life in progress

Nontheistic morals and ethics

In general, morals and ethics are related terms. Morals are valid encoded or natural and universal-enough ideas of right and wrong. Ethics are systems by which people navigate doing right over wrong, so that one’s conduct is good enough to satisfy the light, sweet burden of humanity.

In Kali Yuga-era religious traditions, there are a few different objectives that morals are designed to achieve.

  • Harm reduction
    • Some of the rules you’ll find in religious laws are extremely straight forward. They exist to reduce the harm that people cause through unjustified self interest and other antisocial motives.
    • These rules usually concentrate on minimizing interpersonal harm— the ways that people sometimes hurt, violate, and exploit one another. However, various religious codes also seek to reduce the harm that people cause to themselves, animals, their environment, etc.
    • Generally, religious laws that focus on harm reduction have a great deal of overlap with secular ethics. Most people— of any faith or lack thereof— tend to agree that rules that minimize interpersonal harm tend to be sensible, and are necessary for a peaceful society.
  • Social Cohesion and Continuity
    • Religions are in the business of building communities. Sometimes religious rules restrict behaviors, but don’t actively prevent harm in an obvious way. These rules have a community-based purpose. Restricting and encouraging specific behaviors can help define a community, and strengthen members’ identification with the group. This becomes an extreme problem in cases of dangerous cults.
    • For example, if I belong to a religion that instructs me to eat a certain way or dress a certain way, it’s not necessarily mitigating any harm I might do in the world. But it’s informing my identity. It’s making me feel closer to other people who eat and dress and worship the way I do. We’ve become a community of “us” in a sea of “them”. This too becomes an extreme problem in cases of dangerous cults.
    • Rules that achieve social cohesion vary widely between different faiths. As such, they’re extremely subjective, and usually have very little to do with secular codes of ethics.
  • Maintaining Power Structures and Institutions
    • Often, religious rules are put in place to perpetuate the power structures and institutions inside the faith. These often take the form of specific protocols and taboos intended to prevent reform, power struggles, and other shifts in the community.
    • Wherever hierarchies form, the people at the top tend to get very invested in maintaining the current power distribution. That’s human nature. (Whenever religious laws dovetail perfectly with keeping the people in power more happy than uncorrupted, I do think it’s worth asking how divine they actually.)
    • Rules that maintain specific hierarchies within religions aren’t necessarily supported by secular ethics (although they often are, if those hierarchies are doing good in the world). However, similar rules concerning governmental hierarchy are almost always encoded into secular law.

So when we’re talking about morals inside a theistic worldview, they might fall into one or more of those three categories.

Religions tend to have a lot of variation when it comes to moral laws that don’t focus on harm reduction.

Name an activity that’s not hurting anyone. You can probably find a handful of religions that embrace it, and others that consider it a terrible sin.

In this sense, some religious “morals” don’t have an objective reality. They’re sometimes highly subjective and variable, depending on which religion or sect or denomination we’re discussing.

However, the ethical notion of reducing the harm that humans do to other humans is close to universal. You find people in nearly every religion talking about reducing harm, needless suffering, and damage. You find atheists (and agnostics) saying the exact same things.

A rare sort of religious person might think that driving a car is evil.

A rare sort of religious person might think that any song with a repetitive, driving beat is the devil’s music.

A rare sort of religious person might believe that it’s morally repugnant for a woman to wear pants.

An ethical atheist probably doesn’t hold those beliefs. But an ethical atheist is almost certainly going to think that murder and terrorism are wrong, as would anyone, because murder and terrorism cause concrete and unjustifiable harm.

──── by Lync Dalton ────

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(This article by Lync Dalton first appeared on Quora in 2017)

What is the Universe up to?

There was a Big Bang very long ago, and now the Universe exists. The Big Bang was the Cosmos giving birth to the Universe, which had a path in mind at the time: a culmination.

The Universe has many galaxies, and in our small part of the Milk Way Galaxy, life has developed on Earth. Life on Earth is very dense. Some of the other life in the Universe is much less dense, and does not manifest all the way down to solid matter. We did. This is somewhat shocking and wonderful for a Universe. It’s good what we’ve done here.

