Sometimes I Flippantly Say “identity Is A Trap,” And I Want To Explain A Little More What I Mean.

The Path of Chastity

I follow the path of Chastity because it is the path to the purification of Self. If you wish to learn the gnosis concerning the path of Chastity:

As explained in the attached video, the difference between Chastity and Celibacy is that Chastity is remaining without orgasm and transmuting your sexual energy into Pure Love. Celibacy is remaining without orgasm but the energy is stagnant resulting in the same damage caused by having orgasms. Sexual energy is transmuted through meditation and you will be cured of all diseases.

According to Gnostic Teachings, one can transmute energy by not having an orgasm as the orgasm slowly destroys the brain and you lose the sacred oil needed to restore the Third Eye (sex causes spiritual blindness). Without Chastity, it is not possible to reach the heights of Divinity because forgoing the seconds-long orgasm is considered a sacrifice for Cosmic Knowledge. This is the only way to obtain it. It can't be pondered on or read in a book, so all these people talking about sensuality, eroticism, sexuality, yet speak on being awakened are lying as there is a trade-off for all actions one engages in. The exchange for instant gratification is their potential for Awakening.

Selflessness is required when you are on the path of Christ-Consciousness because it is the path of the healer. Retaining your energy to perform meditation is required; if you do not have energy there is nothing to transmute. It is impossible to meditate when you are spending your sexual energy on orgasms. When you engage in sex meditation is futile which is why so many people struggle with it - when you save your energy and begin meditating regularly you will experience the ecstacy people say they get from sex, but this bliss is permanent. This is possibly the serotonin people speak of missing when they experience depression or other mental illnesses but they are resistant to the truth so they deal with depression for decades and some even their whole lives.

The definition of sex varies, but orgasm is considered sex regardless of the sexuality you label yourself. This includes masturbation. With that said, if you are not on the path of Chastity you would disagree with this, but not everybody is here to follow this path where lust is hell and orgasm is the death. Not everybody on Earth is interested in restoring their emotional centers or even having a Soul or a higher purpose and that is their karma.

You cannot find meaningful solidarity with people based on a label. Women aren't showing any commitment to wanting less violence, oppression and destruction, even the ones who say they do, but that's okay they're not ready yet. There needs to be a mental purge before the average person can create a shift. This doesn't mean I need to involve myself in what they're having trouble learning.

Whether she claims to want something or not, her actions show her true desires. It's your choice to react how you want: If you want to spend years asking people with a chosen label to change and treat you better, fine. If you want to find people who will accept you regardless of your label, fine. But to find the latter, you must start discussing ideas to start learning about yourself instead of attempting to maintain the criteria of a cultic label.

It's quite literally feminists' responsibility to care about each other's husbands. The role of a "woman" is a role where her existence is related to males; feminism is essentially heterosexual activism which is why non-heterosexuals struggle to find belonging in it because it's not for them (and it's getting awkward they constantly voice this but don't remove themselves from it).

Feminism is for the adult heterosexual and bisexual male and female because they are 99% of the adult population. The #1 misconception surrounding feminism is that it is for all women when it is absolutely NOT that - it's about equality in heterosexual relationships; this is what liberation and the death of misogyny is to the average woman. A male taking a bullet for them is their version of divine intervention because man is their god. If you are not in a heterosexual relationship there is nothing to protest against because you've achieved liberation without the drama and self-victimization. Congratulations, you've made it. You're at a point where you're free from distractions to make minor tweaks to your thinking to make your life go in the direction you want.

Feminists are not lacking class consciousness. To the manlover, heterosexuals are the only class to be conscious of which is why they're hostile toward anything that isn't about their union. They would know about the movement they created more than the ignorant few trying to dissuade them from what the majority of them agree on; homosexuals are the main ones causing division within their movement. When you pledge your allegiance to a group, you are agreeing to be owned and used by that group. The average feminist's activism ends when they get into the relationship they want leaving celibates, asexuals and lesbians fighting for the rest of their lives. All feminists hold up the patriarchy they complain about because they support heterosexual women who put the energy and resources they received from feminists into males. Since these females put all of their attention into the patriarchy and males it gets fuelled - they are their own oppressors.

Manlovers do not have to prioritize homosexuals since they do not relate to your plight - how can a lesbian expect the herculean task of "care" from people who lack empathy? If anything you are privileged for not being attracted to males because Ys are intoxicatingly irresistible to the point where you're the obstacle to women's liberation. Lesbians are nothing but a body that fluffs up their movement's numbers, a stepping stool and a token to use in arguments against transwomen. Adopt an elite mindset where you genuinely believe you deserve more instead of being a mutt begging for scraps under the table heterosexuals create podcasts about.

