent brings happy death."
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Post by ashleyd »

Today Sam and I walked 3 miles, then kicked at the FSC tennis courts. I was a little reluctant because I didn't want to get kicked out, but Sam was right and it worked out pretty well. We played, then played 2 square where Sam beat me agian. I got home and relaxed a bit, worked on a project, grubbed.

Tommarow I'll hang with sam till I work at 3. We are going to kick sometime, and I really hope it warms up. Today was SO cold.

I noticed today, I need new lavers. They are pretty shot.

L8ter.
Ashley Danowski

"As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well spent brings happy death."
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Post by QuantumBalance »

Thank you for your trust.
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Post by ashleyd »

Very good session today, although I have other things on my mind, so I'm not too happy about it. It was really good though...
Ashley Danowski

"As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well spent brings happy death."
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Post by QuantumBalance »

You were tearin it up!

--

This girl was hittin all sorts of stepping, smooth blurs. sick stylee zooms, smears and pixie ss mirage. clean ducks mad spinning butterflies infinities

Props girl.

And SHE BEAT ME AT 2 SQUARE :) (with the comeback)

<3
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Post by ashleyd »

Even with a pain in my left leg, from lack of stretching after a session, I still want to kick.

Today was a stress reliever. I finally presented this project that has been dwelling in my mind forever. I can now focus on art in school. I recently made 2 really cool things. One was a horse that I made for my friend at work Savannah. I wish I had a pic of it, because it was tight, and my ceramics teacher said I could sell them for like 20 bucks each if I kept making them. The other one is this tree thing...


I like it. They werent assignments, just extra stuff.
Art class is going ok, I need to focus more.

Anyways, I came home to some good potatoes that my mom made.

So now I'm off to sleep. I wish tommarow I could kick, but I have no time. I might just bring a footbag to school and try to play in 1st period.

Friday I will play fo sho.
Ashley Danowski

"As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well spent brings happy death."
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Post by QuantumBalance »

c ya there love
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Post by ashleyd »

I'm feeling pretty shitty. My head hurts. Today I worked super long, then napped and I woke up feeling really crappy. No session today. I might be working myself too hard, idk though.

Hopefully tommarow I will have more energy and will play footbag w/ sam after work.

Tommarow I think I'll try more drifters, drill my left pixie, and plenty of rips.
Ashley Danowski

"As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well spent brings happy death."
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Post by david »

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Post by ashleyd »

david clavens future wife(one post above)

Small session before work? Yes.
Ashley Danowski

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Post by ashleyd »

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Post by QuantumBalance »

sam colcloughs future wife(one post above)

Small session after work? Yes.

<3 <3
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