Here is also where we spend time thinking about what will happen to the Universe. Did it really start as one event? Will it end as one event? We think about a singularity that we could experience. A black hole seems like a singularity to us. A singularity is something so rare and full of convergences that it’s remarkably unlikely to ever happen. It gives the impression that nearly anything could happen. We’ve heard about the theory of waiting for a technological singularity to solve our problems, but that’s not really how complex human problems get solved. The more powerful singularity would not be technological.

I’m near a temporal singularity right now, and by times. It’s situated very far in the future, but it knows me already. Theoretically, all human consciousness could converge and unite with it at some point in the very distant future.

It’s not scary, the Divine Eschaton culmination of time. It is where we collectively get to transcend and evolve past time. Heat death is terrifying. It is an unsupportable loss of existence and potential. Eschaton essentially means “final thing”. The Divine Eschaton is God and all possibly other eligible individual consciousnesses together as both final consciousness and final object at the end of time itself. It’s not something that culminates in our human lifetimes, it’s the end of time itself, which is a point in the Universe’s lifespan. Theoretically, our Universe could manifest a binary Divine Eschaton, which would be like two cosmic beings having the best conversation ever while experiencing rapt sexual congress but also all consciousness and all matter combined. The other option is having a more traditional type of singularity, with one, even more integrated consciousness. The Divine Eschaton is how human consciousness can culminate along with the Universe after Earth is gone and we’re sick of doing civilizations and human existence. But let’s play around with them way more first, okay?

Universal heat death would mean there is no final thing, no conservation of consciousness, and everything would grow farther and farther apart, dissipating into non-existence and getting colder, until no life was possible.

──── by Lync Dalton ────

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Fun fact on: Weirdo Camp

Weirdo Camp in part functions as a living guidebook for the coming age. It is purposely aligned with dharma and promoting the return of dharma. What is dharma? It is humanity in harmony with divinity, civilization, species, self, and Earth.

──── by Lync Dalton ────

PLEASE DONATE TO WEIRDO CAMP. Do you enjoy and/or enrich yourself with Weirdo Camp and its unique, original content? Please send a donation via Paypal (see site sidebar) or to $alchemylynx on Cash App.
Want the coolest tax deduction in the world? Donate to Terra Thesis Institute.

I need support.

In most communities throughout history, the shaman has been an important person, and was treated as such. A shaman is someone who can deal with the metaphysical, mysterious, and subtle aspects of a community and potentially for the people in it, in various ways. A community and a shaman traditionally have a symbiotic relationship, with the community taking care of the shaman and the shaman keeping an eye on subtle things in and for the community. A shaman can help with healing, advice, spiritual issues, personal development, and other things. A shaman tends to be good at giving warnings and helping the community tackle complex problems. Abusing a shaman in good standing with the Universe is unacceptable. Stiffing a shaman for services is considered very vulgar. Keeping a good shaman in a state of poverty shames the community that put them there.

Some shamans are psychic, some can channel, some know herbs, spirit communication, etc. All that and more applies to me. A true shaman’s skills are rare, and take time and expertise to develop, and I have developed many of them to high levels over the years. A shaman’s help is worth something. My help is worth something.

In 2019 I became World Shaman. It wasn’t my choice; if I’m guessing, I think it was foisted on me because it was a time when skilled human intervention in that arena was very needed, and I’d been in contact by that time with my predecessor and with places of high spiritual power. Psychic experiences were already on the rise in general. I’ve been a center of activity for that, and trying to repair what I inherited as a violently broken and garbled global system, and it’s been a ton of work overall.

I’ve done a lot of specific work for the United States since that time, though I’ve given special attention and care to a lot of places. In late 2020 I was approached by a representative entity identified with the position of United States Shaman. The entity was a small, almost anthropomorphic figured that looked like wood or worked leather, which pursued me after encountering much hardship elsewhere. Within a week and a half, the entity grew much healthier under my care and stewardship, started looking much different, and identified herself as a full recognizable representation of the Egyptian goddess Mut, who identifies particularly with the United States for reasons I won’t relate here. In early 2021, I believe my installation as the current U.S. Shaman was privately affirmed by [redacted], [redacted], [redacted], [redacted], [redacted], and others.

I’m doing what I can, and still I have to live. If you believe in what I’m doing in any dimension, please donate money to me and my work. I am still awaiting a salary or compensation and any other personal privileges associated with the work I’d doing as a shaman. These communities I mention are huge, and I continue to try to serve them under extreme hardship. I need support.