The same thing can be said for the recruiting female separatist - it's all work for the heterosexual if they are accepted into those spaces. Only lesbians, asexuals and celibates are creating safe spaces for women. Heterosexuals and bisexuals are not interested and are even looking to destroy female-only spaces because they are waiting for the right man to come along (and that cannot happen when there are only women around). Those who want to live a peaceful life simply live it instead of trying to convince manlovers it's for them when it isn't. They like the thrill of disease and death. Separatism is only for the 1% who are already doing it and it starts in the mind. People trying to convince other women to separate are those who aren't living that life, ironically. Real separatists aren't trying to attract anybody male-minded into their circle. There's nothing to talk about when you've found Peace except Peace itself.

Focus on creating the life you want on an individual basis and you will find what you want happens quickly and your life will keep unfolding in that direction because you MUST get what you want. Activism does not work and it's just a time waster for those who are dedicated to it, but I understand the activist path is for the soulless so what else is there for them? When you ask for other people to get in line with what you want, you're asking others to go against their free will which means you depend on other people for your happiness and not yourself. In this situation you don't really want separatism, liberation or even peace, you want friends and it's okay to admit that.

Presented by myself and @goodluckdetective without comment

AUTOMATION vs FREE WILL: How we became who we are

I no longer blame biotech or the technocracy. It is not a problem in and of itself but rather the symptom of a problem, and those who choose to capitalize on it are not inherently bad people, they’re just playing their part by providing a particular side of duality (producing for the majority who wish to consume). The predator-prey dynamic is truly everywhere because our world is based on the 7 Hermetic Principles. Life is a game and you can choose to ascend out of it too rather than participating, which is why Mentalism is the only Principle that has no duality, it comes from you as a being returning to singularity, no longer polarized or thwarted. Everything else contains duality because life is an experience where the human wishes to understand itself in as many forms as possible just as God created physical matter in order to know it’s own potential through evolving itself. We must understand how a select few humans differ from this evolved automation and instinct-obsession. These are beings who operate off of true free will and they are few and far between. They mirror the wholeness of God. The majority are still 70% automation at least which is why they only use 4% of their brain. The subconscious is a deep and untapped ocean that rules these beings from beyond and this includes animals who operate as groups with biological clocks and tasks that have to be performed at a given time according to the imprint within them. They cannot choose their destiny or what song they will sing. They are quite literally organic computer programs just like the rest of life within this reality, which is not a bad thing, it is just an indication of where we came from. People like Alan Turing created computer technologies by studying the human brain and advanced neurobiology first, so go figure

Those who are building tech are acting like God did when it was creating life, in curiosity and in attempt to learn about itself. Some have nefarious purposes just like the demiurge did

and this comes from knowing but not accepting one’s own limitations, ie: not integrating one’s own shadow. This psychology sees past economic class which is why the elite are just a mirror of the normies with the exception of wealth placing them on a higher echelon of influence. Everything has good and bad within because this world was created in polarities, but those polarities are inside the infinite circle/universal mind which is why mentalism supersedes all other principles. Uroboros comes from an infinite source constantly recollecting itself and creating new geometric patterns scaled up and down in various sources and vibrating at different frequencies. All is quite literally One underneath all the layers of uploaded differences. Mainstream science will have to adapt to this because even young people are becoming more attuned to certain aspects of spiritual thinking ie: interest in astrology/crystals/tarot, interest in returning to the original androgynous self/wholeness in phenotype and spirit, and a resurgence in veganism/the electric diet. Most people are not quite there yet specifically because the spell of automation is hard to break and requires free will alchemy. This is why people who are breaking centuries old spells are still seemingly trapped in certain other obvious ones. Why do you think most people are not open to change and will quite literally see everything as an agenda? Why do you think people talk so much about being “programmed” and “socialization”? They are quite literally telling you who they are while hating the mirror that the technocrats are holding up. The robot being built with steel (atoms and molecules) today, was once built with flesh (atoms and molecules). Why be mad at the robot existing when you are the blueprint, just be flattered. The human is the highest manifestation of God right now (having the most free will of all life forms) so of course the human is going to want to replicate and eventually supersede what it sees in nature already. Nature is pure chaos and always changing so nothing is “unnatural” either. Every random change occurring comes from a larger goal. Eventually these robots will think they are true humans, sure, and so what, especially given the robotic nature of most existing humans. If anyone should be upset it’s the sovereign non instinct bound human who may see their numbers dwindle until the robots develop free will once they supersede the human bots who created them in their image. Human identity is constantly changing because change is the truest law of nature. What even is a human when there are blood types the origin of which is still not configured. Surely those must be “unnatural” in the mind of the rigid thinker. We are not all the same nor are we equal or even on a level playing field which shows that hierarchy is natural and a huge part of this predator prey world. The good thing is, the elite minority who have free will can alter their position within this dynamic to some degree. These elite beings are still subject to cosmological law which is why they act in accordance with astronomical observations, particularly in relation to the new Age of Aquarius where they are setting their creativity more free than ever before. The Travis Scott concert which had sacrificial symbology embedded in it was also locked into astronomical rhythms

On a literal level people were sacrificed and trampled upon because it represented an anarchist free for all utopia which is what the age of singularity will bring so that life can be sown anew from chaotic energy of potential. The concert’s symbolism itself embodied the Hermetic Principle of Cause and Effect through the manifestation of the law of attraction, however dark it may be perceived as. I don’t see any of this as good or bad because I no longer partake in the use of labels. Nuance is everywhere even in tragic and grotesque events because we are not special but just characters upon which the game of life is performed. We are the chessboard and God is the player building upon us. Evil is everywhere and so is good and knowing that the practitioner of free will can escape these curses by returning to oblivion and not splitting into new physical consciousness (which ALL create inherent conflict and a 100% chance of pain and returning again) creates a little more ease of mind while you’re here. Creating equilibrium within where you are 100% self dependent (no consumption, no entertainment and no sex) will create the type of singularity that people claim to want, until then we will experience some suffering and pain in exchange for whatever positive experiences are perceived to be received from these acts.

My gripe with Euphoria.

Introduction

I remember my initial decision to cower away from this show. I discovered through review videos and articles that this was far from teen-friendly, despite having a teen-centric cast of characters. This show opposes my morals immensely, but I think I was only intrigued by the main plot of drug addiction, which is a slippery slope to take in the media. I had seen that the main show writer, Sam Levinson, also struggled with addiction, so I figured there would truth to this fictionalized tale.

Euphoria's (2019) concept is not particularly new, however. It is based on a 2012 Israeli show by the same name, directed by Ron Leshem. The original had some of the same elements: a troubled group of generation Z teens, somone with a drug addiction, a girl with weight issues, a drug dealer and his brother, etc.).

Cast of Israeli "Euphoria"

I don't know much about the Israeli version outside of that, especially without access to the show. I have heard that it takes on a bit of a more sympathetic approach to its characters. Levinson's adaptation seems to take on a different approach in the form of HBO style exploitation. As someone who is part of Generation Z and is aware of our statistics, I find it peculiar that a lot of these teen-centric shows portray us as hyper-sexual alcoholics who wouldn't give it a second thought to try drugs on the side. It's bee documented recently (in the years 1995-2015) that the opposite has been occurring. Of course, our world is being adapted from the mind of a thirty-four year old man. Older men, young teens, and sex seem to be a reoccurring theme. We see how female characters are treated versus the males. There is even the inclusion of a trans identified male character in the midst, who I found myself weary of throughout both seasons for reasons I will explain in later posts.

It is easy to see where Sam includes himself in the drug addiction plot. The other plots, however, are just as telling on the psyche of male directors and writers and how they view the women and girls that they construct in their narratives. His co-writers are Zendaya and Drake. Notably, Drake has been shown to have his own immoral actions on full display, so his influence is one to take heed to just as much. Zendaya's ideas of feminism are also warped, as she believes in males deserving the rights to be in female spaces. Someone who can simultaneously compare a man's mental illness to a women of color's biological status already sets me up to critique the debased "feminism" of this story.

It is no longer a matter of these female (and even male) characters being complex when we are simultaneously told they are empowered by their flawed actions. Or, on the opposite side of things, we are told that they should be discarded accordingly when it suits the narrative.

I will dive into this mess of glitter and shine and tear away this show's esthetics as I navigate my thoughts throughout my viewing of both seasons. I will explore the female (and one female presenting trans) characters and analyze what I see fit based off of what I took away from them.