──── by Lync Dalton ────

PLEASE DONATE TO WEIRDO CAMP. Do you enjoy and/or enrich yourself with Weirdo Camp and its unique, original content? Please send a donation via Paypal (see site sidebar) or to $alchemylynx on Cash App.
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Sun signs through the Western zodiac, part 1

In Hermetic Astrology, the Sun represents the first thing a person tends to do in reaction to real-life variables. It empowers and flavors a person’s virtues and relationship with virtue (it may be helpful to note here that the Moon, often seen as the Sun’s counterpart because of their similar prominence in our sky, is involved with virtue blossoming in a complementary way, through a person’s natural empathy and desire for comfort and a happy society). The Sun is nice. Our solar system’s physical sun gives Earth essential raw material for elaborated matter in many ways, and does so predictably and consistently. People’s kindliness and personal decency is championed by their natal Sun in whatever position it’s found in, whatever aspects it forms. It also represents one side of someone’s creativity, that of initiation and of virtuosity.

In a birth chart, a person’s Sun is sometimes a dominant theme in how they relate to others. In other cases the Moon is more dominant. And these can be very balanced in an individual as well. Sometimes the actual birth time is an indicator of which type one tends toward, with people being born in the daytime often picking up more solar dominance, and people born at night often picking up more lunar dominance, etc. but there are numerous factors.

The Sun in the first six signs:
And everyone has all the signs up in the sky…

Aries: Sun in Aries is in its exaltation, meaning that it can potentially feel very free and extravagant in its expression while it occupies that sign. This makes a certain sense, as here on Earth the astrological Sun is experiencing a naturally exciting beginning of yet another spring in the Northern Hemisphere, where Western Astrology and its zodiac were mostly born. Mars is the exoteric ruler of Aries, and its esoteric ruler is Mercury. Solar Aries is known for having an honest, bold, straightforward nature, and quickly becomes practiced at taking the initiative in situations. They are not too afraid to learn from failures. They prefer to be friendly whenever it’s reasonably justifiable to be so, and cannot tolerate their own sour moods well. They must learn introspection, no matter what. Quirk: Aries wants to believe in God.

Taurus: The Sun is gaining confidence in Taurus season, carefully building toward its summer expression on Earth. The richness and fecundity of that time of year is suggestive of its exoteric ruler Venus. Vulcan, an extinct esoteric planet that was reputed to break up etheric nonsense (a task still covered by Mars, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, and Pluto, fortunately), has been suggested as the esoteric ruler of Taurus, but some people believe its esoteric ruler to be the asteroid Chiron, which spends a lot of extra time in Taurus due to having an irregular orbit. Solar Taurus quickly becomes practiced in sorting out what it likes and dislikes, and has a task in life to make sure its tastes stay tasteful. They have a natural affinity for what is appropriate, if they do not distort it in themselves. They have a particular interest in being genteel and experiencing general gentility. Quirk: Taurus hates being confused, but they’re often good at dealing with it.

Gemini: During Gemini season, the sun is climbing to its summer height, the Summer Solstice. On Earth (Northern Hemisphere), much is blooming and moving during this time of year. Outdoor paradises have erupted. Gemini is a natural child of paradise, perhaps. Mercury, named after a young prodigy god, is its exoteric ruler, and its esoteric ruler is Venus. Gemini likes to do everything, in the sense of being busy. Gemini loves to talk. Gemini loves encouragement, and often gets fairly good over time at taking things as encouragement. Quirk: Gemini overthinks the Gemini twin motif.

Cancer: Cancer is the season that starts just at the apex of the physical sun’s ascent. Perhaps this is why Cancer is so prone to reminisce, having the vague idea that the big buildup is what happened in the past. It’s just a year, guys. The Moon rules Cancer exoterically, while its esoteric ruler is an advanced Neptune. Cancer season (Northern Hemisphere) tends to be uniformly fine and pleasant. Solar Cancers do well when they notice the ways that their lives are fine and pleasant for them, and keep in mind that any additional angst is often a choice. Cancer loves to affect people emotionally, but feels things have gone terribly wrong when they notice themselves having a negative effect. They must mature emotionally to make sure they have a firm grasp of cause and effect in the human world. Quirk: Cancer always cares who’s in a leadership position. They want leaders to be good and competent, and don’t like the idea of people having to work around a leadership deficit.