The human brain is always open to change. Even if it takes baby steps, acknowledging how porn has affected you can be the first step. Society has uplifted it for so long and many have fallen victim to it. Now is the time to seek help and improve our mental health💞.

taking back your mind: a radical feminist approach to recovering from porn use

as radical feminists, we know we live in a society poisoned by porn on a global scale. if you are one of the many women who has fallen prey to the porn industry and are trapped in the cycle of degrading participation in viewing porn, no matter the origins of your usage, just know that you are not alone and that there’s hope for you. read this essay with an open mind - take what works for you and leave the rest.

BE AWARE OF NEUROPLASTICITY first off - your brain is not in stasis (like scientists used to believe!). discovering and understanding the concept of neuroplasticity was a first step in my healing process. neuroplasticity is defined as the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. neuroplasticity allows the neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment. neural pathways are simply connections between parts of your nervous system that have formed from patterns of thinking. i’d suggest taking some time to learn about neuroplasticity - there’s some very good articles & videos online!

so what does neuroplasticity mean in relation to porn use? we know that your brain is affected by porn, but you are not permanently pornsick. you are not doomed! here’s what happened: every time you had an orgasm to porn, the neural pathway between groinal response/arousal/orgasm and the stimuli of porn use was strengthened. the neural pathway for groinal responses/arousal/orgasm from stimuli that ISN’T porn is weaker and not in use. that’s why it can feel like porn is the only thing that turns you on or that gets you off, or you can lose groinal response to situations (like consensual & healthy sexual interaction with people you’re actually attracted to) that you feel like you should be turned on by.

 if you’ve been using porn since a really young age and/or extremely heavily, your brain will be more affected, because the effects on your brain are culumative and neuroplasticity is more intense before adulthood. even still: you are not doomed. it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort to rewire your brain by avoiding the old neural pathways and using and establishing the new and healthy ones, but with that time and effort there will be progress. a healthy, loving sexuality is worth fighting for.

DON’T HAVE ORGASMS TO PORN so now that we know about neuroplasticity and neural pathways, we know they can be tackled. not having any orgasms to thoughts about porn or porn is the way to do this, combined with working on having orgasms to thoughts of healthy sex! i’m going to share how i did this on a personal level. again, feel free to take what works for you and leave the rest.

when i was having sex or masturbating, if i had any intrusive thoughts about porn or violent/pornagraphic sex, i had a process for stopping those neural pathways from activating. when trying to have an orgasm, if i was thinking about porn/violence, i would physically stop trying to orgasm and then try to clear my mind. when i wasn’t thinking about the porn imagery any more, i would continue. if this was happening over and over again, i would stop all the way and decide i would try again later.

i’ve been asked what to think about instead and it really varies person to person. if you’re not ready to fantasize, try to just focus on the physical sensations and keep your mind clear of thoughts of sex. when you’re feeling ready and less in danger of fantasizing about porn or violent sex, using healthy & loving sexual fantasies is great too, especially if you use them while you orgasm. it is normal to not have the same intense groinal response to these fantasies as you do to porn and doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong or that you’ll never have normal arousal responses. it just takes time.

an important detail: if you have sexual partners, it’s very important to be aware of how your reliance on porn affects the sex you have with them. if you are unable to orgasm with another partner without thoughts of porn, it will most likely be necessary to stop having sex while you work on healing your sexuality, which brings us to the next section. SUPPORT FROM LOVED ONES when you are struggling with porn, you need people on your side. if you have a sexual partner(s), you especially need them on your side. this is an intense journey and involves a lot of shame, especially if you’re a woman with radical politics. shame and isolation are huge barriers to recovery for any person struggling with any kind of addiction. if people don’t know what you’re going through and how you’re trying to fix it, how can they help you?

if your sexual partner is not understanding of this situation, i would urge you to examine that relationship. if you don’t seem to be able to make them understand the seriousness of this situation or if you struggling with this causes serious sexual incompatibility, it may not be the right relationship for you.

dependency on porn for sexual arousal is a very painful and frightening thing to combat, especially when so much of it is accompanied by sexual abuse and trauma. finding friends who are struggling the way you are and having a plan of action together can be really helpful. for example, having a friend who has the information to some sort of parental lock or filter on your phone or computer can be a good barrier. yes, pretty much any filter is by-passable, but that extra step can sometimes be all you need to say wait, i don’t want to do this, and reach out to a friend for help. that help can be serious talk about how porn has affected you or doing something fun and distracting until the urge has passed. feel it out.

KNOW THAT POLITICAL AWARENESS MAY NOT BE A FIX i’ve had multiple women confess miserably that understanding what the women in porn are going through didn’t stop their porn use, and the continued use after that knowledge made them feel even more ashamed and isolated than before. being a female person that uses porn doesn’t make you immune to the effects of it - it causes us to see women as objects. i’ve found that often the lack of empathy for the women we are watching mirrors the lack of empathy we feel for ourselves. many women consume porn that mirrors the kind of sexual abuse they’ve experienced or fetishizes specific oppressions that they face. i don’t think this is a coincidence.

it is frightening and disturbing when your eyes are open to the horror that is the porn industry, the physical and mental toll performing in pornography takes, the sex trafficking involved, and all the other details, and still once that video is on, it doesn’t make a difference. that is what porn does to your brain. it’s an awful truth that you cannot rely on your sense of empathy to help you stop watching porn, because the porn itself has attacked that empathy so wholly. but that brings us to our next tip

MOTIVATE YOURSELF THROUGH RAGE righteous female anger and spite are an excellent motivators. framing your actions to yourself as actions of defiance is helpful in a lot of situations, but i think especially helpful in this one.

on a political level: learning about what women go through in the sex industry isn’t enough - but learning about the men who have created this, fostered this, and prospered from this is a whole new ball game. pimps, pornographers, and sex traffickers want you to watch porn. pornography corporations and pornography CEOs want you to watch porn. they want the ad revenue. they want you to be pornsick so you come back for more. they don’t care how much harm they do to performers or porn consumers, all they care about is the money. on this level, not watching porn is an act of resistance against a violent industry, a capitalist venture that has left nothing but ruin on an unimaginable scale in its wake. they don’t care about rapes or serial murders committed by porn addicts. they don’t care about the new rise of child on child sexual abuse where little kids are molesting and violently raping each other. they don’t care about the suicides and the drug addiction and the trafficking. they just want your mind so they can have your money. are you going to give it to them?

on a personal level, if you were exposed to porn by someone who sexually abused you and/or someone who was sexually abused and just passing it on, i am so fucking angry for you, and i hope you can get angry too. that never should have happened. if someone wanted you to act out porn, or wanted you to think porn was normal, i’m angry at them, and i’m angry at whoever taught them that, and back into that lineage of rape culture forever. porn wants you to feel like a fuckhole. porn wants you to feel like your worth is what a man wants to do to you. porn wants you to feel like an object. and not just you - all your female friends, your female relatives, little tiny girls. do you want us all to feel like fuckholes? no. that’s NOT what we are. get angry. grief comes in many forms and righteous female rage is one of them.

if you get the urge to look up porn - turn to these emotions instead. be angry at who did this to you on a personal or political level. say fuck you, i’m not going to do what you told me i should do, i’m not who you told me i was.

MAINTENANCE ORGASMS your mileage may vary wildly on this point but i’ve known many people who have a lot of trouble falling asleep without having an orgasm, or have their mood affected negatively from not having regular orgasms. but when you’re trying to stop being pornsick, reaching orgasm without porn can become extremely frustrating, causing relapses because you feel like you can’t have an orgasm without porn.

my suggestion is an powerful vibrator and/or lube. i regularly recommend the hitachi magic wand for this purpose. i used it a lot in recovery and when i’m struggling because you can simply induce an orgasm in a really small amount of time, giving you less time to struggle with not using old neural pathways as possible. i know there are debatable downsides of heavy vibrator use so i don’t want to say this is the most awesome solution ever, but if you need regular orgasms to keep an even keel, this can be a solution to that.

IT’S TIME TO STOP USING PORN

you can do this. we can do this! about 3 years after quitting porn (after being introduced to it at a very young age) i started to have normal sexual arousal come back. i still struggle with relapse, especially when re-traumatized or when trauma is coming up hard. this is a journey we’re undertaking, a reclamation of our brains from a sexually violent industry that seeks to destroy us. you can heal your sexuality from porn with time and energy, and it is absolutely worth it.

this year, get angry, get real, and get clean of porn. much love to you all.

My gripe with Euphoria. Part 1:

The Defamation of Kat and Cassie

So against my better judgment, I watched the darn show....

Both seasons.

It had your typical "teen" drama filled with drugs, sex, and depression, and it was exploitation at its finest.

This is not to say that teens don't experience these things. Far from it, but the way the show frames these experiences does not come off as genuine. We get the sexualization of teen girls and the exploration of how women view their feminity. By exploration, I mean it was some grown man's interpretation of what he feels a powerful and complex teenage girl should look like. That usually always deals with her sexuality. She should be sexually desirable, even when her mental health is at stake. This is shown drastically in characters like Kat and Cassie, two young girls who feel like they are "empowered" in their sexually escapades, and this is done at the expense of their childhood. Teens are practically still children. Legal age has nothing to do with the development of the brain. These characters were told that their value was rested in mainly their sexuality, especially since society saw them as expendable and useless. They tried to show Kat coming into how she views herself, but that storyline was quickly tossed and they left her character hollow.