Leo: We feel the heat of the sun most in Leo season. The Sun is comfortable, ruling Leo both exoterically and esoterically. Solar Leo wants to notice what it’s doing. They often feel like noticing what they are doing will help them notice themselves better. They do understand that the world should not revolve around them as it does our solar cynosure, but that they must work to mature while meanwhile the sun marks time for us. Leo wants to feel normal, in a lot of ways, but sometimes panics and insists on people making them feel special instead. It doesn’t work. Leo prefers for things to be aboveboard. Quirk: Most Leos started liking astrology because they found out they were Leos.

Virgo: In Virgo, the solar year is building toward an equinox, and the weather is gracious and galvanizing. Virgo’s exoteric ruler is Mercury, and its esoteric ruler is the Moon. Solar Virgo has a tendency to set goals to become things, rather than setting goals to do things, which is known to convolute things sometimes. They usually understand that they still have to do things, though. They can be deep, and that goes well, but being shallow might become a bad and insidious habit. Sometimes Virgo focuses so much on looks that they forget about the concept of overall attractiveness. Yes, people will buy something just because it’s pretty, but people are people. Virgos tend to be better at organizing than prioritizing, so they must take care to think about the big picture often, and on purpose. They want to relax the relaxation of the just. They fear losing themselves and becoming one of the world’s problems. Quirk: Sometimes Virgo wishes the Virgo symbol was something symmetrical.

Sun Signs through the Western zodiac, Part 2

──── by Lync Dalton ────

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Body mysteries

In late 2020 I noticed the beginning of what seemed to be swelling or possibly weight gain (weirdly less likely, which I’ll cover). I was definitely thin until December of that year. I’d gained some muscle during that time, and was overall eating rather sparsely (sensitive stomach). At around that time, I’d been having strange medical episodes that had a lot of features in common with dying. My organs would go cold, for instance, or an organ would feel especially light inside my body somehow.

In late 2020 and early 2021 I realize that there were signs that I had extra air accumulating in my body, under the skin. My thyroid numbers appeared normal when this started happening. By March of 2021 I was looking quite large, up from being a noticeably small-bodied person two or three months before.

When my neck started looking larger than it ever had before (very strange for me, as I generally do not gain much weight in my neck) with my body seemingly bloated but not very much bigger yet, I started thinking it was very unlikely I was dealing with normal weight gain. It was very rapid, and each enlargement coincided with the episodes that seemed to have strange things in common with dying (these having started after a violent attack). I’d been quite lean when the episodes started happening, and I was having trouble off and on keeping up with eating.

Now it’s early 2022. I am still very bloated and swollen to a much larger size than I’m used to. I weigh less than I look. There is strange distortion in some of the lines my body makes. It’s been going down slowly, but there’s a weird pattern where I bloat up and then go down noticeably while staying about the same size. It’s easiest to see the change in my face, perhaps. It is fair to wonder whether I’ve gained extra fat, yes, but I definitely don’t think I ate so much in the span of six months or so (I was probably at my biggest point six months in) that I’d end up twice my size or more in such a short time (which is what I looked like at my most swollen), and certainly not during the two months when I went from normal to unrealistically larger and odd looking.

There are telltale signs that I might have actually lost both some muscle and some of what fat I had on me in the last year, and am much, much leaner than I appear: I can easily feel the sharp edge of my radius bone in my arm through the swelling, and my shoulder feels delicate inside a swollen shell. My fingers have those bony bumps that very thin people sometimes get above their knuckles; they look a little like mosquito bites, and they indicate low overall body fat. So do the tendons visible just under a thin layer of skin on both my thumb knuckles.

Extreme amounts of air sometimes issue from my pores, and I can feel the air rushing out in a stream. At many times it’s whooshed out my eyes and ears, poured from my palms, etc. I do look strange and uncanny this way. I persist in thinking this is temporary.

It’s okay if I think I’m pretty either way, right?

──── by Lync Dalton ────

PLEASE DONATE TO WEIRDO CAMP. Do you enjoy and/or enrich yourself with Weirdo Camp? Please send a donation via Paypal (see site sidebar) or to $alchemylynx on Cash App.
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