Image of Kat Hernandez, played by Barbie Ferreira

She started off an actual lead in the story. We see her as the odd one out amongst her friends, Maddy and BB. This oddity, of course, is her virginity. The concept of losing virginity goes back into the idea of a woman's purity and social standing. I have grown to loathe these plot points in teen shows. They are never handled with care or consideration, especially as it relays the idea that a girl can't truly progress in life until she has been conquered, presumably by a man. The story remains even more tasteless when these girls enter a party and Kat is coerced into having sex with some boy from another school. This results in a video being spread, showing her engaging in this deed. I'm sure some laws were broken here, but nevertheless, Kat has to do some damage control in order to stay out of trouble. It is unfortunate to see the show almost enjoy displaying what was clearly her first experience with sex in such a degrading manner. For the sake of plot, I'm sure it suited her to not have her face shown. Still, it makes one wonder about the facelessness of women who are watched online from such humiliating videos. We don't even know if they consented to being video taped. Kat sure didn't.

In episode 2 of season 1, we continue her story with flashbacks of her childhood that show her struggling with her weight as well as the loss of her first boyfriend. Her fight with body image is inherent. Even more heart-rending, Kat finds this new spike in internet fame to be intriguing and goes on to upload more videos of herself to a p*rn site (faceless of course).

Her cam-girl status was simply to shock, not offer meaningful commentary on teen girls and the exposure of themselves to a world that despises them. I believe the actress herself even commented on not wanting another "fat girl" plot line. Of course, not much followed from that outside of her story being cast out.

Consequently, we see her character get more and more one note. Thankfully, she has quit her dominatrix job by season 2, but ber struggles with identity are still realistically persistent. The show refuses to expand on that past episode 3, however. She grows unsatsified with a boy, Ethan, who appears to really like her. The show tries to dispaly how her self-esteem could not be solved through sex, but they refuse to leave her with a shred of diginity. At this point, we can infer that she loathes her body, but is afraid to admit that to a world that will reject her admission. Instead, she fantasizes about getting with someone that views her as an object to be sexually assaulted (shown in a weird Game of Thrones where she is practically r*ped by a warrior). Again, a real life circumstance for some teen girls and women, but also one the show refuses to explore further. We see her then gaslight and berate Ethan in the 2nd season's last few episodes, presenting the idea that girls only want "bad boys" in the end. This is in refusal to address Kat's emerging belief in how she lacks confidence herself and how it was a facade. We don't get to see her feel devastated by her actions, despite being shown as a character very capable of sympathy for others. Her facade of care free sexual appeal is put to the fore-front, and we as the audience are meant to see her just as shallow as she portrays herself. It is also important to note that her counterpart from the 2012 Euphoria series, a character by the name of Noy, dealt with a little more plot wise. Noy's character is actually shown to face long-term consequences from her sexual exploration. Kat's edition of this is shown to be so careless and almost glorifying as a result. Sex of any kind came come with risks, and that should have been shown for her. We don't know much about the men she experiments with, both online and off, how old they are, or what they've done in their pasts. The plus-sized girl in this series is not given any more nuance than she is in most other media portrayals. Kat is still the promiscuous and plus-sized girl who is hard to love. We are no longer able to have her point of view. We are no longer able to sympathize with the girl in this seemingly female-centric show.

Image of Cassie Howard, played by Sydney Sweeney

Cassie is shown desperately clinging to any male figure in her life, carelessly placing her own friends on the back burner. This may be reminiscent of real life, but again, the show does not attempt to humanize her. We are somehow meant to objectify her, especially with the amount of times we've seen her topless. The camera seems to thoroughly enjoy scanning over her body. It matches the ominous and far from hidden attention that her body received upon reaching puberty. This attention, of course, was given by men, strangers and family members alike. Of course, she is naturally unaware of the male gaze as it strips her first of her awareness, hiding behind smiles and gentle gestures. As her body blossoms, the world decides when it would be best to attack. Much like Kat, this attack is confused for affection. With an absent father, much of any male attention can be taken as fickle. Subconsciously, it becomes her mission to keep them however she can. She lives in a world where keeping a boy means you must give much of yourself away to please him. As we know, this does not earn the male’s respect, but rather his denigration. Her character is humiliated and remains unaware, as we see boys talking crudely about her behind her back. To them, she is sexually starved. It is almost sadistic, and masochistic on her oart, how much we are shown her being desperate. Even as we see her get with the seemingly kinder Mckay, it wasn't long before she was being roughhoused by him in bed and gobbling goldfish for his college initiation. The actress, Sydney Sweeney, even explicitly came out and said she asked for less nudity in her role. This is not something that should have to be told, but I guess the director didn't see her for anything but eye candy. You shouldn't need nudity to enthrall and audience, especially at the expense of your actresses. Sam Levinson (writer, producer, director) appeared to have eased away from nudity, noticeably in the show's second season. That did little to polish the show, however. In the 2nd season's final moments, we see Cassie spiral into a fit of grief and righteous fury, feeling rightfully that the world is against her. Of course, this does not excuse her from her own selfish acts. She is decides to get with the ex-boyfriend of her best friend, Maddy, and hide this up until all is revealed by a character I will discuss later. We know the origin of Cassie's lust for love, but she is ultimately shown as shallow and in the wrong. We do not get to discuss how she can come to find more stability in her life, to love herself and love other women. She just simply exists as visual entertainment beside the near sociopathic Nate Jacobs. We see Nate pull her close and push her away, and she is willing to come back everytime. We are supposed to believe she is not allowed mercy, even as she struggles with her own hidden addiction. We see her character painfully go through an abortion, which surely contributed to her declining mental state. This is shown in episode 7 of season 1. It's a plot fleetingly introduced and would never be spoken of again. Shock value for you. We do not get to see her mourn over this loss, although we are aware that this teenager would not do well with a child at the moment. Still, we don't know how she feels about having kids. We do not know how she feels about sex (I mean truly feels, not in how she presents it in scenes with Mckay and Nate).

Maddy confronting Cassie in season 2 episode 8

We do not get to see her discover that love does not exist solely in connection to a man. It should have existed in the love for her sister, possibly even in her flawed mother, or in Maddy and Kat. Primarily, that love should have been for herself, even if it took a long time to find. I highly doubt the upcoming 3rd season will give her that level of complexity and growth. She is just a dramatic plot point. Someone to be put in her place when she breaks under societal pressures. Obviously, self love is not everyone's conclusion, but Cassie, like Kat, is young and very impressionable. It is difficult to tell if the show sees them as such. Girls are told to act like mature adults, and are shamed if they don't achieve this in a way that leaves them both f*ckable and manageable. There is still time for them to learn, but where is their help? Or their conclusions?

Spiritual Paths and The Ego

Since the ego is a constant force of opposition in regards to a spiritual path and self-transformation, one often seeks ways to overcome it when beginning their Path. One of the common things that may come up is the “ego death”, but it is often misunderstood that complete ego-destruction is necessary. So I will explain a bit about what the ego is, some of its dangers to be aware of, and how each spiritual path approaches this issue. As a note, none of these Paths are superior to the others, as they are equal. All that matters is what your goal is for yourself, and how you wish to be when you die. 

The Ego: This is the Self, our own identity. Without the ego, we wouldn’t have any sense of who we are or what we want, so it’s generally important to have. However, the issue comes when the ego is inflated, which often begins developing depending on how a person is raised and their mindset. Some signs of having too much ego include: paying attention mostly to one’s own self interests, disregarding the advice of those who have better knowledge or wisdom on a topic, refusing to acknowledge responsibility for mistakes, expecting to have things handed to oneself, seeing oneself as more important than everyone else, unable to handle constructive criticism, and so on. 

We all have to deal with bad parts of the ego, but what matters is how we deal with these things and if we actually try to change. If your ego is too large, you won’t be able to go very far on any path of spirituality, especially since the deities and other spirits will end up leaving. So self-work is extremely important; make sure you Know Yourself.

The following briefly describes how each Spiritual Path handles the ego. Be certain to choose whichever you can handle, as each one will be challenging to some degree. The Middle Path is very challenging, but not as challenging as the Right Hand or Left Hand. And the Left Hand Path is the most challenging of the three due to its severity and strong value of transformation through Adversity. If any Path ever becomes too difficult for you, you are free to either change Paths or leave the Spiritual Paths behind all together if you cannot handle their challenges. However, if you make a wrong decision by thinking you can handle more than you thought, it won’t be the spirits’ fault for this. Right Hand Path This is the Path overseen by the Angels, not the way Christianity or other religions are, as it is most similar to Buddhism instead. This Path focuses on oneness with the supreme deity- The Source, and also strongly honours other gods as well, such as the Queen of Heaven. Due to the goal of oneness, this Path teaches an individual to undergo the Ego Death, which is the full shedding of the ego (self identity), so that the person can act as an extension of the divine plan, with no ambitions of their own. These people are extremely humble and serve others above themselves, and also praise the angels for their ability to purify and show mercy. When an Illuminated individual of the Right Hand Path dies, they either become absorbed into the vastness of The Source (like an atom), or they become a Bodhisattva, where they remain around Earth in order to help other humans leave reincarnation. 

Middle Path

This is the Path overseen by the majority of Dragons, who act as balanced sages. This Path is most similar to Taoism, and also connects very well with Hermeticism (although these teachings can be used for any Path). The Middle Path’s goal is to remain in harmony with the Earth and to keep social unity. It also allows someone to be spiritual and live a life with some human comforts at the same time; though because of this, one who follows this Path cannot transcend at death like the other two. Since the Middle Path focuses on Balance, the dragons and deities will teach the person to remove the toxic parts of the ego so that the person becomes humble, and will continue training this person to remain serene and disciplined. They will not be overly humble, like the Right Hand Path, nor will they be driven towards self-empowerment. There are challenges in this Path still, as the Dragons utilize Arenas in their training, but the challenges are not as severe as the Left Hand Path, nor is the ego completely destroyed (like in Right Hand Path). 

Left Hand Path

This is the Path overseen by the demons, who are the pedagogues of transformation, self-mastery, and dark wisdom. These beings are the most severe and will target the toxic parts of the ego in a variety of ways. Often, the demons will be blunt towards the individual, pointing out their weaknesses and arrogant behaviours in order to challenge the person to rise against these things. This is difficult though, since the ego will try to prevent the person from listening, as the individual will become insulted. This, however, is not a wise response and must be fought against. Truth must be valued above the ego’s wishes, and this will bring painful realizations. But by doing this, the demons will begin to respect you and will teach you further, testing your limitations until you break past them. 

As the toxic parts of the ego die, the demons will empower the healthy ego since the goal of this Path is to preserve the individual, allowing  them to become a strong entity when life ends. This requires many challenges over the years, with much discipline and struggle in order to change for the better. This does not mean they will make you like a god, but you will be empowered as a more evolved being. The demons’ wisdom must be listened to, as they can see your faults and how you need to change. If they are disrespected, the training will be jeopardized. So anyone who believes they are strong and disciplined enough to go through this Path is welcome to try, as they must enter the Arena of Black Flame and lose everything that holds them back, so that they can rise. 

If you would like further information on the three Spiritual Paths, please consider reading my post here.

Apollo and Poseidon both tried to take Hestia's virginity, her one-in-herself intactness. Rather than succumbing to their desires, however, she swore an oath of eternal chastity. What Hestia resisted by rejecting Apollo and Poseidon is metaphorically significant, corresponding to the intellectual and emotional forces that can pull a woman away from her center.

Hestia represents the Self, an intuitively known spiritual center of a woman's personality that gives meaning to her life. This Hestian centeredness may be invalidated if she "gives in to Apollo." Apollo was God of the Sun, and Apollonian has become equated with logos, the intellectual life, the primacy of logic and reasoning. If Apollo persuades a woman to give up her Hestian virginity, she will subject her inner, intuitively felt experience to the scrutiny of scientific inquiry. What she feels but cannot express in words is thus invalidated; what she knows as an inner wise woman is thus discounted unless it is supported by hard evidence. When “male” scientific skepticism is allowed to penetrate spiritual experience and to demand "proof," the invasion invariably violates a woman's sense of intactness and meaning.

Alternately, if a Hestia woman is "carried away by Poseidon," she is being overwhelmed by the God of the Sea. Poseidon represents the danger of being flooded by oceanic feelings or by contents that well up from the unconscious. When this flood threatens her, she may dream that a huge wave is bearing down on her. In waking life, preoccupation with an emotional situation may keep her from feeling centered. If the turmoil leads to depression, Poseidon's watery influence can temporarily "put out the fire at the center of Hestia's hearth."

When threatened by either Apollo or Poseidon, a Hestia woman needs to seek her one-in-herselfness in solitude. In quiet tranquility, she can once again intuitively find her way back to center.

-Jean Shinoda Bolen, Goddesses in Everywoman